Quote Originally Posted by 'Otlecs',index.php?page=Thread&postID=216334#post2 16334
The mechanism we use for key generation does [call home], but only to check that the key is valid.
Do you do this only at the time of purchase, or every time the software is fired up?

I'm quite keen to move to software that doesn't rely on external servers.
You mean like Wow :P

The software is fairly intelligent. I'm not sure of the exact logic, I assume thats a dark secret of the people that provide us with the service, but here's our observations:

  1. For the first few times you run the software, it will require a connection. The more often it correctly validates, the more lenient in becomes in that respect
  2. The system has logic built into it to detect certain types of activity (such as disconnecting before starting and then re-establishing the connection once it's running) and gets upset at such behavior.
  3. It can tell the difference between being disconnected from the internet, and being connected but it's "home" site being down, and will change its behavior accordingly.


We spent some time looking into various options, and decided that this was the least invasive, most reliable, and is not machine locked (which has always irritated me in the past)

Of course we all wish that such measures where not required, but my wife even found a site where someone was requesting a cracked version of [that which cannot be mentioned] last night - I'd really not realized that "cracking" was being offered as a service! - to the credit of the site, the moderator stamped on that user, but it saddens me that this sort of thing goes on.

Phil