My ex-doctor wrote a book...

[Valentin]

.....on Surgery in Ukrainian language. He is 84 years old and it took him
about 30 years to write it.The Book has 233 separate chapters, 200 - 600
pages in each chapter. For the last 4 years I have been helping him mainly
with computer's hardware issues and also how to back up the text on CD's.
The text is written mainly in Word 97 with some elements of Word Perfect,
and it "weighs" about 120 MB.
Since I will be traveling to Ukraine in May, he wants to know, but I don't
know the answer: is it possible to create a CD with his text on it, with a
"safety feature" so that a prospective publisher can READ, but not COPY the
text from this CD to his computer.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Anything that can be seen can be copied. With Acrobat you can create a PDF
that makes it harder.

 

[Carrie]

....on Surgery in Ukrainian language. He is 84 years old and it took him
about 30 years to write it.The Book has 233 separate chapters, 200 - 600
pages in each chapter. For the last 4 years I have been helping him mainly
with computer's hardware issues and also how to back up the text on CD's.
The text is written mainly in Word 97 with some elements of Word Perfect,
and it "weighs" about 120 MB.
Since I will be traveling to Ukraine in May, he wants to know, but I don't
know the answer: is it possible to create a CD with his text on it, with a
"safety feature" so that a prospective publisher can READ, but not COPY
the text from this CD to his computer.

Would it be possible to copyright the text first?
I'm not sure, but I think in the USA anything that is created and can show
a date for this, is automatically copyrighted.
Seems like in this case, you (and the doctor) would just have to be careful
who you let see the CD.

If you're thinking of showing people samples of it (maybe?) how about
creating another CD with just samples, like the chapter names, what it/they
are about, and the overall idea of it?

That way, you could let people see this, without risking them copying the
entire text of the book.

This may not be what you mean, but it was what I thought of when I read it.

 

[Valentin]

Would it be possible to copyright the text first?
I'm not sure, but I think in the USA anything that is created and can show
a date for this, is automatically copyrighted.

This is exactly what I have recomended he and his grown children should
research. They will have a family discussion on this subject soon. A few
years ago they took my advise and commissioned a web page:
http://www.turkalo.org/ , this however failed to attract any interested
sponsors or publishers.

Seems like in this case, you (and the doctor) would just have to be
careful who you let see the CD.

You're so right! Very few people know how corrupt the political and economic
systems are in former Soviet "republics", including "the mother of them
all - Russia".
It is my observation that approximately 90% of computer users in Ukraine use
"pirated" Windows operating systems, Office and other programs. A typical
illegal CD cost about $5. Most came from Russia.
Was Bill Gates capable of doing anything about it, with all the licensing
and copyrights?
All of the talks were conducted on high governmental level, and only now
there seems to be a reluctant clampdown by officials on illegal software,
primarily in large businesses. The private users are enjoying a free ride in
the meantime.

If you're thinking of showing people samples of it (maybe?) how about
creating another CD with just samples, like the chapter names, what
it/they

Unfortunately I can devote only so much time to this project. I will expect
more input and actual work from the family members: after all they all seem
to be pretty "computer-literate".

This may not be what you mean, but it was what I thought of when I read
it.

I certainly value your inerest in this subject and your helpful ideas. Thank
you very much!

 

[Stan Brown]

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:25:33 -0400 from Valentin <labandera63
@hotmail.com>:

....on Surgery in Ukrainian language. He is 84 years old and it took him
about 30 years to write it.The Book has 233 separate chapters, 200 - 600
pages in each chapter. For the last 4 years I have been helping him mainly
with computer's hardware issues and also how to back up the text on CD's.
The text is written mainly in Word 97 with some elements of Word Perfect,
and it "weighs" about 120 MB.
Since I will be traveling to Ukraine in May, he wants to know, but I don't
know the answer: is it possible to create a CD with his text on it, with a
"safety feature" so that a prospective publisher can READ, but not COPY the
text from this CD to his computer.

No.

 

[Carrie]

This is exactly what I have recomended he and his grown children should
research. They will have a family discussion on this subject soon. A few
years ago they took my advise and commissioned a web page:
http://www.turkalo.org/ , this however failed to attract any interested
sponsors or publishers.


You're so right! Very few people know how corrupt the political and
economic systems are in former Soviet "republics", including "the mother
of them all - Russia".
It is my observation that approximately 90% of computer users in Ukraine
use "pirated" Windows operating systems, Office and other programs. A
typical illegal CD cost about $5. Most came from Russia.
Was Bill Gates capable of doing anything about it, with all the licensing
and copyrights?
All of the talks were conducted on high governmental level, and only now
there seems to be a reluctant clampdown by officials on illegal software,
primarily in large businesses. The private users are enjoying a free ride
in the meantime.


Unfortunately I can devote only so much time to this project. I will
expect more input and actual work from the family members: after all they
all seem to be pretty "computer-literate".


I certainly value your inerest in this subject and your helpful ideas.
Thank you very much!

I'm always surprised when I actually feel I know "something" about
computers, programs, etc. I'm usually the one asking the questions.
I also see questions like yours as a challenge and chance to maybe learn
something new.
There is another option, but not with the CD. Saving the file in Word and
setting up a password for it, so only those who know the password can open
it.
I recently came across this in a book I'm doing on Office 2007.
I don't know how or IF this would work if you saved a password protected
file on a CD, or if there's a way to do this (with or without using Word to
put on the password)?

I know you can email the file, and tell the person the password (maybe
separately, for safety, or have one all set up) and then can put in the
password and open it.
Would this work if the password protected file was saved to a CD?

Maybe that would be the next question?

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

I would suggest that you send the table of contents and a few excerpts from
the book that would demonstrate the depth of coverage (that the recipient
would have to assume was typical) of the topic of those excepts. That way,
you are not potentially giving away the whole farm.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP