AW: OT: locking software to one specific machine?

[Tiemo Hollmann TB]

Hello,

we have made some difference experiences and so I have to disagree to
Richard and Francois.

We are publishing software in a very small specific market, so no music, no
games. In the first years our software was - in your intention - completely
free of copy protection, later we implemented a copy protection on some
programs, which were running off the CD.

We made the experience, that nobody ever thanked us the ease of use and lack
of licensing. Just the opposite. Just because our target market is so small
and lots of people know each other, our software was copied, given away
without control. Not only once we got support calls in the kind "hi, we just
made a copy of your software at ..., but we have some troubles installing
it..."

After more than ten years of living with the total lack of conscience at
most people out there "what? Everbody copies software!" we decided to
implement a heavy licensing system to our newest product which ties our
product to the single machine without any doubts.

Yes, we get furious calls, how we can be so cruel not to let the user
install it on all of his (and the rest of the world) machines. Yes, it is
much more support as having just a licence-number without any verifying,
beside entering the right name and email and a fixed number.

But yes, the cost-benefit ratio is very satisfying for us. Not for the
pirates of the past. The pirates of the past were no Russian hackers or
hacker kids. They were people like you and me, who just didn't mind and
didn't care about what copying of software means. I think especially of one
target group "teachers" (sorry Richmond, nothing personal) teachers are the
heroes of copying everything in my mind. Btw. Richmond, where is your pin on
the map http://qurl.tk/4O ? And yes, after month of heavy support and dozens
of smaller and bigger enhancements in our system (which was designed from
the scratch), now the support comes down to a "normal" amount.

The need and whish of the customer to install your software on more than one
machine can also be handled by your pricing system. That are our
experiences.

P.S.
If you are looking for an individual engineered system, there is a very
experienced company: http://economy-x-talk.com/

Tiemo




> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: use-revolution-bounces at lists.runrev.com [mailto:use-revolution-
> bounces at lists.runrev.com] Im Auftrag von Richard Gaskin
> Gesendet: Donnerstag, 4. März 2010 15:48
> An: How to use Revolution
> Betreff: Re: OT: locking software to one specific machine?
> 
> Peter Alcibiades wrote:
> > Completely OT question.  Do any of you do this?  The method is that
> the
> > machine on first run produces a machine ID, and you then issue a
> license
> > key which is tied to that ID.  The software can only be run on that
> > specific machine.
> 
> I don't bother, instead just using the more common method of
> machine-independent reg codes.  Like I tell my customers, "We don't
> punish you for your good fortune of owning more than one computer." :)
> 
> In the modern world many people own more than one computer, and by
> choosing to have per-person licenses rather than per-machine licenses
> we
> keep our support costs down by not having to deal with angry people
> when
> they upgrade their computer or change their NIC.
> 
> I'm sure this allows a certain amount of piracy among our customers,
> but
> the cost-benefit ratio of both methods favors flexibility for the
> customer with our products.
> 
> In certain markets this may not always hold true.  For example, games
> and music software are the two most pirated categories (which is
> especially ironic for music, given that musicians make their living
> from
> intellectual property).
> 
> So like any security consideration, you'll have to consider the
> relative
> ROI for your product.
> 
> But it may be helpful to keep in mind that security is overhead, while
> features are investment.  So here, using minimal security lets us focus
> on adding features which encourage sales among honest people, the only
> people who ever pay for software anyway.
> 
> All software can be hacked, most within three days of release. Game
> companies who spend millions on security do so with the hope of
> postponing the inevitable cr at ck by just 60 days.  Fortunately, few
> honest people take on the risk of downloading cr at cked copies from
> random
> sites in the PRC or Russia (home to some 90% of cr at ck sites), many of
> which are loaded with keyloggers and other zombieware.
> 
> --
>   Richard Gaskin
>   Fourth World
>   Rev training and consulting: http://www.fourthworld.com
>   Webzine for Rev developers: http://www.revjournal.com
>   revJournal blog: http://revjournal.com/blog.irv
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