views:

335

answers:

4

So yea, i'm planning on selling a web application i've made. I know i could never stop people from copying files and sharing them, but how would i go about placing pieces of code that could alert me of usage?

I know someone motivated enough will eventually crack it.. i'm just interested in the possible solutions(using php, especially).

Thanks guys!

+1  A: 

Try Zend Guard

Gerard
Thanks for the suggestion! It's freaking expensive though! 600 Euro. wow.
Jeff
Yes, it is expensive but we found it to be a small price to pay for the level of security offered to PHP web apps. Plus the licensing model is very flexible.
Gerard
+5  A: 

What are you talking about is analogous of a trojan into commercial software. Why would anybody pay for software that sends monitoring beacons out to the web?

Instead you could simply sell the software with a licensing scheme and provide services that require valid licenses. That way people who steal your software cannot obtain security patches, support, or upgrades, and other goodies. If you do not have a business ready to support the software you are about to sell then you may not be ready to sell your software at this time.

Beacons are one of the only ways i could think of, really. It's not something I would want to do though. Just wondering what people out there are doing. Thanks for your suggestions.
Jeff
@austin cheney You are just wrong. If the saoftware is good everyone will buy it. See IPB or vBulltin these have what so call trojan in it. Still they are widely spread!
Jonathan Shepherd
A: 

A less expensive alternative to Zend Guard is IonCube

MadCoder
A: 

@austin cheney I will top him for that. I don't recommend you encrypting your software, nor OBfuscate it. This will take freedom away from your user. Why don't you just do like IPB? Call every hosting that host your illegal software :)

@Jeff You will need a host. Search for pinging on google. Hide the ping script in your script and let it ping your server script which you can record the IP and Domain?

Jonathan Shepherd