how to prevent cf software piracy

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
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Guest

Hi

We have a small ppc windows forms app. We are keen to ensure it does not get redistributed by people we sell it to.

Are there any ways of ensuring it is only used on one device or does anyone know any links on this?

Adam
 
'Ensuring' it will be quite a chore and the more checks you put in place,
the more cumbersome schemes tend to be. This is a good start on .NET
Licensing http://windowsforms.net/articles/Licensing.aspx and you can get
as creative as you want - for instance, requiring an internet verification
each time the program is run. That could easily become a deal breaker on a
PDA but the link above should guide you where you need to be.

--
W.G. Ryan MVP Windows - Embedded

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[email protected] said:
Hi

We have a small ppc windows forms app. We are keen to ensure it does not
Click to expand...
get redistributed by people we sell it to.
 
Thank you. I now know a lot more about licensing, but I havent yet thought of a solution. I dont want to force people to connect to the net, and there is nothing to stop people simply beaming the program and its associated licence file to their friends.

I was wondering if there was anyway of the exe sort of modifying itself when it is first installed, or the installer marking it in some way so that it is tied to the unique id of the device. This is the only way I can think of to prevent multiple copies just being shared out.

Adam
 
You can do the whole registry key thing. If you use the www.opennetcf.org
library, Registry access is a breeze. You could create a hidden registry
key and check for its existence before making the app run.

--
W.G. Ryan MVP Windows - Embedded

Have an opinion on the effectiveness of Microsoft Embedded newsgroups?
Let Microsoft know!
https://www.windowsembeddedeval.com/community/newsgroups
[email protected] said:
Thank you. I now know a lot more about licensing, but I havent yet thought
Click to expand...
of a solution. I dont want to force people to connect to the net, and there
is nothing to stop people simply beaming the program and its associated
licence file to their friends.
I was wondering if there was anyway of the exe sort of modifying itself
Click to expand...
when it is first installed, or the installer marking it in some way so that
it is tied to the unique id of the device. This is the only way I can think
of to prevent multiple copies just being shared out.
 
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