[jjoonathan]

Long ago, when I got my first paycheck, I "went legit" and bought licenses for TextMate, Sublime, and IDA. Long story short, HexRays took my $1000 and never gave me a working version of their software. Bastards. I'm so glad there is an alternative now.

To this very day, whenever I'm stuck slogging through the build or debug process of a Ghidra plugin that has a more mature alternative in the IDA universe, I occasionally let a tiny bit of that resentment bubble to the surface to propel me across the finish line.

[rene77]

Shenanigans like that the product owe to its author, Ilfak Guilfanov, who's a bit of a meme in the ex-USSR SRE community. Back in the '00s, when IDA pretty much had no alternative, one couldn't just buy it. No, to pay them money, you had to be either an estabilished name (ESET or Kaspersky worked just fine), or to subtly caress the author's ego until it gives. And I've seen paying customers being kicked off the support forum for asking uncomfortable questions, complete with rude private messages. I believe that at least twice, unrelated hackers took offense and leaked the full version anyway. Fun times.

[jjoonathan]

Yeah, B2B is a wild world and this was my first time going for a ride. Ah well. You live you learn.

Speaking of which, last time this came up on HN ilfak cruised into the comments a week later, all "I can not find your nickname in our database," and I didn't see the reply until a year later. Well, the HexRays database had no problem finding my-nickname-at-gmail for the purposes of bugging me to renew, and just in case anyone thinks I'm making this up, here's the order. I also have an email with the download link and serial number -- the ones that didn't work -- and the ghosted support requests spread throughout the following year.

I'm sure this is a Hanlon's Razor thing, I just want to make sure that any naive young hackers considering the possibility of a last-time-buy on a perpetual license understand what they are getting into.

    ************************************************************
    * Your order has been accepted.
    ************************************************************
    
    Please retain this receipt for your records.
    
    This e-mail confirms your order placed with Hex-Rays.
    
    Payment data
    ------------
    
    Beneficiary                           : Hex-Rays
    Address                               : Rue Rennequin Sualem 34
    
                                            BE-4000     Liege
    Website address                       : http://www.hex-rays.com
    General conditions                    : https://www.hex-rays.com/products/ida/t&c.pdf
    
    Order date                            : 15/05/2016 22:40:05
    Order reference                       : deWerd_4732_20160515
    Ogone Payment reference               : 3016168801
    Order description                     : IDA license
    
    Total                                 : 1129.00 USD
    
    Charging method                       : MasterCard XXXXXXXXXXXX----
    Sub-brand                             : UNDEFINED
    
    Status                                : Authorised
    Authorisation code                    : ------

[no_time]

Did you do a bank chargeback? Losing $1k like that is brutal.

[vizzah]

Should have done, of course. Most likely you were suspected to be buying for a warez group release =)

[pelagicAustral]

Haha yes. I remember that NFO like very few, perhaps m00 nfos but that’s it. The leaked IDA pro was fenomenal, can’t think of the group name to see if I can find it around. I’ll make an effort.

[pelagicAustral]

Found the NFO! Some bits:

  Sorry for the English, I do not speak well -- so, some idioms      
  may be translated directly and be incorrect for understanding for  
  native.

  This release should serve as a life lesson to those who consider   
  themselves as "people 'blue' blood." It aims - in some ways        
  to bring down pride (swallow their pride), to tell these people    
  where to get off. Show that, besides them, there are other people  
  who should at least respect, appreciate their work and consider to 
  their opinions (or at least listen to).                            
                                                                     
  This release is dedicated to one man and one company, which behave 
  antisocial, defiant, arrogant, are not considered to anybody or    
  anything, and therefore need to conduct a little "educational" work
  from the community.                                                
                                                                     
  *** Let's start in order: one man - Ilfak Guilfanov.               
                                                                     
  I wanted to write a lot, then I thought - it makes no sense.       
                                                                     
  And so, in principle, nothing much to tell. Those who are "in" know
  a lot about this person. It is impossible to buy IDA even if you   
  really want to do. I described some details about this in my blog, 
  'ida' tag (do not linking here, if you need - you will find it).   
  Also, you can read some more here (Russian only):                  

  I apologize to crackers who were recruited in HexRays SA, you are  
  in some measure also falls under attack. But your head, sadly,     
  leaves no other choice.                                            
                                                                     
  In December 2007, after a memorable revelations of Ilfak in the    
  topic http://www.idapro.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?t=463, occurred     
  after warez-release of the IDA v5.5, I created another topic       
  http://www.idapro.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?t=458. In it I outlined   
  some thoughts about "double standards" of the author of IDA. Just  
  a small example. Struck up a brief conversation, which resulted in 
  Ilfak behaved absolutely inadequate (in his usual manner) and I was
  banned on the forum. But that's not all. Before I was banned, he is
  sent me a private message (PM):                                    
                                                                     
  I recommend to reconsider your attitude to people and to express   
  your thoughts in dealing with them.                                
                                                                     
  In any case, at the moment you "reap" is what you had "sow" by     
  yourself.                                                          
  I do not soft-pedal such things.                                   
                                                                     
  *** Next: company - ESET - NOD Antivirus developer                 
                                                                     
  There is a saying: "Curses like chickens come home to roost"       
  (I have already voiced it in relation to you in 2008-2009th years).
  Now it's time.                                                     
                                                                           
  So, the characters from ESET (a minimum):                                
                                                                     
    * J M - the main short-sighted and po-faced personage   
    * M Z (Customer [Un]Care; [e-mail])                 
    * D N (Virus Researcher)                            
                                                                     
  The ESET company treats software developers (small companies and   
  individual developers of shareware-products) as a shit, and does   
  not hide this.                                                     
                                                                    

Full version: https://pastebin.com/2EXSaq11

hahaha I knew it was legendary NFO.