Hi Brian and welcome to the Versions Google Group, I'm sorry you had such a bad experience with registering Versions on multiple computers.
Currently, our registration server allows up to 5 installations on different computers within a single month. Re-registering from a computer that has already registered before does not have any influence on that number. When you exceed the 5 machines a month limit, the license key will automatically be blocked for the rest of the month. There are a couple of other, similar limitations in place, their goal is mutual: to catch unreasonable amounts of registrations, not to prevent legitimate users from registering and using Versions. Sadly, sometimes a legimitate user does run into a limitation, like you just have. These limitiations (as in 5 per month, etc.) are not set in stone. The registration process is built in such a way that if we find patterns in which legitimate Versions users run into limitations, we can change the exact logic that's used to validate a key. That's why the license agreement mentions "a reasonable amount" of computers etc., instead of an exact number and exact rules. We did not assume we'd correctly guess the best logic for this the first time around. After the launch of 1.0 we received several emails critiquing the language used in the license agreement (before the "reasonable amount of computers" was in there) and the exact limitations used by the registration server. So we made tweaks to both the license agreement and the registration server to clarify our intentions and make the process less likely to cause any hassle. Since those changes were made a couple of months ago, complaints about the registration process have been extremely rare, indicating that most people never run into the set limitations anymore. Clearly, you did run into them. Not to justify the hassle you had to deal with, but to clarify why: Since we're giving an automated process the responsibility to assess 'fairness', not really something computers are very good at, the accuracy of that decision is by definition limited by the scenarios we could come up with while desiging the system. So the process is hopefully very close to —but by definition never completely— perfect. Therefore, we'll gladly issue a new license key along with an apology to anyone who runs into some limitations while registering Versions. Please send me an email off-list from (or mentioning) the email- address you used to purchase Versions, so I can get a new license key to you right away. We will also take a close look at what happened exactly, to figure out why the registration server got in your way and make sure that doesn't happen again in a similar situation. Sorry again for the hassle. We all dislike running into over-zealous copy protection ourselves and really try to make our registration server's criteria as easygoing as possible. Thanks, - Dirk the Versions team On Mar 22, 10:28 am, Brian <[email protected]> wrote: > I personally purchased versions earlier this year as a replacement for > the some-what dodgy and unreliable svn support for Eclipse (and also > so I could migrate from Perforce). While I have two computers (one > home and one work notebook), I've have only ever used Versions within > the scope of the license agreement (that has been somewhat ambiguous > until recently) - Only ever on one machine at a time. > > While I travel extensively (globally) and often use my notebook (and > Versions) on different networks, I've only ever connected to a single > SVN server and there has only been a single instance (with my license > key, name and email address) running anywhere in the world. No one > has access to my license key. It's never been given to anyone. > > Until recently everything has been going brilliantly. I've even > recommended Versions to a bunch of my colleagues and they have > switched to using it - including paying for it personally. However, > I've now hit a wall. A very big wall. > > The problem with Versions 1.0.3b56 is that is only permits one or two > installations for a single license key (even with the same name and > email address). There have been numerous posts on this forum about > such difficulties and I gathered things have been resolved. I was > wrong. > > How did I find this out? Last week my new notebook arrived and I've > found that my License key no longer permits registration, even when I > try the process on both a public or private corporate network. Worse, > after cleaning up my home computer and then attempting to re-register > Versions, it also now fails. > > Consequently I no longer have ANY registered copies of Versions. > > Options: > > 1. I could purchase another license (because it's such a nice piece of > software) - but I am only attempting to use my licenses in a > legitimate matter!! > > 2. I could request a new key - but will I have to do this everytime I > change computers / need to re-install? > > 3. Switch to another product that doesn't have such a draconian > licensing scheme and won't waste so much of my (and my teams) future > time? > > Let me make a simple comparison: If you think Microsoft's Activation > is bad, Versions is significantly worse, especially for re-installs. > > It's obvious that the authorization server/service is completely > broken for re-installs of Versions and although I think the software > is brilliant, relatively inexpensive and stable, the re-registration > process is a time vampire - possibly costing more in lost time and > annoyance than the cost of the license itself. > > Personally I'd like to say I'm going to stop using Versions, but it's > not my choice. The software (registration) itself is broken so I > can't use it. > > Please please please FIX THE AUTHORIZATION SERVER so that legitimate > people can use the software that they've legitimately purchased. > > [PS: I'll happily post back here again saying how wonderful everything > is when this is fixed] --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Versions" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/versions?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
