Security and rights?

[SpielNur]

Here are some questions I ask myself before I buy "Nimble Writer". It would be very nice if the developers could fully answer these questions

Security:
Regarding the Steam Cloud. Can another person have access to my works, or is my data stored "securely"; and am I the only one who has access to my works?

Right:

Do I have the right to publish my works without consequences on part of Nimble Writer?

These were my two most important questions, which I simply wanted to get rid of.
Thank you in advance for your reply.

^^

[Melissa]

Security:

There's been a thread before about Steam Cloud and Valve technically being legally allowed to take your files and use them for whatever reason. (I don't think they say they claim copyright though.) They say that just to safeguard themselves against any possible issues of what people might put on Steam Cloud.

So in terms of that, you always use the document encryption feature, which will encrypt your documents so that only you are able to load them.

In terms of anyone else accessing your Steam Cloud, I'm not aware of this being a thing, however if an exploit like that does somehow happen, document encryption would shield against that.

Rights:

Yes! Nimble Writer doesn't have any weird unnecessary restrictions. If it did, the program wouldn't be very useful I think.

[SpielNur]

Thank you very much for your answere

[Twelvefield]

The last time I read the STEAM EULA, they do retain rights to works published on their system. I've never heard of them exercising that right, though. The closest is that you can monetize your Workshop stuff and then STEAM takes their cut.

The encryption is solid, though, and to be safe anything that you would not want your loved ones to read and distribute for free across the Internet you should encrypt. I don't think anything can read an un-encrypted .nwd file except Nimble Writer, and the only thing that can read an encrypted .nwd file is your version of Nimble Writer with a key. Maybe someone in the NSA could crack the code given enough time and initiative, but it would be hard for even them to do without a back door.

[SpielNur]

Originally posted by Twelvefield:

The last time I read the STEAM EULA, they do retain rights to works published on their system. I've never heard of them exercising that right, though. The closest is that you can monetize your Workshop stuff and then STEAM takes their cut.

The encryption is solid, though, and to be safe anything that you would not want your loved ones to read and distribute for free across the Internet you should encrypt. I don't think anything can read an un-encrypted .nwd file except Nimble Writer, and the only thing that can read an encrypted .nwd file is your version of Nimble Writer with a key. Maybe someone in the NSA could crack the code given enough time and initiative, but it would be hard for even them to do without a back door.

So if I publish my stuff for example on amazon there would be no risk for me?

[Twelvefield]

There's not enough that you are giving us to go on. You should read the EULAs for both STEAM and Amazon for yourself if you want to be certain, or get a lawyer to do it for you. You can hire a copyright lawyer for half an hour for twenty dollars and get your certain answer.

I say there's always risk on the Internet. People are thieves and they act with anonymity and impunity. If someone can pirate your stuff they will. Likewise, if they can find legal grounds to get at you, they will.

Without knowing the nature of your work and how you intend to distribute it, I would advise maximum caution verging on paranoia. That way all of the outcomes can't be any worse than that.

[SpielNur]

Originally posted by Twelvefield:

There's not enough that you are giving us to go on. You should read the EULAs for both STEAM and Amazon for yourself if you want to be certain, or get a lawyer to do it for you. You can hire a copyright lawyer for half an hour for twenty dollars and get your certain answer.

I say there's always risk on the Internet. People are thieves and they act with anonymity and impunity. If someone can pirate your stuff they will. Likewise, if they can find legal grounds to get at you, they will.

Without knowing the nature of your work and how you intend to distribute it, I would advise maximum caution verging on paranoia. That way all of the outcomes can't be any worse than that.

Have you wrote a book with nimble writer and published it ? Or have you more information about the security?

[Twelvefield]

For publishing I've gone through professional publishers. I've never formally published anything I've written using Nimble Writer: I use NW as a "sketchbook" and not as a publishing tool. It's possible to use NW as a base for self-publication, I just haven't written anything in years that I want to share, and nothing I am writing using NW now is in a finished state.

The only security I know of that NW provides is 1) that the .nwd files are proprietary, so I doubt that any reader app can read them directly as they are too exotic. That's why you use NW to read them and export them to a more common format. And 2) the encryption uses a tough code to crack. You don't have to use encryption, but I would if I am storing files online.

However, I never store any file online unless it is something that I can live with if it was stolen and distributed for free across the Internet, and that I don't mind anybody at all seeing. Normally, I use Dropbox for that. My NW stuff I store offline, that and my archives. I don't just write, I have a lot of visual art and the cloud is both too slow and too expensive to store 100's of GB of data online. I don't trust cloud security at all. There's no knowing who is running the cloud and what they might take from it.

[Rutsah]

Mate we all know you're writing porn (sorry: "erotica"). Don't worry about it. You can use Nimble Writer and then export your work to a different file format once you're done, from where Kindle Create, the Amazon free software for publishing on Kindle can handle the rest. You're fine law-wise. Noone can steal and more importantly noone is gonna bother trying to steal it.

[Twelvefield]

I used to write and sometimes do write software reviews, and NW helped with that some. Some of that stuff is proprietary, so I did have to worry a little about keeping information secret until the Big Reveal. No big deal.

I don't do that for work anymore, so I'm slowly converting all of my old reviews to porn, yes. For example, here is something I've been working on:

"Users have asked for greater functionality when modifying flight envelopes, and AeroMaxFlight delivers on all counts. Now, when you are unpacking .LOD files, you can expect to see three new functions, which I tried out using the benchmark default passenger jet.

1) Users can now freely adjust angle of attack variables on-the-fly. See what I did there? Who says my reviews are as dry as month-old toast left out in the desert?

2) Users can also try to mount new valence records in the old Vista format. I did find this process to have a bug that sometimes crashed my computer, but if there's another way to use legacy meshes in the new version, I haven't heard about it. In any case the developer says that the issue is with Win7 decimal point integration and this bug should be squashed in an upcoming hotfix.

3) Speaking of meshes, users will notice drastic changes in the pilot model. The old version was patterned after Chesley Sullenberger, the hero pilot who saved his passengers after splashing down in the Hudson River. The new version is Chesty Suckenbigger, who you can guess by the name just barely manages to fit behind the controls. Also, she's completely naked. During flight operations, she will turn to you and complain that she really needs something to wear. A prompt allows users to then supply her with a pair of high-heeled stiletto shoes."

Well, it's a work in progress. The field of flight-sim porn is still very new, so even with my limited skills I'm like the Anaïs Nin of the industry, split infinitives and all.