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Re: How are sequential serial numbers/CD keys generated in distributed software?

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   There are different approaches. I use an arbitrary
calculation to create a code from the email address.
People then enter both to activate. So I don't need
unique codes, per se.

   Other people use add-in software. There used to be
a popular one called Armadillo. I assume that cuts down
the efficiency of your software because it's a wrapper,
but I've never actually tried it.

   I think the old standard was just to create a large
number of keys based on a general pattern. Windows
uses a key like that. They all look similar but the parser
can distinguish which version of Windows a key is for,
if any. These days, of course, the key gets used to create
a hardware lock as well. That provides a way to prevent
key re-use AND to lock down a software copy to a single
machine. (It also got Microsoft's foot in the door in getting
people to accept spyware... a first step toward getting
them to accept auto-updating rental software... but that's
another story.)

  If you mean that you are distributing software on something
like a magazine CD then you can't provide unique numbers.
In that scenario people usually use something like a 30-day
trial, or "crippleware".

  There's no perfect solution. With a trial people are less likely
to take the trouble to go get the full version. If the trial is
also the full version it will be cracked. If you go the adware
route people will resent it. If you go the nagware route you
need massive distribution. (WinZip made a success selling
wildly overpriced ZIP software that no one actually needed to
buy. There has always been plenty of free ZIP software, and
the algorythms are open source. They did it by making sure that
WinZip was everywhere. So WinZip became synonymous with
ZIP in the minds of the general public, and a percentage of
those people decided to "do the right thing" and pay for it,
unaware that it was actually somewhat of a scam. EasyZIP
AKA Power Archiver then released a free program that was
almost an exact copy of WinZip, but WinZip *still* had success
because only tech. types knew about Power Archiver. It wasn't
distributed as well as WinZip was.)

  Photoshop hit it big pretty much by being the first one there.
In the late 90s it was being given away free with hardware.
(I have a brother who got a full version of Photoshop 3 or 4
with a scanner purchase.) Once they had success, the price of
Photoshop went "through the roof", which only helped to
establish it as the tool for professionals. Once something
reaches that level it becomes a monopoly, mainly because
people don't want to risk being "losers" by buying a different
product that may not be recognized by their peers, whether
it's graphic software, cologne, beer, or potato chips.

   I'm afraid software is like most mass-market products. It's
marketing and luck that makes a product successful, not
quality. The most success I ever had was with a program that
was well-reviewed on TechTV. Every time it was featured
people would swarm my website to buy the software. But
many, perhaps most, of those people never even bothered
to get the full version. They bought something because it
was on TV and then promptly forgot about it.

  On top of all that, most categories of software are now available
in dependable, free options. Often the best option is the free
one. I haven't needed to buy software for years. So the market
for shareware has dried up.

   Just today in the NYT there's a big
article about "cloud computing". An IBM spokesperson says they're
going cloud because they're "following the puck in this business".
What a great image to convey the quirky, changeable world of
tech. Companies have been trying to sell the cloud since about '99, but
now it's being marketed desperately and ubiquitously. Why?
Because people can now buy a PC for about $300 and fill it with
mostly free software. The market for both hardware and software
has collapsed, aside from the category of overpriced small things
for people who think they need to work on essays in Starbucks
or get restaurant reviews while riding a bus -- and don't mind
wasting $1,000 to do that... because the idea was marketed to them.

Good luck. :)


|
| This is just a curiosity question, lol, but we've all bought software
| and had to enter  a unique CD Key and/or serial number to install and/
| or activate it.  My question is: How are these added to the program,
| because the only way I can think to do it would create only one CD Key/
| Serial Number for *all* copies of the app!  I'm using VB6 Enterprise
| Edition, and would like to make my apps distributable on CD in this
| fashion.
|
| Thanks!
| Jason 

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Thread

How are sequential serial numbers/CD keys generated in distributed software? Jason Bodine <jbodine1974@gmail.com> - 2011-04-14 16:59 -0700
  Re: How are sequential serial numbers/CD keys generated in distributed software? "Jason Keats" <jkeats@melbpcDeleteThis.org.au> - 2011-04-15 12:18 +1000
  Re: How are sequential serial numbers/CD keys generated in distributed software? BeeJ <nospam@nowhere.com> - 2011-04-15 06:44 -0700
    Re: How are sequential serial numbers/CD keys generated in distributed software? BeeJ <nospam@nowhere.com> - 2011-04-15 07:38 -0700
  Re: How are sequential serial numbers/CD keys generated in distributed software? "Mayayana" <mayayana@invalid.nospam> - 2011-04-15 09:52 -0400

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