time trial based applications

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bamse
  • Start date Start date
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Bamse

hello, i need to make check the date of instalation of a software that i
write;
the instalation date is written somewhere in computer, that's not a problem;
but, to check the diferrence between the present date and the install date,
i need a reliable time source
(i presume that the client will try to set time back)
so far i've thought of these:
- if the client has Internet access (the soft is network based (n-tier) and
may not access the internet) :
- check the date against a time server
- check the date against my server
- ?
- if the client does not have internet access :
- check the date against a local domain controller
- ?

any other ideas?
thank you
 
Your options are pretty much what I can think of. However, in thinking
about this issue before for copy trial periods I came to the conclusion that
for the majority of users, switching the time back again and again just to
run your application is not something most people are going to do over time.
They have other needs for correct time for various other applications. For
something major like an OS, some people would may try this for awhile, but I
don't think many productive people would. You also have the reverse issue
of people incorrectly setting (or other misconfig) to time too far in the
future and disabling your software when in fact they have 30 more days, etc.
So maybe a run count would be more reasonable or a blended check based on
run count and current date/time. Not sure I would mess with time services
because of the consistency issues and overhead to your program. That said,
if you really need a time diff, then you need it, and can go with one of
your options.
 
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