Well, a few points maybe:
- we're already offering a pretty full-featured product for free... so we obviously don't have a big problem with people using avast! for free
- even the paid versions can be used for a month in trial mode... so why block cracked versions, working the same, immediately?
- blocking the cracked versions immediatelly doesn't bring anything to us; the users will probably install something else instead and never try avast! at all. If, however, they use it for a while... they might get used to it, maybe change their mind if it stops working then... or at least spread the word and recommend it in between (if they use it, they probably like it, even if they don't want to buy it).
- cracks are certainly less of a concern than keygens (as they were in avast! 4.x) - you can hardly sell a crack on e-bay as a valid license to unsuspecting (potential) customers, applying cracks is much harder for computer-illiterate users, etc.
- we have some measures prepared against the cracks, and are adding new ones in new program versions. However, fighting cracks is always a cat&mouse game - something is prevented, and soon a new type of crack appears. So, again... it's not efficient to show the "defense" immediatelly - the sooner it's done, the sooner we'll have to spend time on preparing a new one. Besides, the number of affected users should also be considered - it's hardly worth spending any significant amount of time on preventing a patch used by an insignificant number of users (compared to the rest of them).
So yes, there are some protections prepared in the program... but they are not activated yet. When we decide that it's time to do something about the unauthorized users, we can simply activate them in a virus database update. At the moment, however, we don't see it as a problem - but we're monitoring the situation
