>From: "Eugen Polukhin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Commercial version, HELP!!!
>what is the most common way to form commercial release.
>Do we have to provide serial numbers,
>or some sort of binding to device,
>or it is just fine to make no protection at all,
>in hope that people will pay for tech. support.
I think that you have to consider the value of your product and the number
of copies that you expect will be purchased. For a US$10 shareware type
product that will sell 1000's of copies, they usually do not consider any
special protection, because there will be enough registered users to make a
profit.
I have noticed that the more expensive, low-volume products usually have
some protection. One of the best methods is to tie the software to the "user
name" that is set in the Palm. When registering, the user must supply this
name. From this name, you then use some algorithm to generate a registration
code that the user enters into the program (this then goes into the saved
preferences). When the app starts, it uses the same algorithm to check the
user name of the Palm against the stored code. In this way, the app will
only work on a Palm with the correct user name. The only disadvantage here
is that you must always provide the service to generate the registration
codes.
Doug Gordon
