VistaDB 3.4 License Manager Demo
Well the VistaDB 3.4 build is finalized. We think it is now ready to go live. The only part that was lacking testing was the activation system. As many of you know we used to have our own license tool, but we have now decided to move to a commercial product.
License for runtime?
No, the runtime is not licensed. The developer tools and designers are licensed. That means the plugins that run from Visual Studio. If you run without a valid runtime license you are given a trial. At the end of the 30 days the plugins will stop loading.
The runtime does not expire. We still offer the VistaDB Express build for free. You just can't use the Visual Studio design tools.
Hardware based activation
Each license is based upon your hardware. There is a combination of cpu, mainboard, os, etc. We allow a certain amount of tolerance just like a Microsoft product. We have tested using the same license for a dual boot developer machine and it worked just fine.
LIC3 Files
The license files themselves may be backed up in the event of a machine wipe. As long as only part of the hardware had changed your existing license file will still work on the same machine.
License Manager
The screen shot above is what License Manager application that is run by default at the end of installation.
To watch a movie of a new machine install and activation please watch this screencast.
Step 1 - Clicking the link in the application will send you to the secure account management site.
All existing customers will be emailed their current login information. This information is the old AccountID and password for your store account. All existing accounts and serial numbers have been migrated.
Choose your serial number
Choose the serial number you wish to activate for this machine from the dialog shown. If you have more than one serial number all of them should be shown. Only those valid for 3.4 may be used to retrieve license files.
Once you choose the serial number you are shown your information.
Pressing the Activate License button will direct you to the download page for your license file.
Press the download link to download your license file (LIC3). Store this file anywhere on your machine. Return to the license manager application and select the ... button to navigate to the location where you stored the license file.
Choosing the license should then bring up the valid license dialog as seen below.
You are done! Running the license manager application again on your machine will display the same dialog showing your current license.
License Expiration
Full license files do not expire. If you have a valid license you may run the last version your license was valid for without it expiring. You just would be unable to download new releases after your support expires.
(Screencast link) Watch the process online
Virtual Machines?
Yes, Virtual Machines are supported. Due to the license system you may run into an invalid license if you move the VM across multiple machines (our intent). Installing to a Virtual PC ties up a normal license and it will invalidate like a normal license as well. This is to prevent users who attempt to install to one PC and run it on multiple developer machines. You do not need to "install" into a Virtual PC at all to debug applications. Only if you want to use the Visual Studio debuggers is installing required.
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Comments
Michael McDonald on on 10.03.2008 at 12:34 AM
Great post! Here at VistaDB we have long considered the community and their needs for functionality within a VM. Under our old licensing system it simply was not possible to allow our customers to license under a VM and still protect our IP. We decided that the freedom being requested from out customers was valid and that we needed to research a technology that would allow us to not only protect our IP but also meet the demands of our customers who required a VM to develope their software. I believe we have found that median and I am very pleased to see it come to fruition in this release.
Robert Gesswein on on 10.03.2008 at 5:23 AM
First bad thing I've seen about VistaDB! I don't think any license should be tied directly to a piece of hardware. There's no difference between what you're doing than what the recording industry is doing locking music to particular players or what the movie industry is doing locking movies to "approved devices."
You've stepped over a line here in telling me how I need to BEHAVE when using your product rather than providing a license tied to me and letting me decide how, when, and where, to use the product.
Peter Furlong on on 10.03.2008 at 6:16 AM
Just a word of warning. We have stopped using Dotfuscator (over $1000 down the drain) and I don't think I will bother upgrading to a newer version of Installshield due you problems with their licencing systems. Pre Emptive solutions Sales Department had the cheek to ring trying to get us to upgrade, pity their support Support Department does not seem to exist.
Sean Kearon on on 10.03.2008 at 7:46 AM
Out of interest, what licencing software did you end up choosing? I will be looking into these soon myself.
Jason Short on on 10.03.2008 at 10:06 AM
We feel the license system is very user friendly. We ONLY charge per developer, no runtime fees. This helps us to keep honest people honest and ensures people pay for the number of developers they have. We feel it does it in a very unobtrusive way and extremely fair. Lots of other companies have very hard to use systems, we didn't want to make it a huge thing for users. Once you no longer use a machine you may deactivate that license and install on another machine. It is very developer friendly.
The exact system is called Intellilock from Eziriz. www.eziriz.com/.../intellilock.htm
It is very reasonably priced and gave us all the features we wanted for flexible licensing. Users can change hardware if it fails / upgrade a video cards, etc without it invalidating their license.
Yiannis Bourkelis on on 10.03.2008 at 10:23 AM
I agree with Robert.
I do not like this licensing method. I like simple licensing systems based on serials and web services that handle the work for you, like for example the Devexpress licensing system.
I understand that you want to control who is installing your product and where and minimize or detect piracy.
I believe that your customers like to pay for a good product like VistaDB and trust your code, but I think that you should trust your customers more.
Michael Swain on on 10.03.2008 at 10:44 AM
Yiannis,
We do plan to integrate web services into the licensing manager to automate the process, first we wanted to make sure the "manual" method was solid.
If we went the web service direction first, there would probably be people upset about the lack of a manual process for when they are behind a firewall or proxy that interferes with .Net communicating to an external server.
The manual method ensures that everybody can use it to begin with.
Ben on on 10.03.2008 at 10:53 AM
I am not sure why the outrage about the license system. I personally don't care how it works, as long as I can install one on my tower and one on my laptop. The only reason for that is because sometimes it is easier to work sitting on the couch. I have no issue with being able to deactivate a license from one machine to move it to another machine if I have to (for new computer or hardware) as long as the transition is easy and I don't have to call someone to do it.
I can't see how anyone would need to have it on more than two machines unless they had more people using it than licensed, that is my opinion. As long as it works smoothly, that is all I care about.
Sean Kearon on on 10.03.2008 at 11:03 AM
Thanks for the response, Jason. I have Ezriz on my list to evaluate and it's looking like a really good solution now. Our use case is similar to yours - we're locking to the machine, but allowing the user to move the software to another machine by revoking. As we're planning to use VistaDB, I'll get a chance to see the licensing engine in action too :)
Rick Cox on on 10.03.2008 at 11:35 AM
Good comments here...
I design desktop apps, usually for local people who tell me what their needs are and then we go from there.
I too have hardware locking abilities with my applications - yes... even for desktop apps. I can go a little bit further and have it detect multiple instances on a local network, or adjust it so that it only allows X number of instances on a network. Naaaa... that would be a waste of time for everyone for what I do.
Yes I think one can get a little over zealous with protection schemes and I don't think Jason's or VistaDB is one of them.
Chris on on 10.03.2008 at 1:42 PM
What is the process for un-activating a machine? Is there a way to revoke it online? Does it have to be done from the machine that has the license on it? Do we have to contact VistaDB and wait for someone to reset the activation counter?
Will changing hardware count as another activation or can the activation be revoked then regenerated?
elpipo on on 10.03.2008 at 2:51 PM
Hi,
I often travel for business purposes, when I'm at home... hum I mean at the office (microISV) I develop on my desktop but when I travel I develop on my laptop. Will I have to deactivate the desktop install and activate it on my laptop everytime I travel and vice versa (or worse would I need to buy an extra licence)? It could end up being a royal pain. What if I forget to deactivate the desktop install, I might find myself somewhere on earth without being able to install VistaDB on my laptop, left with no choice but buying an extra licence.
I mean the licence is supposed to be developper based, not hardware based... but I understand that you might want some extra protection.
Thank you.
Michael McDonald on on 10.03.2008 at 3:17 PM
We still hold true to the 2 installs per developer arrangement. When you purchase a license you are still allowed to install it on a desktop and a laptop. The new licensing system still respects this. So in short no. You will only need one license in the situation that you have a desktop and a laptop.
elpipo on on 10.03.2008 at 4:54 PM
Thank you the good news.
Jason Short on on 10.03.2008 at 7:01 PM
There will be an online process to deactivate at uninstall or to declare a machine dead. But much like how Microsoft prevents you from doing this too often, so will we. If you delete and add machines all the time it is suspicious and will be locked.
Changing hardware does NOT count as a new install. We are VERY generous in our allowances for hardware changes. We key to 6 components in your system and several of them would have to change in order to invalidate your license.
For example upgrading your video card and cpu would still result in a valid license.
Brian Boatright on on 10.03.2008 at 11:56 PM
Licensing is a necessary evil unfortunately. The only time I really have a problem is when it's locked to a machine instead of the user, I have a workstation (pc), laptop, and a macbook and try to keep them all with the same capability.
The worse case is when there is licensing in the runtime.
Since neither of these seem to be the case with VistaDB. IMHO I think the only people who continue to complain about licensing are the ones who will have to buy more. ;-)
Jason Short on on 10.09.2008 at 1:15 AM
One note about the License Manager. If you run it from the start menu you must run it as admin or it will not have permissions to write the license to disk. Since the app is normally run from the installer (which requires admin) we didn't think about it being run from the shortcut. It will be corrected in the next build.