Show HN: Add license key verification to your apps • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: Add license key verification to your apps

#91

Post by Anthony-G » Wed, Apr 29, 2020, 12:28 PM UTC

ptx wrote: post #47

paypalcust83 wrote: post #14

Be very careful with licensing. VMware early-on had licensing code that disabled a customer's app and cost them a lot of money. Licensing of enterprise features is best to have a nag screen and disable some future actions rather than drop a ban-hammer. They were forced to strip out that code and ended up with weak enforcement of licensing. Telemetry and online verification are unacceptable to some customers of on-pre…

> open sources surveillance (search engines and warez sites) That's the first time I've heard "open source" used to refer to a warez site. Is this overloading of the term being seeded by someone in order to, in a roundabout way, discredit the open source movement? A few years ago there would have been an obvious suspect for such FUD, but they seem to have embraced open source these days, so that wouldn't make sense.…

Upvoting this comment (and its informative responses) because I was equally as confused by the wording in that phrase.

Re: Show HN: Add license key verification to your apps

#92

Post by sova » Wed, Apr 29, 2020, 1:09 PM UTC

JoshTriplett wrote: post #28

sova wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One problem with this maxim is that all nefarious code would also be open-sourced. Would you really want every subversive tool also openly available? One could argue that the inner workings of a car engine or music box are "closed source," yet there is no imperative on releasing detailed schematics with every unit.

> One problem with this maxim is that all nefarious code would also be open-sourced. Would you really want every subversive tool also openly available? Yes, of course. Every last one of them. That will make such tools more usable by people who actually need them, and more understandable by those defending against them. > One could argue that the inner workings of a car engine or music box are "closed source," yet the…

The only way to enforce such a scheme is fascism -- immediately negating all freedoms won thereby

Re: Show HN: Add license key verification to your apps

#93

Post by danenania » Wed, Apr 29, 2020, 4:56 PM UTC

bscphil wrote: post #70

danenania wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends a lot on where your revenue comes from. If it comes from large businesses, realistically they aren’t likely to pirate since it’s a legal risk to them and a hassle compared to just buying the thing. In that case, some token DRM could be enough.

> If it comes from large businesses, realistically they aren’t likely to pirate since it’s a legal risk to them In that case, wouldn't a "free for personal use" license be sufficient? I know some software Oracle's VirtualBox, for example, implement something like this and it must work for them because they come down hard on supposed violators.

Yes, that could work, though I think if you make it too easy for people to use it for free, then many will do so just as the path of least resistance, at least until you make an issue of it. Just putting some kind of minor barrier in the way is enough to make paying the easier option, and it doesn't require any monitoring or enforcement.

Re: Show HN: Add license key verification to your apps

#94

Post by TheDong » Wed, Apr 29, 2020, 5:09 PM UTC

jayshua wrote: post #49

ddevault wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand your question.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding your point then. I got from your posts roughly: It is unethical for end-user software to be closed source, everyone is fundamentally entitled to the source code for programs they run on their computer. Further, if an end-user decides not to run the closed-source software, it is still unethical because many people don't understand the value of source code and they are still being exploited w…

It's a potentially unethical situation at the very least.

If the person running that software asks for the source code, it would be unethical to withhold it from them. However, from the arrangement you made, it would also be unethical for the person to exercise that entitlement which they previously agreed to give up. Two unethical actions don't make a right, so you're just setting yourself up for an unethical situation all around. Better to just make it clear the source code's available on request from the beginning.

Re: Show HN: Add license key verification to your apps

#95

Post by fatnoah » Wed, Apr 29, 2020, 5:19 PM UTC

paypalcust83 wrote: post #14

Be very careful with licensing. VMware early-on had licensing code that disabled a customer's app and cost them a lot of money. Licensing of enterprise features is best to have a nag screen and disable some future actions rather than drop a ban-hammer. They were forced to strip out that code and ended up with weak enforcement of licensing. Telemetry and online verification are unacceptable to some customers of on-pre…

>Licensing of enterprise features is best to have a nag screen

At one of my past startups, I was asked to implement a licensing scheme, and we went with a hybrid approach. Nothing that one of our customer's customers would see was initially affected, but our customers would see a nag with a 30 day countdown. After 30 days their customers would also see the nag, and lockdown would occur after 60 days. That gave everyone plenty of time to resolve any license issues and avoided any "whoops, we broke your stuff at a critical time" nightmares.