OT: locking software to one specific machine?

[Bob Sneidar]

I WHOLEHEARTEDLY AGREE! Often I migrate software to a different machine, as in the case when I got a new Macbook Pro and handed down mine to someone else. That's two computers that your software would have been broken on. 

I think it has been proven beyond dispute that if someone wants your software hacked, they will hack it. They will decompile it then link around it if they have to, or they will figure out your algorithm and duplicate it. But rest assured you cannot lock everyone out. 

So do what Microsoft does. Charge the good men extra for the vices of the wicked. :-)

Bob


On Mar 4, 2010, at 7:37 AM, François Chaplais wrote:

> 
> Le 4 mars 2010 à 15:25, Mark Schonewille a écrit :
> 
>> Hi Peter,
>> 
>> I use a MAC address for this, sometimes a drive serial number or computer serial number. This can only work if the configuration of the computer isn't going to change. In one project, I take the MAC address and check the license plus MAC address in a database. In another project, I use the IP address to confine a license to a particular organisation. It is also possible to hardcode information in the software, if this is a unique project for one single customer.
>> 
>> The problem with these approaches is often that they take lots of support hours and cause your customers a lot of frustrations. You might want to think again before implementing such a system.
>> 
>> It isn't OT, once you start implementing it with RunRev :-) It is doable.
>> 
>> --
>> Best regards,
>> 
>> Mark Schonewille
>> 
>> Economy-x-Talk Consulting and Software Engineering
>> Homepage: http://economy-x-talk.com
>> Twitter: http://twitter.com/xtalkprogrammer
>> 
>> Economy-x-Talk is always looking for new software development projects. Feel free to contact me for a quote.
>> 
> My first macbook pro had its NVIDIA chipset broken. The MBP wouldn't boot. The motherboard was replace and voila, I had lost the license on some of my software because it was tied to the MAC address (and I could not uninstall the software on the now defunct motherboard). Moreover, I upgraded afterwards to a new MBP, and the transition was painful for the same software.
> 
> Tying software to a specific hardware configuration is BAD marketing practice. The customer is your friend, not your enemy. S/N tied to a name or e-mail are quite common in software registration and they do not penalize the customer.
> 
> Think of piracy as a form of advertisement. IMHO, when a user of a pirated copy (S/N here) finds your software useful, and if if the price is right for him, he will buy the regular version to have the upgrades, customer support, etc.... If this is not the case, he may not ever have bought your software anyway.
> 
> Best,
> 	François
> 
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