Actually the issue I am concerned with isn't related to stealing IP it is related to restricting who can compile against an assembly versus who can just execute the assembly (development vs runtime license).
-- Keith On Wed, 8 May 2002 17:18:41 +1200, Alex Henderson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >To prevent the casual "pirate" using your assemblys in there own projects >could easily be achieved with an obfusticator surely? > >-----Original Message----- >From: Keith Hill [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] >Sent: Wednesday, May 08, 2002 5:03 PM >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: [DOTNET] Design time licensing alternative - proposal > >The Problem - Design time licensing is easy to defeat: > >With ActiveX controls you could pretty much rely upon design time >licensing i.e. the VB 6 designer refused to load a licensed control unless >you had the appropriate design time license. However, with the new way of >doing forms where the forms designer just emits code, it is easy enough to >bypass the designer altogether essentially defeating design time >licensing. Furthermore, many 3rd party class libraries that would like to >be licensed don't necessarily have any controls/components that the >developer would drop onto a form anyway. > >The Solution - Compile time licensing (or development license): > >One way to get around this is to modify the MS compilers MC++, C# and >VB.NET to inquire about the existence of a development license at the >point someone tries to compile against the assembly. This has the benefit >of enforcing the need to have a "development" license whether the >developer is using the forms designer or just trying to write code against >the licensed assembly. The determined developer could probably use >reflection to program against the assembly but I still think this scheme >would do a much better job of stopping the casual pirate from developing >against class libraries that were installed as part of another >application's installation. Besides, doing lots of programming using >reflection would be a PITA, perhaps enough to prevent most piracy. > >Thoughts? You can read messages from the DOTNET archive, unsubscribe from DOTNET, or subscribe to other DevelopMentor lists at http://discuss.develop.com.
