time limited demo

[DVGlasgow at aol.com]

Ages ago I asked if there was any way to set up a time limited standalone 
demo without using an external file.  Phil Jimmieson contacted me off list to 
suggest I obtain the date created from the 'detailed files'.  I finally tried 
it and it works fine - thanks Phil.  All you do is, in an openstack handler 
in the splashscreen/standalone, find the line of the detailed files relating 
to the standalone itself.  Item 4 is the date created.  Work out the days 
elapsed and bobs your uncle.  I now have a 10 day demo and a 12 month license 
version, each with a 7 day countdown to expiry reminder to pay me some money.

The nice thing is you don't have to set the expiry everytime you build, or 
worry about a secret file somewhere.  The bad thing is that you need to build 
for each customer.  Since I produce very small numbers and build for each 
copy anyway, this is no problem.

Of course, users could set back the clock on their machine, but I timestamp 
all output which in forensic assessment (which is what I do) would render a 
false date serious professional misconduct - much more scary than 
unauthorised use of software.

The script would be a breeze for all the scripting gurus out there, but if 
any apprentice gurus want to take a look at the script, contact me off list - 
it has a couple of twists I didn't mention above.


Best wishes,

David Glasgow
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