> Back to the keys question, I've tried to figure out how to even have keys in > the application system. > Places that I've worked at, there have been times when getting paid for our > software or services has been difficult to collect, so what about keys ?? > Well, that becomes a challenge when we have always delivered the code to the > customer...not really sure how to do that.
I've always liked the approach that DEC used for VMS software: engineer a common license database and a set of tools to manipulate it, and create a way to check if the license was valid for the machine in question that was usable from every supported programming language on the system. Everybody pretty much had a gentleman's agreement that this was the way to control software usage, and DEC actively discouraged products and vendors that didn't play nice. Their tool had the ability to lock software to a specific machine, CPUtype, number of users, and about a dozen other things, and had options for how long to tolerate running without a license and a whole lot more. You could audit your licenses by running the LICENSE command and all your licenses from all your vendors were in one place. The same system was used for the OS and applications alike, and the license file could contain multiple licenses for the same product that could be queried to determine which license to use on this system (it was designed for clustered machines). IBM made an abortive attempt at something like this back in the 80s, but inserted IBM into the licensing process in a stupid way. Predictably, it got shot down by the ISVs who didn't want to change their code and/or have IBM involved in their licensing. Perhaps it's time to try again -- I know I wouldn't mind having such a thing available, and I detest inventing and/or dealing with stuff like this. Just have the OS vendor do it correctly once; they're in the best position to architect it to fit the underlying system best, and it generally isn't a performance or functionality critical thing so there isn't likely to be a need to allow replacement systems. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
