Comment Take a lesson from the big boys. (Score 1) 561
Project management software? Who the heck wants project management software at home? Your target, as you say, is large-ish companies. Maybe it's different in the US (the news suggests it is), but here in NZ companies big enough to need project management software tend to have developed ethics, and will buy the software they need. They trade on their reputation, and doing illegal things tends to tarnish reputations. Don't worry about controlling, or even checking, them. Do every damn thing you can to make it easy for them, they're the ones paying you the big bucks. If you have a good product with no pain, they'll pay for it.
So do a tiered approach - small numbers of copies get individual license keys. Large customers, wanting large numbers of licenses, get "site licenses", ie no controls. It works for a lot of "corporate" software I've come across. It even worked for Microsoft - they didn't get as big as they are on the back of the mess that is Vista's activation scheme; they got big on Windows and the key code you have to enter in, along with "corporate licenses" which just install without any of that nonsense. A big IT department rolling out 327 PCs doesn't want to muck about with individual license keys, they just want it to work.
Sure, eventually a site license will leak out and become generally available. But by then you'll have upgraded your software and the old version will be out of date. Sure, there'll be cracks and bypasses and whatever, some people will be using your software without paying for it. Just figure it into the price and ignore it - it works for retail shops.
For your peace of mind, sure, implement some sort of count-up if you feel you have to, but DON'T rely on it working, DON'T disable or alter the bahaviour of your software in any way if it fails. If you piss off the big companies, you're losing your big payers. Best thing is probably ask them to count how many users they have whenever they upgrade, and sell them that many licenses. Chances are you'll have a 1-10, 10-100, 100-1000 style pricing scheme anyway, so going from 327 users to 402 users won't make any difference anyway.
Now if you were writing a game, something for the home market... *grin*
So do a tiered approach - small numbers of copies get individual license keys. Large customers, wanting large numbers of licenses, get "site licenses", ie no controls. It works for a lot of "corporate" software I've come across. It even worked for Microsoft - they didn't get as big as they are on the back of the mess that is Vista's activation scheme; they got big on Windows and the key code you have to enter in, along with "corporate licenses" which just install without any of that nonsense. A big IT department rolling out 327 PCs doesn't want to muck about with individual license keys, they just want it to work.
Sure, eventually a site license will leak out and become generally available. But by then you'll have upgraded your software and the old version will be out of date. Sure, there'll be cracks and bypasses and whatever, some people will be using your software without paying for it. Just figure it into the price and ignore it - it works for retail shops.
For your peace of mind, sure, implement some sort of count-up if you feel you have to, but DON'T rely on it working, DON'T disable or alter the bahaviour of your software in any way if it fails. If you piss off the big companies, you're losing your big payers. Best thing is probably ask them to count how many users they have whenever they upgrade, and sell them that many licenses. Chances are you'll have a 1-10, 10-100, 100-1000 style pricing scheme anyway, so going from 327 users to 402 users won't make any difference anyway.
Now if you were writing a game, something for the home market... *grin*
