Method for providing a trail period on a program

[Steve]

Ben Finney wrote:
> On Thu, 1 Apr 2004 17:46:12 -0600, Larry Bates wrote:
> 
>>I'm searching for a good way to provide a "trail period" (something
>>like 90 days) for a commercial application that I'm writing.  I'd like
>>something that can easily stop working 90 days after installation.
> 
> 
> Why do you want to break your user's programs to gain money?  Will they
> not pay for your work without their programs breaking?  What does that
> say about the value of your work?

In fairness, it might not be Larry's work that he isn't 
confident about, but the honesty of his customers.

Larry, how foolproof do you want this trial period to 
be? How sophisticated are your clients? How motivated 
are they to crack it? What are your motives for wanting 
to disable the program? Are you sure your business 
model is the best way?

For example, perhaps you would be better off 
distributing a free version with reduced functionality, 
with the additional functionality only in the non-free 
version.

If you want a foolproof mechanism for disabling the 
program after the trial period, then Python is probably 
not the language for you. Actually, a sufficiently 
motivated hacker will find some way to crack your 
protection no matter what you do.

Besides, there is one other thing you should consider. 
You're not Microsoft. Your biggest problem isn't people 
ripping you off by not paying for your software, it is 
that people don't even know your software exists. 
Perhaps it is worth letting people make free copies in 
order to spread the word. Don't think of it as being 
ripped off, think of it as advertising.

Just a few thoughts for you to consider.


-- 
Steven D'Aprano