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From: AES on 13 Jul 2010 14:16 > >> And just for the record, I'm not trying to evade any such restrictions. > >> But at the same time, I'm not fond of any such honor systems where a > >> commercial vendor is attempting to get the benefits of various > >> restrictions without actually being prepared to enforce them -- > >> especially when the terms of this honor systems are unclear or > >> imprecise. > > > > Would you rather they require you to enter a registration code, and then > > have the OS "phone home" to validate the registration, or have you make a > > telephone call if the computer is not connected to the intertubes? To give a straightforward answer to this question, if the software is expensive but worth it -- if it "delivers value for money" -- I may not take great joy in going through a reasonable registration process such as you describe; but I'm willing to do it, and consider it a reasonable requirement by the vendor to protect the investment they've made in developing the software.
From: George Kerby on 13 Jul 2010 14:26 On 7/13/10 12:44 PM, in article michelle-A4BBF9.10440713072010(a)reserved-multicast-range-not-delegated.exampl e.com, "Michelle Steiner" <michelle(a)michelle.org> wrote: > In article <C8620BEA.38DBA%ghost_topper(a)hotmail.com>, > George Kerby <ghost_topper(a)hotmail.com> wrote: > >>> Would you rather they require you to enter a registration code, and >>> then have the OS "phone home" to validate the registration, or have >>> you make a telephone call if the computer is not connected to the >>> intertubes? >> >> Can we say "Adobe"? > > I was thinking "Microsoft". Peas in a pod...
From: Wes Groleau on 13 Jul 2010 16:03 On 07-13-2010 14:16, AES wrote: > To give a straightforward answer to this question, if the software is > expensive but worth it -- if it "delivers value for money" -- I may not > take great joy in going through a reasonable registration process such > as you describe; but I'm willing to do it, and consider it a reasonable > requirement by the vendor to protect the investment they've made in > developing the software. But if the vendor produces _better_ software, yet chooses to not impose that inconvenience on you, you are "not fond of any such honor system" ? To each his own.... -- Wes Groleau Krashen vs. grammar? http://Ideas.Lang-Learn.us/WWW?itemid=114
From: David Empson on 13 Jul 2010 21:47 Michelle Steiner <michelle(a)michelle.org> wrote: > In article <siegman-7802E7.11162313072010(a)sciid-srv02.med.tufts.edu>, > AES <siegman(a)stanford.edu> wrote: > > > > >> And just for the record, I'm not trying to evade any such > > > >> restrictions. But at the same time, I'm not fond of any such honor > > > >> systems where a commercial vendor is attempting to get the benefits > > > >> of various restrictions without actually being prepared to enforce > > > >> them -- especially when the terms of this honor systems are unclear > > > >> or imprecise. > > > > > > > > Would you rather they require you to enter a registration code, and > > > > then have the OS "phone home" to validate the registration, or have > > > > you make a telephone call if the computer is not connected to the > > > > intertubes? > > > > To give a straightforward answer to this question, if the software is > > expensive but worth it -- if it "delivers value for money" -- I may not > > take great joy in going through a reasonable registration process such > > as you describe; but I'm willing to do it, and consider it a reasonable > > requirement by the vendor to protect the investment they've made in > > developing the software. > > I consider it unreasonable. Apple never had such a procedure for its OS. > And even its software that did require a registration code (e.g., iWork > before iWork 09), there was no "phoning home". > > And Apple hasn't suffered any by not requiring registration for its > software. Apple does require licence keys for its professional software (Aperture, Final Cut Studio, Logic Studio) and for Mac OS X Server. They do local network checks but I don't think they "phone home" to check for mutiple uses at different locations, and they don't require activation. FileMaker Pro is an interesting example. Back at least as far as version 4, it has a licence key which must be entered to use the software, and it checks on the network for other instances of the same serial number. In single licence editions of FileMaker Pro 9 and FileMaker Pro 9 Advanced, they introduced an activation scheme which required "phoning home" to allow continued use of the software, and ensured that you could only have two installations for each licence key (two are allowed for a work computer and a portable or home computer, as long as they are not used simultaneously). This mechanism was obviously unpopular: in FileMaker Pro 10, the manual still described how to do activation, but the feature wasn't actually in the software (or at least was bypassed for the licence keys they were issuing). When I needed to reinstall FileMaker Pro 9 after my previous computer suffered a temporary failure, I found that I couldn't activate it any more (or deactivate the old one). It turned out that FileMaker Inc had shut down their activation server, and they issued me a new licence key which did not require activation. Still have to type in the licence key, of course. -- David Empson dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz
From: AES on 13 Jul 2010 23:05
In article <1jlm86d.4ewvfw2j2ixyN%dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz>, dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) wrote: > Apple does require licence keys for its professional software (Aperture, > Final Cut Studio, Logic Studio) and for Mac OS X Server. They do local > network checks but I don't think they "phone home" to check for mutiple > uses at different locations, and they don't require activation. > > FileMaker Pro is an interesting example. Back at least as far as version > 4, it has a licence key which must be entered to use the software, and > it checks on the network for other instances of the same serial number. > Around 2007 I installed the 2004 version of MS Office from its CD onto my MacBook and my wife's MacBook Pro, both of which were on our home Airport network. The result was the neither of us could use any of the three apps (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) on our Mac unless all three of them were shut down on the other Mac. (At least, that's how I remember it -- I think the three apps were sufficiently linked that running any one of them on one Mac blocked all three of them on the other Mac.) Once they were installed and had been run once on each machine, however, I don't recall that any license key had to be entered to run them again. |