I have just gone thru all the archives about likening issues and I don't see anything that appeals to my situation.
I have a product http://PickADisk.com which is tied to the Ziotek carousels made by DACAL. The software is freely available for download in order to evaluate but limited to indexing only 50 disks. I decided to go that route since the software is physically tied to a piece of hardware which is needed in order to for the software to be useful. The user can exercise fully all the functions of the software for evaluation. Upon receipt of payment I send out a license file (AquaticPrime based) and all is well with the world and the user can fill up the carousel. Last week I was approached by a vendor who wants to resell the product but desires to sell a physical CD which he will send to the user. I have been looking at possible solutions for licensing but don't particularly like any of them and though I would broach the subject to the group. Unique Licensed CD My first thought was to create a unique license for each CD which is not associated with any user data. The app would be fully functional until the next update occurs. If the CD version and the new version are different it would ask the user to register (only once per new update) and a new license would be issued. At that point the user is now the same as any other for future updates. Unique Labeled CD This might work for small quantities but the obvious problem is generating unique license for each CD. I could leave the CD bundle alone but print the license code on the CD label which would be easier during production. Use a disk duplicator and make a batch of identical CD but print a different label on each one which is fairly easy to do and is how we do it for our other product http://KeyJack.com but I anticipate a much larger production run for PickADisk. Another problem with this is the requirement for the user to manually enter a key, I know I dislike doing so and would prefer a better solution. Generic CD License My second thought was to create a CD image with a generic license in the bundle which the application would look for and permit full use as previously discribed. The CD version would only run until the next update at which time the app would request the user to register with our web site and I would then send a new license file. If the user chooses to not register the software would continue to function but no updates occur until they register. If someone publishes the CD version to the Internet the version would only run with the CD feature set. One disadvantage of this method is issuing a MBG (Money Back Guarantee) which I do not publicize but do honor. If someone is dissatisfied (only two so far) I issue a refund and put their license in the blacklist on the next update. Obviously I cannot do this for a generic license. I would like to have a solution which would work for both the current download method or for a physical CD. Any further thought or ideas would be appreciated.
