[OT] x86 assembler question

[Matthew Dillon]

::     for the Nth time or having to constantly switch them out to run different
::     software, we finally just put our foot down and refused to purchase any
::     software that used physical dongle devices.  It's just too much of
::     a hassle.
:
:We're moving away from dongles, but I have to find something else to use
:instead.  It's an expensive package we have to protect, but I think dongles
:are out of the question for this round.  Round 1 had them, round 2 will not.
:
:
:Jonathon McKitrick
:--
:Hoppiness is a good beer.

    You want some sort of floating license scheme that makes use of
    the LAN to limit the use to the number of licenses purchased.  This
    is what companies like Sun use, I believe.  You can tie it into the
    upgrade scheme (since updates are usually part of such licensing
    schemes) so when the company upgrades over the internet it performs
    a minor audit that records and passes periods of use and uses the 
    information as a double-check.  If you spell the mechanism out clearly
    in the EULA (especially in regards to the information passed back to
    your company during an upgrade), and limit it to just what is needed
    to perform the license count audit and code integrity check, nobody
    will have a problem with it (or shouldn't, anyway).

    No scheme is perfect, a determined hacker can always break down the
    code and bypass it, but the idea should simply be to limit piracy 
    to the point where it is no longer a financial burden, rather then
    trying to eliminate it.

					-Matt
					Matthew Dillon 
					<dillon at xxxxxxxxxxxxx>