[AccessD] OT - Software to Limit user Access on Computer

[Rocky Smolin]

The key was global for the whole company.  One of the marketing policies
was that they paid a flat price for the system, not by the seat. Made it
easy to buy. Simplified my life as well.

The key consisted of a five digit internal serial number, and external
serial number -  each digit of which was converted to a letter (A-Z) -  an
expiration date where the day month and year were each converted to
letters and a date of last update which was encoded the same way.  Then the
letters were scrambled and a check sum digit calculated where I added
together all of the ACScii values of the encoded internal and external
serial numbers, and the expiration and last update date.  Finally I
scrambled the letters.

This was probably overkill but it was fun to do and I devised it at the
beginning of the century when piracy was rampant - especially in China.
China was a huge potential market for a small manufacturing system, and I
didn't want to sell just one there. :o)

So when I wanted to extend the user's expiration date, I generated a key
with a new date and sent it to them.

The 100 part restriction was hard-coded into the mde so when they wanted to
upgrade I had to send them a new mde.

So could you provide keys to your users with an expiration date and have
everyone using the same front end but log in with their unique key?

r





On Mon, Feb 13, 2023 at 8:52 AM David Emerson <newsgrps at dalyn.co.nz> wrote:

> Hi Rocky,
>
> Interestingly I have gleaned your ideas from this list over the years and
> have already planned these features 😊
>
> How did you generate your product key so each user's instance recognised
> it as valid?
>
> In our case, we have an SQL back end. The people testing the product could
> come from several departments within a company so to make it easy we want
> to provide them with an environment that they don't need to work with their
> IT department to get installed, and all testers can have access to.
>
> Regards
>
> David
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: AccessD <accessd-bounces+newsgrps=dalyn.co.nz at databaseadvisors.com>
> On Behalf Of Rocky Smolin
> Sent: Tuesday, 14 February 2023 5:15 am
> To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving <
> accessd at databaseadvisors.com>
> Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT - Software to Limit user Access on Computer
>
> I don't know if this is possible for your software, but when I developed a
> manufacturing system as a commercial product, it was definitely a 'try
> before you buy' product. So, I limited the capacity of one of the tables -
> in this case the part master - to 100 records - enough to try all of the
> features, not enough to be useful in a production environment.
>
> Also, this 'demo' - a full working copy of the system with the one
> restriction on the part master table - had a key with an expiration date
> encoded into the product key. So it would crap out at whatever time frame I
> decided to give the prospect. Later, I created a version of the system with
> a 500 part limit for small companies that were just getting into using a
> manufacturing system, with the carrot that they could upgrade to the full
> system when they outgrew the 500 part limit.
>
> The expiration date in the product key also worked for the full system.
> The user had to contact me for an update to their key, so I was in touch
> with them at least annually, and also discouraged pirating as the pirated
> system would stop within a year or less.
>
>
>
> Any possibilities for you there?
>
> r
>
>
> On Mon, Feb 13, 2023 at 12:51 AM David Emerson <newsgrps at dalyn.co.nz>
> wrote:
>
> > Hi Gustav,
> >
> > We are looking for a long term solution with potential purchasers
> > being able to play with our software before purchasing.
> >
> > I was told that a licence for Windows Server would be more expensive
> > than the benefit we would get from it.
> >
> > Regards
> >
> > David
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: AccessD
> > <accessd-bounces+newsgrps=dalyn.co.nz at databaseadvisors.com>
> > On
> > Behalf Of Gustav Brock via AccessD
> > Sent: Monday, 13 February 2023 8:56 pm
> > To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
> > <accessd at databaseadvisors.com>
> > Cc: Gustav Brock <gustav at cactus.dk>
> > Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT - Software to Limit user Access on Computer
> >
> > Hi David
> >
> > Windows Server 2022 will run for 90 days without a license.
> > Configured as a Terminal Server, it will allow multiple logins without
> > a license server, though limited to 60 minutes for each session. If
> > timeout is reached, just log on again.
> >
> > To launch the application, consider implementing:
> >
> > https://sites.google.com/site/kimknight/remoteapptool
> >
> > /gustav
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