Following MATLAB, Chemical Research Software Is Being Investigated for Domestic Piracy
From Harbin Institute of Technology and Harbin Engineering University being banned from using the basic mathematical software Matlab, to the recent crackdown on piracy of ChemOffice in China, the scientific research path of domestic scholars has become increasingly difficult.
recently,Some netizens reported receiving a lawyer's letter from ChemOffice, asking them to stop using pirated software.Some universities have also informed students not to use pirated versions. The email also stated that IP addresses will be detected when companies use pirated ChemOffice online.
Regarding this incident, netizen @Yungstedt asked a question on Zhihu:What do you think of Chemoffice sending a lawyer's letter to Chinese pirated users?
Link: zhihu.com/question/401054890
As of press time, this question has been included in Zhihu's hot list, viewed more than 600,000 times, and attracted 68 professionals in chemistry, life sciences, medicine, etc. to answer.
ChemOffice: Ace Molecular Formula Editing Suite
ChemOffice is a professional molecular formula editing software suite owned by the American company PerkinElmer.It can complete the input of various molecular formulas, structural formulas, etc., and has complete functions.
ChemOffice Professional 19 includes ChemDraw Professional, Chem3D molecular modeling and simulation, Chem Finder chemical information search integrated system, ChemScript and other full module functions.
As an important software in the fields of biochemistry and medicine, the cost of genuine ChemOffice software is also very high.
According to the price of ChemOffice Professional listed on PerkinElmer's official website, the one-year fee is approximately RMB 13,000. If you want to purchase its permanent use rights, the cost is as high as RMB 46,000, and this price does not include the first year's maintenance fees and taxes.
Such high fees for genuine software have brought great cost pressure to individual users. Compared with purchasing genuine software from official websites,More people choose pirated resources.Although some functions have been castrated, the basic functions can meet daily needs.
The road ahead for domestic industrial software is long and arduous
ChemOffice is cracking down on piracy in China, and Harbin Institute of Technology and Harbin Engineering University were banned from using Matlab earlier this month. Many netizens speculated that this might be another sign that the Sino-US trade war is affecting the academic community.
Long Cao (zhihu.com/people/dragrass), an excellent answerer on Zhihu's chemistry and organic chemistry topics, believes that there are two main reasons why ChemOffice is in a monopoly:
1. ChemOffice has no competitors in this relevant field
2. People in the chemical field don’t care about software development and use. Most of them just use it as long as it works.
Longcao also recommended two alternative software to ChemOffice, the domestically produced InDraw and KingDraw.
Netizen @charles said that if users were less optimistic and less opportunistic in the early stages, they would not be so passive in the later stages.
Netizen @多巴胺 even directly called for domestic software to cultivate its own R&D teams and crack down on piracy; users should give domestic software a chance.
Citrix Mark Ding, the agent's little trick?
In the answer to the question about ChemOffice on Zhihu, some netizens pointed out that the current crackdown on piracy in China may have nothing to do with PerkinElmer.The person behind the scenes is ChemOffice's domestic software agent, Citrix Mark Ding.
Citrix Mark Ding has a good reputation
Citrix Mark Ding was founded in 2009 and is located in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province. It is mainly engaged in regional agency distribution of commercial software, agency maintenance of intellectual property rights, and after-sales service of software distribution.
However, Citrix Mark Ding does not have a good reputation in the industry.It has been criticized for changing the digital signatures of genuine software, malicious traffic diversion, and monopoly.
Citrix MarkDing's routine to combat piracy has matured into a process. It first sends an email to order users to stop using pirated software, otherwise it will send a lawyer's letter; at the same time, it also attaches a link to purchase the software, guiding users to jump to MarkDing's official website to purchase.
The so-called genuine software on Markding's official website may have had its digital signature modified.It has transformed into a pirated version of Citrix Mark III.
Therefore, the comments on Citrix Mark Ding on the Internet are very consistent:A gangster in the legitimate industry and the boss in the reporting industry.
Self-developed software is the ultimate solution
However, whether ChemOffice officially decided to investigate piracy or Citrix Mark Ding has other intentions, this incident should attract our attention.
As the Sino-US trade friction deepens, academic research mustImproving R&D capabilities and reducing dependence on foreign software and technology are the fundamental solutions.
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