Quote:
Originally Posted by m127 
I do appreciate their support and favor, so why would I want to take advantage of the fact that they like/love the product I sell to them?
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I very much like your idea of a pass-thru mini USB hub.
IMHO, solution two is already in-place for products like Cakewalk's Sonar.
It's a "dongle-less" "trust the customer" software licensing scheme requiring
only registration. Reaper offers a similar licensing approach / style.
While this approach has garnered them customer loyalty, it is the principle reason
why Sonar is one of the more pirated DAW products out there (IMHO). We've
had several projects that were originally tracked in Sonar and at least
half of them had the software with the "my friend let me install it"
license.
Just like what happened in the music business (via illegal file sharing), the
expectation that people will pay for the software that they use out of the goodness
of their hearts is mis-placed (IMHO). In fact, what's happened in the music
business is that the practice of illegal use has become institutionalized. The
notion that one must pay for a music track is repugnant to some.
In my opinion, the same would happen with music software and that a minority
of users would actually pay for the product(s).
So, I begrudgingly accept the usage of dongles and the inconvenience they incur
because I want the R&D of companies like Digidesign, Waves, Yamaha, Cakewalk, Cockos, etc. etc, to be able to invest in advancing the State-of-the-Art.
I do agree that whomever chooses to use a dongle scheme should provide
the device free-of-charge and do their best to make it as unobtrusive as
possible.
jeff