Opinion on the License Lounge

[zer0]

Well, ... I'd be damned if I talked about it.

That's understandable and I wasn't holding my breath. It's just that thread in the Bugs section gave me food for thought. Whatever it is, as per noir's messages, it is clever and was introduced in the 8.10.xxxx branch of development.

[Seer]

In all honesty, as someone who has been in IT for decades, let me save you a lot of time and effort - don't bother with the Activation route.

I have learnt that one should be cautious about any statement made online that has "in all honesty", or "been in IT for X years"; both in the same sentence?!
Obviously you are not familiar with The Scene.
Ok.
Tiny Filesize + Extreme Portability + Warez Keygen = Masochistic Developer.
Compare DOpus to XY; a crack or serial is not the same as a a keygen!!

Stop whining about what you may have to "suffer" through because it is "inconvenient" and open your eyes and see that this guy is getting ripped off!

Jeez!

What is the matter with you people?

[Mesh]

I have learnt that one should be cautious about any statement made online that has "in all honesty", or "been in IT for X years"; both in the same sentence?!

Obviously you are not familiar with The Scene.
Ok.
Tiny Filesize + Extreme Portability + Warez Keygen = Masochistic Developer.
Compare DOpus to XY; a crack or serial is not the same as a a keygen!!

Stop whining about what you may have to "suffer" through because it is "inconvenient" and open your eyes and see that this guy is getting ripped off!

Jeez!

What is the matter with you people?

We're taking a long sighted view of the matter, as opposed to your approach, which is apparently to only look at the short view.

This has nothing to do with whining, and I am more familiar than you are with "the scene".


If you think Don is getting ripped off now, try adding hundreds of hours of effort securing his app that end up going to waste, and annoying his legitimate customers.

A crack or serial may not be the same as a keygen, but for the users using them, it's effectively equivalent. Look at all the apps out there for which any time they make the tiniest version update, a new crack is out within hours. As far as users who are using warez are concerned, it's no different.


Now, add to that the fact that by adding an Activation routine, Don will be accomplishing these things:


1. Investing hundreds of hours into developing, polishing, and repairing the routine.

2. Investing more time and money in the servers needed to interface with that system.

3. Angering legitimate users for adding what is a significant inconvenience at best, and a real problem at worst (e.g. if they are installing on a machine with no internet access, or where a corporate firewall is preventing communication).

4. Devaluing his software, because what might have been useful for years can now die next week if something happens to him, or if he decides to drop the project altogether.


And after all that, people will be able to patch XY anyway. Oh, yes - and even if Don is successful, he still loses. Not only will he have alienated a good number of his customers, he will be turning off a good number of future customers (I certainly do my very best to *never* buy software with activation routines), and he will be additionally eliminating even more future customers because warez does more to advertise an application than a Superbowl commercial spot.

Not only are there people who start with warez and end up purchasing, there are also those who use warez personally - but recommend purchase to others (both personal, as well as professional).

Apps who do a great job of being difficult to obtain and crack are also apps that have a significantly *tiny* user base. This is not a coincidence. When Adobe put out Photoshop decades ago, they knew that people were sharing the install discs, and spreading their software around. You know what they did about it? Nothing. Because they knew that they were getting an incredibly immense amount of free advertising, and gaining a trained userbase to boot. That meant that people who might have gotten an illegal copy to use at home, were recommending it for purchase to their bosses at work. And as a bonus, their bosses had an employee who knew how to use it already!

All of this allowed Photoshop to spread like wildfire and gain immense market share. Adobe didn't start really cracking down on warez until they were large enough to no longer need it anymore.


So, no, none of this has anything to do with "whining", our eyes are already open just fine, there's nothing wrong with us, and you could do worse then to listen and stop making assumptions about people and their points of view.

[Seer]

A crack or serial may not be the same as a keygen, but for the users using them, it's effectively equivalent. Look at all the apps out there for which any time they make the tiniest version update, a new crack is out within hours. As far as users who are using warez are concerned, it's no different.

Please spare me your pathetic and rather loathesome attempt at defending what is essentially a self-serving and most dishonorable position.
A crack or a serial is not the same as a keygen, you illiterate cur, since generally a crack is specific to a particular release, and a leaked serial can be easily blacklisted if discovered.
A keygen can generate unlimited keys which due to XY's liberal lifetime license policy are valid in perpetuity.
Directory Opus has a license scheme that sceners hate; Stardock has had one for WindowBlinds for years which has not affected its overall popularity.

I am sorry I have no further time to waste responding to pompous con artists such as yourself.
Regards.

[Mesh]

A crack or serial may not be the same as a keygen, but for the users using them, it's effectively equivalent. Look at all the apps out there for which any time they make the tiniest version update, a new crack is out within hours. As far as users who are using warez are concerned, it's no different.

Please spare me your pathetic and rather loathesome attempt at defending what is essentially a self-serving and most dishonorable position.
A crack or a serial is not the same as a keygen, you illiterate cur, since generally a crack is specific to a particular release, and a leaked serial can be easily blacklisted if discovered.
A keygen can generate unlimited keys which due to XY's liberal lifetime license policy are valid in perpetuity.
Directory Opus has a license scheme that sceners hate; Stardock has had one for WindowBlinds for years which has not affected its overall popularity.

I am sorry I have no further time to waste responding to pompous con artists such as yourself.
Regards.

...aaaaaand you just went from a misguided contributor, to an absolute ass. Completely unnecessary, and you did your own reputation irrepairable harm. I'm guessing that you will be creating yet another user account to masquerade under shortly, since most of the users on this board will now have lost any possible respect for you.

Responding to a set of logical points with insults is a juvenile tactic, and shows how young you are.


In the future, you would do better to be civil, polite, and open-minded. I, for one, am now done with you.

[zer0]

I feel that over the past few months, the value of the License Lounge has decreased considerably. Some features that were exclusive to it no longer are, some are out-of-date or can be re-created.

PDF Help -- available to everyone on the main site
Cheat sheets for keyboard shortcuts and mouse tricks -- significantly out-of-date, last update was for v8.00.
Scripting support files -- these are user-created, thus rely on users to update them, so there are no regular additions.
Script File Icons -- icons have not been updated for the new application icon.
Huge Application Icon -- new application icon is present, but old-school one is absent.
Detailed Change Log -- also available on the forum and on the web.
Freezer -- possible to re-create by saving downloaded packages and then sync them using Dropbox (or similar).
BETA versions -- available to everyone on the forum and on the web.

So while it seemed to be a good idea on paper -- yes, I recall initially criticising it -- it somewhat stalled, becoming a place for a one-off raid rather than regular visitation. Such state diminishes additional value proposition for potential licensees and reduces worth for existing holders.

[admin]

I feel that over the past few months, the value of the License Lounge has decreased considerably. Some features that were exclusive to it no longer are, some are out-of-date or can be re-created.

PDF Help -- available to everyone on the main site
Cheat sheets for keyboard shortcuts and mouse tricks -- significantly out-of-date, last update was for v8.00.
Scripting support files -- these are user-created, thus rely on users to update them, so there are no regular additions.
Script File Icons -- icons have not been updated for the new application icon.
Huge Application Icon -- new application icon is present, but old-school one is absent.
Detailed Change Log -- also available on the forum and on the web.
Freezer -- possible to re-create by saving downloaded packages and then sync them using Dropbox (or similar).
BETA versions -- available to everyone on the forum and on the web.

So while it seemed to be a good idea on paper -- yes, I recall initially criticising it -- it somewhat stalled, becoming a place for a one-off raid rather than regular visitation. Such state diminishes additional value proposition for potential licensees and reduces worth for existing holders.

If you have an idea to improve it...

[zer0]

If you have an idea to improve it...

Well, I'm not sure if the juice is worth the squeeze as any suggestions of improvements will inevitably lead to additional workload. Nevertheless, here are a few:

-- The exclusivity (as claimed on the Support page) of many of the perks should be restored
-- Cheat sheets should be updated
-- Scripting support files should be updated (as appropriate) and additional files provided
-- Script file icons should be refreshed with XY's new logo
-- Large version of the old icon should be posted
-- Additional languages for Tip of The Day/Help files

I am also of an opinion that since access to LL is a direct benefit of purchasing a license, updates for existing content and further additions should be developer-driven rather than supplied by users.

[admin]

If you have an idea to improve it...

Well, I'm not sure if the juice is worth the squeeze as any suggestions of improvements will inevitably lead to additional workload. Nevertheless, here are a few:

-- The exclusivity (as claimed on the Support page) of many of the perks should be restored
-- Cheat sheets should be updated
-- Scripting support files should be updated (as appropriate) and additional files provided
-- Script file icons should be refreshed with XY's new logo
-- Large version of the old icon should be posted
-- Additional languages for Tip of The Day/Help files

I am also of an opinion that since access to LL is a direct benefit of purchasing a license, updates for existing content and further additions should be developer-driven rather than supplied by users.

I agree that most of this should be done (in a world where time is cheap), but I don't see that doing will give the LL an undispensible value. All in all I have the impression that the LL does interest only a small minority of the users anyway. Most users don't even know it exists. This lowers my motivation to spend my time here.

[RalphM]

Well, when the betas were only available through LL, lots of people went there on a regular basis, but I admit - and guess it might be the same for others - since the betas are back in the forum, I seldom visit the LL anymore...

[zer0]

I agree that most of this should be done (in a world where time is cheap), but I don't see that doing will give the LL an undispensible value. All in all I have the impression that the LL does interest only a small minority of the users anyway. Most users don't even know it exists. This lowers my motivation to spend my time here.

I don't think LL was ever indispensable and I'm certain that transition of perks out of LL into the public domain didn't help in attracting attention. If LL has no future, then you may as well put those things back for everyone to peruse. Or is there just enough interest to justify its existence?

[admin]

I agree that most of this should be done (in a world where time is cheap), but I don't see that doing will give the LL an undispensible value. All in all I have the impression that the LL does interest only a small minority of the users anyway. Most users don't even know it exists. This lowers my motivation to spend my time here.

I don't think LL was ever indispensable (;)) and I'm certain that transition of perks out of LL into the public domain didn't help in attracting attention. If LL has no future, then you may as well put those things back for everyone to peruse. Or is there just enough interest to justify its existence?

It's still a (tiny) benefit for buying customers, and one that no cracker ever can crack. That alone is reason enough.