Re: Hardware Lock or Sim

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@y..., "John Guenther" <jguenther@l...> wrote:

> I don't condone pirated software either, but these companies really

treat

> you like crap if you need to replace one of those hardware locks.

Case in

> point, I had a copy of CadKey which was totally legal, purchased

from a

> former employer / reseller as shrink wrapped product. I lost the

parallel

> port lock several years ago, and was told that in order to obtain

another

> one I needed to return the entire product, software, documentation,

license,

> keyboard templates and all to CadKey along with the original

purchase

> receipt

I worked for a machine shop at one time that had a licensed copy of
TechSoft-cam. This was a $5000-$1000 class software program at the
time. One night someone broke into the shop & stole both computers,
including the dongle hanging on the back of the programming
computer. We tried to get a replacement from the company & were told
that it was going to cost us the same as purchasing a second license
(about $3500). They also pointed out that they had always had this
policy, and that we had been informed that it was our responsibility
to fully insure the software against this kind of loss. We checked
our casualty insurance and sure enough it was fully covered.

A few years back there were two companies that sold cracked dongles.
one in Canada, and one in Florida. They were both put out of
business when the US passed legislation that made it illegal to sell
or posess such devices. I'm not sure but I had the impression that
Canada had also passed a similar law.

I personally do not like dongles and had many problems with the ones
that were on Bobcad 15 & 16 sold by the Florida office. They can
interfere with printing, and I have also heard some horror stories
about people using older versions of Mastercam that could not upgrade
their computers because the dongles could not be used on Windows, or
newer OS's and the upgrade cost was about the same as buying a new
seat of Mastercam. I always wondered if the versions of MasterCam
that were included with Centroid controls were in this category.
Does anybody know if my suspicions are correct?

Best Regards,

Fred Smith
IMService