I will be selling a Windows application into an industry where many of the users will know and be friendly with many of the other prospective users. I expect that some users wouldn't think twice about copying the application for those other prospective users. What is the best way to insure that a Windows application isn't copied for oth...
I'm selling software online and would love to know what everyone else is using for licensing and protection. I know Armadillo is popular, as is EXECrypter, but what else is out there? ...
This question is more or less for Joel Spolsky, but if anyone else has an answer, they are welcome! If you ship the source code, like in FogBugz [1], and you allow the costumer to modify it; how do you avoid the costumer from unblocking how many users can use it (and thus, destroying your business model)? [1] I seem to recall when you ...
This is a problem we all have to consider at some point. After many years and many approaches I tend to agree in general with the staterment: "For any protected software used by more than a few hundred people, you can find a cracked version. So far, every protection scheme can be tampered with." http://stackoverflow.com/questions/34301...
What is the best way to avoid that an application is copied and used without the owner’s knowing? Is there any way to trace the usage? Meaning periodically the application communicates back, with enough information so that we can know where it is, and if it’s legal. Next thing, of course, shut it down, if it’s not legit. ...
What are accepted methods to reduce iPhone application piracy, which do not violate Apple's evaluation process? If my application "phones home" to provide the unique device ID on which it runs, what other information would I need to collect (e.g., the Apple ID used to purchase the application) to create a valid registration token that a...
I found a new search engine that speeds up finding piracy files from rapidshare, how could I automate a tool that finds our product using this engine and outputs the list of the rapidshare URLs that will be then sent to [email protected]. search engine: http://rapidlibrary.com/ (note, the captcha image appears just once there) Belo...
Hello, I dont know what to say. About 3 days ago I released a script to the public. Today I realised, after searching on google that someone had already nulled (removed my protection) and pirated the script. How do I stop users from pirating the script? It is written in PHP. Please help or suggest some solutions. Thank you for your t...
Hello! I've a question about a good way to protect a bit my cocoa app from piracy! I know that this is impossible! So, in my app I've an isRegistered() method that run every time the user launch the app! This is called in the applicationDidFinishLaunching: App delegate ... so if this method return true, the app continue to execute the ...
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). ...
Is there a way in the iPhone sdk to get the name of the contact who own's the phone? I see that my app has been cracked, and I would like to update a release which checks to see if it a cracked version and then display the following: Hello (Persons name). I see you are using a cracked version of (Application Name). If you like this appl...
I've written a small utility that I wish to sell for less than $10. My primary concern is "casual piracy". The scenario that plays out in my mind is this: User buys the program, enjoys using it and tells their friends. The friends copy the application to their USB drives and take it home - using the application for free (maybe...
I have some trial software that I wish to distribute to clients. I want the trial based software to stop working 30 days after installed. A simple check of the system date in the software is the most straightforward way to achieve this, but couldn't a client easily circumvent this protection by changing his system time/date in Windows? ...
I'm not interested in getting version information. All I want to do is to make sure my application will only run on a legal version of Windows and not on a pirated version. Windows uses some trick to determine this but still allows pirated versions to continue to run, although with some limits. So, is there a way to check if the applica...
I am great fan of open source technologies. I have seen lot of sites which offers pirated software's.My question is , Suppose If you are software developer and wants to sell your product and stop piracy of your products which are all the techniques or methods you use ? Is there any standard software's or standard techniques available ?...
I'm developing some web-based software. However, commercial launch, as far as I can tell, will require distribution of the PHP code. How can I prevent this code from being pirated? ...
I need to write a "kill switch" into my C# application for licensing/billing purposes. What is the best way to do that? The requirements are as follows (its actually 2 kill switches): 1 - "passive kill switch" - If a particular user does not log into the application in X days then the application stops working. 2 - "active kill switch...
How easy is it to determine whether an iPhone application is cracked and report that device ID to a server rather than block it / or turning the app into a lite version? Would patching remove these methods to the server? It is mainly a losing battle preventing an app being cracked, but i want a system not dissimilar to product keys / or...
Is it possible to assign different identifiers to copies of an app downloaded from the app store that is hard coded into the application? Or is their anyway of permanently storing an identifier in the application bundle such that when it is copied, the key remains within the bundle? EDIT: Ok, how about iTunes reciepts, can they be used ...
I plan to release one small, low priced utility. Since this is more hobby than business, I planned to use Dotfuscator Community Edition that is shipped with VS2008. How good is it? I could also use definition of "good enough obfuscator" - what features are missing from Dotfuscator Community Edition to make it good enough. Edit: I ...