XYplorer Beta Club

In another thread I noted that the top five explorer replacements targeted by crackers, in no particular order, are:

XYplorer
Directory Opus
Total Commander
xplorer2
SpeedCommander

One can essentially infer from this that XYplorer is one of the top five explorer replacements in the world, since crackers use software regardless of price.
While there is the benefit of extra exposure through this mechanism, the downside is that now that XYplorer is in their radar, a significant loss of potential revenue can be expected.
Market presence must therefore be increased to stem this loss.

Also, while it is admirable to make the software registry independent, this, and the fact that settings are stored in a text file, make it very easy to ignore the 30 day trial limitation.

One idea I had which may be quite stupid is:
1. Create an encrypted file nightly on your site containing the current date.
2. Hard code in the trial version of your app a check of the date in this file, and then shut down if the current system date is 31 days or so past the date in the file.
This way, at least they have to come back to your site to get another date file.
3. Create a registered version independent of the trial version, and only allow registered users to log on to your site to download this registered version.

Someone may have a better idea on how to solve this problem?

axfleming wrote:Someone may have a better idea on how to solve this problem?

I'm not sure I like this idea, nor that there can be one. Pretty much every software out there turns out cracked, one way or another, even those made by big companies who invest millions to "protect" themselves from crackers...

In the end all it (usually) accomplish is be a pain in the ass for the loyal/paying customers. "Others" know how to "avoid" the so-called protection and not be bothered... seems to me this is what such a thing would create : frustration amongst newcomers only wanting to try XY out.

Oh by the way, using - or trying - a file manager should never require an Internet connection, methinks.

I said it before: cracking is okay. It's great promotion, and good brain gym for the young (in between the shooting games).

If at all my problem are people that use cracks (instead of paying me). But they are not that many lately. It has been noticed by the public how often cracks and crack sites are virus-infested, so many people are becoming careful. Furthermore all available cracks are months behind the fast XY development...