You're not getting my MONEY! Buyer Beware! Software Activation

Yeah the OP said it best.If you buy an add-on you’re also buying copy protection.And if you’ve got strong feelings about copy protection it’s really important to always get those details straight up front.They may not suit you...and if they don’t...both parties would agree the exchange is not a good match.That’s a good day for both.I do think realistic criticism is a good thing...it will help improve the next generation of the tools.Generally they've been getting better IMO.It’s been said... many already address this problem. So people are listening.There are many add-ons available without any copy protection.So I don’t see a case for removing copy protection....there are already many alternative add-ons.

So many negative topics being posted lately. "Buyer Beware!" is an unfair statement to declare when a lot of people have had no problem with activations and recovering of keys, or have had their problems resolved with no fuss. :( I'm glad JIM from HiFi Simulation chimed in for this on page 1. I had an issue where I exceeded my activations on ActiveSky Avanced. I was bewildered at first that there was a limit (I assumed it was when I would switch on and off my VPN.). Then I sent an email to HiFi Support and they expediently replied and reset my limit. The wait was reasonable and they got my weather up and running in time to fly from London to Beijing in my wingleted level-d 767. I also have to sometimes reactivate mt keys with Flight1, but that process is incredibly easy and fast.I have to give HiFi and their support a huge thank you B) moo! and a gold star :( for a good service. The same goes for Flight1 making the process easy and automated. :(

Derek – I agree with you. And I’ve been lucky buying add-ons.Sure there have been aspects of an add-on here and there that didn’t thrill me ;)But I’ve always felt as a customer I’ve gotten a good deal :((mostly because I've spent a lot of time trying to build the things I want too)Danny

I think that some of you not only judge things straight from their personal experience ('I don't have problem, so why should another guy have some?') but also misinterpret some silence or low number complains as an 'it's widely accepted'.Silence never was or will be a sign of acceptance, but, when favourable, usually gets interpreted as such. Evil to him who evil thinks.What use does a protection have if you still can get the product for free and also trigger upset valid customers here and there because they ran into some obscure limits?Another thing on the 'it's accepted' aspect is that you don't have a choice but to accept this or that protection/activation method being used. If you want to fly the detailed plane, there often enough only will be one offer to go for.Now, if you get over your concerns and buy it, nobody mentions your concerns or even regards them. They are in the 'he's accepted it' pool now, so you were just turned into a supporter of the thing you had concerns about. That's how the misinterpretation goes and that's how it starts to develop the wrong overall picture.Think I'm happy with this or that useless (in the protective aspect) technique I actually bought? No! Some of these things even stop me from using the soft I payed for on another PC, because some guy in the company thinks is reasonable to let the customer pay for his laptop use and the desktop one (not talking about simultaneous use here).I just have no other choice to either buy or not. There's nothing in between (to be precise, the between can only be piracy) and if I go for a software, they suddenly count me in as full supporter of all of their thinking, which I'm not and maybe never will be.So DJ Jose took the right and, sadly, only valid step to state that he's going to avoid those things, may their products (which is the plane, mainly) be as nice and detailed as they are. That's his only choice. Eat it or die, so to speak.Looking at the blind praises of support and the avoided answers of the commercial fellows shows that this 'eat or die' mentality either was already internalized and marked as "normal" by some or is in the favourable use of others.If you think that the commercial answers to my questions show an awareness for their often overall stated 'piracy threat', you may be as naive or honest as they are.Once again, people don't buy your protection thingy and they also don't buy your strange and pointless policy behind it, they go for the product itself. If you raise the bar too high on prizes and/or protection measures (which only annoys valid customers as the pirate guy goes without it), you don't have to be surprised if this triggers negative feedback or the hunt for some 'dead end' Google results.So a big thumsbup for those companies which really get it right. A basic serial check or something, no obsessive data collection and very good customer support without artificial limitations of any kind. You can be sure that this customer friendly policy will lead to proud supporters of your products and also to confident piracy avoiders.

Comparing software pirates who get things for free and criminals and terrorists? That's beyond ridiculous.

Software pirates are thieves. they take what they want without paying for it.

The only 100% secure protection method would be via the use of what's commonly referred to as a 'dongle'. This would be, in essence, a USB flash drive type device that the user would have to plug into their computer for the software to function. Without the drive, the software wouldn't function. It is the absolute least intrusive method of protection. In fact, it essentially covers all the concerns in this thread. Except one.It's expensive.Aside from the expense, you'd have to create a dongle for each product owned. The dongle isn't configurable on the user's system (that's part of the protection process) and this if you purchased more than one product from a vendor using dongles, you'd either have a separate dongle for each product... or you'd get a new dongle that was configured for each product you purchased. Either way, cost would go up significantly.Since people scream bloody murder about paying $50 for an addon... I don't think they're willing to pay for the cost of the convenience of a dongle-based protection system. It would literally eliminate all of their current complaints. All of them... but drive the cost up accordingly.As for hardware based locking... sure, almost all protection systems currently do that. However, it's done during the installation process. It's the only time the software can confirm licensing should be allowed based on purchase information, etc.For those that argue that protection hurts sales... in fact it's the exact opposite. Lack of protection hurts sales.

CoolP,Let me ask you something: Do you lock up your house at night?

i have 18 aircraft and i like carenado system the best one because it used the code like in the example copyright from carenado finish no internet

I think the dongle thingy came up in the times of 286 CPUs and still is used here and there without ever proving a solid protection. There's no thing on a PC system which can really differentiate between e. g. an USB dongle and the simulation of it. And if you google some current dongle products (I think some relatively current ones are in the CAD software sector) and the free offers for it, you may find out that this hardware based solution is indeed expensive, but as vulnerable as all that fancy registration/activation and register stuff.Can you still count the times where some company believe and policy stated about 100% protection? I've lost the overview there, too big numbers. Protection, in general, doesn't hurt sales, but the experiences with it turn some users to "no more customer in the future" as proven by this very thread. So the indirect causes of protection actually do harm sales while strong protective measures still fail on protecting, while forcing valid customers to go through more or less complicated and "limited" steps.

Lack of protection hurts sales.

How come I donate to some really good and well above payware things like Plan-G? Unprotected, neat, versatile and above all standards support?Or why do I donate to Avsim, running this very forum? There's no lock forcing me to.I don't say that all products should come for free or as donationware, but these guys actually show how it's done. Also, some companies still trust a very basic sort of installation process and don't devote big development times (and believes, so say it in the politest way possible) to creating protective methods. They all fail, this proved over decades now, so why not focus on product quality and support? My latest experience, the easy reinstallation of the A2A Spitfire showed how this is done perfectly. Just an example, but I'd also call it a role model to aim for.One assumption of mine. If the VRS Superbug from DJ Jose would behave like the mentioned A2A Spitfire (which is protected too, but not in the way of the Bug) he wouldn't even dare to think about abandoning the product and the company behind it.Happy customers are the basis of a good and running business (in mid and long terms) and no protection is able to force this happiness as the factors for it are located on another level.

CoolP,Let me ask you something: Do you lock up your house at night?

Way too easy black/white thinking behind this question, Sir. Although you haven't answered any of my basic questions so far I might ask you what you would see as the intention for 'locking up your house at night'?In your world, all free- and donationware authors therefore aren't locking theirs, am I right? As said, a very rough and "easy" level you are aiming for. I'm a fan of breaking things down to easy levels, but your's doesn't seem right and appropriate. You may try though, no problem with it.So lets talk about empty houses, huh? I currently see at least one customer not even looking by the house of a dev (anymore) because he had set up locks which where only useful to lock out valid customers while the pirates came through the windows, and still do.

i have 18 aircraft and i like carenado system the best one because it used the code like in the example copyright from carenado finish no internet

That one can be shared instantly... thus it's no copy protection at all.Copy protection doesn't exist to make customers happy. Unless you consider that pricing is affected by piracy. The more a product is pirated, the harder it is to provide a quality product at a low cost.The purpose of copy protection is to protect what belongs to the developer. It's much like the lock on the door to your home. Of course someone can still break in... but it keeps the 'honest person honest'.I've seen 'honest' people steal software because they wanted it and couldn't really afford it. People justify their means, it's the nature of man.However, no matter how much someone complains about copy protection... I'm still going to put a 'lock on the door'.

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I think the dongle thingy came up in the times of 286 CPUs ...

In fact the world's very first software protection dongle was a sealed device which plugged into the spare cassette port on the rear of the Commodore Pet computer. It was devised and named "dongle" by myself along with my colleague at the time, Mike Lake, to protect my first commercial program, the Wordcraft Word Processor. This is back in the late 70's and early 80's.The name "dongle" came about after the prototype was made and tested after the engineer who built it for us said "What shall we call this here dongle, then?" He used the term "dongle" as a generic word like "thingmejig" or "whatsit".The word made its way into the English OED a few years later, by which time we'd stopped using them, but we continued to make them for other companies and their products.RegardsPete Dowson

That one can be shared instantly... thus it's no copy protection at all.Copy protection doesn't exist to make customers happy. Unless you consider that pricing is affected by piracy. The more a product is pirated, the harder it is to provide a quality product at a low cost.The purpose of copy protection is to protect what belongs to the developer. It's much like the lock on the door to your home. Of course someone can still break in... but it keeps the 'honest person honest'.I've seen 'honest' people steal software because they wanted it and couldn't really afford it. People justify their means, it's the nature of man.However, no matter how much someone complains about copy protection... I'm still going to put a 'lock on the door'.

So, if your protection keeps 'honest persons honest' the lack of it would drive honest persons to start what exactly?You mean that you are honest only because some lock forces you to? Interesting.May I, once again, stress the mentioned freeware and donationware offers from above? What about their locks? What's happening there, from your viewpoint?Do you think that they will ever spoil a valid customer (=user) like that activation thingy at DJ Jose's Superbug did? Just asking, because you spoke about non existent losses through protective methods before.

People justify their means, it's the nature of man.

You are right, when justifying some more or less useless protective methods and extra services (activation limits for example) I can see some example, right here.

The more a product is pirated, the harder it is to provide a quality product at a low cost.

I'd be happy to hear about the actual measurement going on when talking about piracy costs or even losses through it. Since decades these measurements don't get explained although everyone cites them more or less vague to establish that shock-like mood when talking about piracy. What about that shock a valid customer gets when he's told that 'for security reasons' his activation limit is exceeded or that he has to pay for some more installer file which fortunately awaits him (after paying some more)?At least, in which unit does this measurement actually happen?This tenor of mine isn't focused on making piracy any better or even legal, it just shows you some of the very "clear" circumstances which aren't clear at all when looking a bit closer and forcing some actors to think about their statements.As said, an activation/install policy like e. g. A2A (and some other very good companies of course) handle it is perfectly ok for the valid customer. He isn't forced to do anything and he also is free in his movement and receives great support.That's how you run a business in mid an long terms.Just saw your post, Pete, about the dongle origins. Thanks for that and, honestly, I didn't even know that you are that much of a innovative person. Interesting and informative reading.I'd like to add the way of protection which FSUIPC uses to the above list of fair and transparent methods by the way. So I hope you don't get my writings the wrong way since your policy and support is clear and customer friendly, it acts as a role model too.Only as much locks as needed and none of them is blocking/forcing valid customers, that's the way it should be.

do wot microsoft do by useing the phone to call to get activation {eg fsx} or the internet {eg.fsx activation}

do wot microsoft do by useing the phone to call to get activation {eg fsx} or the internet {eg.fsx activation}

Would you then complain and throw a tantrum when your activation would need to get re-set with a 15 second e-mail?