Plugins "calling home": what do you think about it?

VST, AU, AAX, CLAP, etc. Plugin Virtual Effects Discussion

What do you think about automated plugin-server interaction?

My music workstation is usually offline
77
40%
My music workstation is always online but I don't like the idea
99
52%
My music workstation is always online and I wouldn't mind
16
8%
 
Total votes: 192

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My new DAW is always offline, but my old DAW wasn't. I don't want/need/like any unexpected "bonus" crap installed like unnecessary drivers, demo versions, or code for online check-up routines.

@caleb82- Maybe people who are distrustful of or concerned about Pace iLok, install routines, call home routines, etc. are people who take really good care of their stuff, have worked hard for their equipment, and don't have any easy way to replace it if it breaks.

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the end of the day its there to stop warez...they all get cracked so it just puts more rubish with the people who actually buy the stuff the "legit Customers"if you want to call them that.waste of time and my cpu/internet connection!

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Personally I got enuff crap trying to phone home already at startup... and mys systems are ALWAYS offline, I use other computers for internet, email etc... NEVER my DAWs or music workstations.

Many of these items try to go on the Internet and simply 'time-out' if there is no connection. The problem with this is obvious. You think a program is hanging when in fact, depending on a variety of settings, some of which users are not in control of, the time-out period can be minutes long...

I understand the need for copy protection... but unfortunately this is NOT a good approach. IMHO, any serious setup will NOT be connected to the Internet.

Just my two cents. I know you have good cause to be concerned about warez and the like so I understand and sympathize... hopefully you can find a less obtrusive method...

Good luck and thank you for the wonderful plugs.

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Offline.
Besides, I am vehemently against a plugin calling home for whatever reason.
Updates? I'll seek them out and install them on my own terms, thank you.
DRM? It's doomed to be cracked anyway, so why bother making it harder for legit customers?

As a satisfied DDMF customer, that's my vote.
caleb82 wrote:I tend to believe that 90% of the people who are afraid of "calling home", just like with iLoks, are the ones that have something to hide.
I tend to believe 90% of the people who support invasive DRM are brainwashed sheep.

The calling-card of anti-privacy corporate/govt stooges worldwide:
"It's for your own good - only criminals have something to hide."

Paranoid? Maybe. Unprecedented? Hardly.

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docdued wrote:Lately I've been thinking about changing DDMF's updating system such that each effect would automatically check for updates at the DDMF server at startup. This would prevent me from having to send out emails every time, half of which never arrive due to various reasons (mailboxes full, spam filters etc). Then, after a while I thought that maybe it would also be good to set up some simple anti-cracking scheme via plugin-server-interaction. Now naturally some problems could arise in this context: not everybody's workstation is online all the time, and users also might not like the idea that data like MAC-addresses are automatically sent to my server. So this poll is to find out the general opinion about these things... just to get some feedback before pursuing something that in the end nobody likes. Thanks!
First of all: Thanks for asking the question! I appreciate a DEV such as yourself with the foresight to anticipate that future sales/good will could be seriously impacted if you inadvertantly alienate your customer base by making a bad policy decision!

OK: The simple answer for me is: It's a non-issue as long as I can control WHEN an installed soft can talk to it's 'home' server.

i.e., I want to retain control over that permission.

That's the good thing about NI's Service Center, as an example; SS does not require initiation of a 'home' session everytime I 'fire up' my DAW.

I should note that I run my DAW off-line unless I'm doing updates to the softs...I'm 100% legal, so my opinion is not based on anything but the work.

-goldenanalog

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toontrack ezdrummer calls home, whats bad is if my internet conections out so is the plugin authorazation. kinda bad business imho. kinda like the police pulling you over at 2:30am in the morning for no reason, you just feel violated. :hihi:

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todd sweetland wrote:toontrack ezdrummer calls home, whats bad is if my internet conections out so is the plugin authorazation. kinda bad business imho. kinda like the police pulling you over at 2:30am in the morning for no reason, you just feel violated. :hihi:
EzD doesn't call home.
Contact support, it's a less than perfect hardware check stumbling over your disconnected internet hardware. :roll:

And re the original question, yeah, right, great idea ! :x
Exactly what we need with realtime applications, software banging its head against the door like a mindless zombie, not realizing there is no internet connection and never will be ? :bang:
What's next ?
Send in your PC to have a plugin "professionally installed" ? :help:
No internet connection for my DAW as it's not needed for audio, period.
I'm not going through all the trouble to make my DAW as lean and stable as humanly possible to sacrifice it all again for this nonsense.
Software that can't deal with that will have to remain on hobbyist's machines, I'm afraid. :shrug:
Ymmv,
susiwong

To the dev, please take this as a fictitious reaction to somebody actually implementing this nonsense.
I'm aware you've only been asking for opinions yet, you got mine.
Beyond that, nothing personal.
Peace,
susiwong

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Slightly OT, a very common homesick app can be easily cured -
Delete the folder "Updater5" in Common Files/Adobe to get rid of the annoying Acrobat trojan that can't be disabled otherwise, voila, the spook is gone and Acrobat still works. :D
Another potential troublemaker are certain recent Java installs, haven't found a way around that yet other than rolling back to an older version. :shrug:
No need discussing background processes that can be disabled during install - annoying, but they can be avoided.
Cheers,
susiwong

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Something like Sylenth1 would be ok, where I open the options menu and click the 'check for update' button.

As for checking every time the plugin is launched... they would be deleted!

Imagine loading a project where every plugin did this, 15 or so, all trying to find out what they found out an hour earlier.... Crazy!

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docdued wrote:Now naturally some problems could arise in this context: not everybody's workstation is online all the time..
My music PC has never been internet connected and never will be. I have a separate PC for t'internet.

(and I thought this was going to be a thread about ET) :hihi:

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I won't buy any plugin that call home or use dongles or C/R. I love those plugins that are only a dll and maybe a file but they don't need any instalation, that you can carry in any usb with your host (as D16 plugins, Synth1, Podium, Reaper... etc)

Those are the plugins I buy

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Well, Reaper does check for updates online... :)

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my music pc is offline, my macbook is usually online, when i use it. I have ddmf licenses only for pc atm. So no use in an update check. I get every update email from ddmf (usually in the spam folder though). Great service and great plug ins!
"It dreamed itself along"

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caleb82 wrote:Once again, I tend to believe that 90% of the people who are afraid of "calling home", just like with iLoks, are the ones that have something to hide.
I have a lot to hide.
It is called privacy.
I am happy that I live in a Democracy where one has the right to have such a thing as a private life and secrets and so on.

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I'm a Mac user so generally being online does not give me any grief but I would not be happy about loading a plug in and it calling home in a Middle of a session.Maybe a solution would be to make a separate updater application that the user can use to check if there plug ins are up to date.

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