Re: Protecting Software w/ Software License Keys...
Re: Protecting Software w/ Software License Keys...
- Subject: Re: Protecting Software w/ Software License Keys...
- From: "Donald A. Yacktman" <email@hidden>
- Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 18:32:48 -0600
You wrote:
>
I'm [...]
>
wondering
>
what type of licensing, registration, demo mode and copy protection
>
schemes people
>
are using. [...]
>
Does anyone have any advice or more information on this subject that
>
they can share?
If you need a heavy-duty solution, Stone Design (www.stone.com) offers an
excellent LicenserKit package. I've used it and been very happy with it in all
respects. Here's my experience with it, summed up:
(1) It is in Objective-C and fits in well with Cocoa
(2) It is mature and stable; the bugs are well shaken out by now
(3) It is easy to integrate into your app
(4) It is very flexible and extensible in the places it needs to be
(5) The kit's authors (Andy and Stan) provide EXCELLENT support
(6) It's pretty hard to crack, since it uses cryptographic ideas
like public/private encryption for the keys and challenge/
response for the license checks. That makes them harder
for a hacker to bypass (though nothing's impossible of course)
So it has worked well for me. Many years ago, I rolled my own. Took me about
a month to write it, and didn't have even half the features of Stone's LK. So
while the LK price might seem like a lot to a small developer, consider that
rolling your own to have the same features and level of security would probably
cost you a *lot* more. In my case, I came out _way_ ahead by buying it. If
you're a student on a budget, you may have more time than cash available, which
would make the roll your own option preferred. It all depends upon your needs
and your situation.
While the price is only $2000, I'd jump on it. IMHO well worth every penny
they are asking. And you never know when the price will jump back to $10k.
Even $2k might seem steep, but keep in mind that there are NO royalties and
once you have bought it, you can use it on as many apps as you'd like. That's
a big win...the more apps you produce, the less $/app you have spent on
licensing, in effect.
So, look at Stone's web site and read about the LK, figure out if the price is
right for you, and if it is, there's your solution. If not, keep looking...
--
Later,
Don Yacktman
email@hidden
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