On 26 March 2014 12:20, Charles Mills <charl...@mcn.org> wrote: > Right. Good input. Thanks. I have shipped software with a hard-coded > expiration date. What I am looking for is a "floating" expiration date that > would be 30 days after installation, whether installed today or a year from > today.
It depends to a great extent on the nature of the product. If it contains/provides its own database of some sort, then there's no need for a magic hidden file; it can just store the key info and install date in some obscure corner of the database. Likewise, if the program is APF authorized by its nature, there are plenty of legitimate places it can store the info - most obviously in the security system, and as dataset or file metadata. But it all depends on what you're trying to accomplish. I imagine it's a matter of convenience for you and prospective customers. But if you are seriously worried about unauthorized use (say, beyond the time of a trial), then there are all sorts of other considerations that have been discussed at some length here in the past. These days even the act of hiding key and data info somewhere may provide you (in the US, at least) with a DMCA stick to threaten your customers with should they attempt to figure out where and how you've hidden things. But I'm sure you wouldn't want to even think of that. Tony H. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
