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Article #319Re: Copy Protection (was: Re: WordPerfect Update (NOT!))
From: Paul S. Sears
Date: Thu, 06 Aug 1992 21:49
Date: Thu, 06 Aug 1992 21:49
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4199 bytes
In article <BsHF8t.2Ap@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> lemson@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (David
Lemson) writes:
=>sears@tree.egr.uh.edu (Paul S. Sears) writes:
=>
=>>I am probably a lone fish in a big nasty sea, but I am satisfied with the
copy
=>>protection like the one used in Mathematica. I can already feel the heat,
but
=>>I like the ability to limit software to specific machines (not to a
specific
=>
=>Did you set it up? Sure, it's fine once it's running but to set up
=>50 of them is quite a bit of work.
Actually, you only need *one* password to set up Mma. That is the password
for the machine you plan to install it on (one of our servers, for example)
=>>of limiting software much more than "There are already 4 copies of this
=>>software running...." type messages...
=>But with mathematica's floating license server, which supposedly
=>works now, you should have one copy for each machine anyhow, so you
=>should never have anyone see such a message, plus you don't have to
=>run mathinfo on each machine. I think that license servers which
=>are tied down to one machine are reasonable.
=>
You missed my point entirely! I said that I want to be able to limit what
software it run on _WHICH_ machine. This is _NOT_ possible with the standard
"Floating license server." If I have a server with all the commercial
software available for our clients, then the _only_ practical way to prevent
clients (not users!) from accessing software is to have the software tied to a
particular machine by way of somesort of hostid/passwd file. Again, as I said
before, the Mma way of protection makes this extremely trivial for me (just
comment out the password line for the machine you _don't_ want Mma to run
on...)
=>>Wolfram has done a great job in dealing with us and they usually have our
=>>passwords within 24 hours of requesting them (often the same day!).
=>
=>Ugh...have you ever tried to fax them a list of licenses? They
=>frequently 'lose' 10 page faxes. (Happened to me twice).
I use Email. I find that email is very easy and is not lost very often. But,
I have had dealt with them via fax and they never seemed to loose any of our
requests....
=>
=>>I do have complaints that you cannot install the software until you have a
=>>least one of the passwords, but once one copy is licensed, it is trivial to
=>>add as many more as you purchase...
=>
=>It could be easier, though, with a floating license server...no
=>reason to make it harder than really necessary.
=>
The ideal situation would be for the method of protection to be
_user/installer_ selectable, like "Choose either a hostid/passwd file or
floating license server as the method of copy/usage protection for this
software...." For example, I want _some_ of my software tied to particular
clients (clients purchased for the specific purpose of running this software;
ie, large swap disk, mucho memory) but I also have some general software that
a floating license server would be perfect...
=>--
=>David Lemson (217) 244-1205
=>University of Illinois NeXT Campus Consultant / CCSO NeXT Lab System Admin
--
Paul S. Sears * sears@uh.edu (NeXT Mail OK)
The University of Houston * suggestions@tree.egr.uh.edu (NeXT
Engineering Computing Center * comments, complaints, questions)
NeXT System Administration * DoD#1967 '83 NightHawk 650SC
>>> SSI Diving Certification #755020059 <<<
"Programming is like sex: One mistake and you support it a lifetime."
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<1992Aug6.214904.21001@menudo.uh.edu>Path:
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Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.software Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!walter!att!linac!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!menudo.uh.edu!usenet From: sears@tree.egr.uh.edu (Paul S. Sears) Subject: Re: Copy Protection (was: Re: WordPerfect Update (NOT!)) Message-ID: <1992Aug6.214904.21001@menudo.uh.edu> Sender: usenet@menudo.uh.edu (USENET News System) Nntp-Posting-Host: flower.egr.uh.edu Reply-To: sears@tree.egr.uh.edu Organization: University of Houston References: <BsHF8t.2Ap@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1992 21:49:04 GMT Lines: 74