As software developers, it is hard to accept a “sunk cost” for development. One aspect that never gets thought through, is the ability to replace something that is broken because the fear of negatively affecting the customer base due to a license outage, risk of introducing a security “hole”, or switching to something that you find a “crack” for on the internet less than one (1) week later.

Change is hard, but knowing that you are not only losing money AND that you have lost control of your product is definitely motivation for change. Plus, not really knowing exactly how much you are losing (product revenue) can keep some people up at night: “Did we just release something for which we will only capture 50% revenues of the actual software being used?”

In an internet driven global society, software, due to its intangibility, has the casual perception of being “free” by end users. Customers absolutely want instant gratification, and they do not want to wait for a “box” to be delivered in order to use your solution. Customers want it “now,” and the process for licensing your software is expected to be as simple as the download process, especially for demo licenses. It is not uncommon for customers, regardless of organization size, to desire to use multiple copies of software within their group or organization. One of the first things customers do is write down/copy the license process so that they can recover if there is a problem – but also to install on a second computer (e.g. laptop or for home use) or possibly on a colleague’s computer.

If your license process requires a complicated internal-use license server, or some type of “key-gen” solution you purchased or created your self, your software is now at risk.

With the advent of Virtual Machine Software Technologies like VM Ware and Parallels software license concerns are quickly becoming less of a perceived concern to end-users. Operating Systems and software are quickly becoming a disposable commodity, The tools for testing, copying and using software beyond it’s intended use is ether FREELY AVAILABLE, or can be purchased commercially for less than US $100.00.

The days of highly inefficient processes and products like “dongles”, key-generators, and local license servers are quickly coming to an end.

“I think there is a world market for maybe [about] five computers.”
- Thomas J. Watson, IBM Chair 1943