iLok you out for no reason! A warning.

[chk071]

I tend to prefer machine licenses in general, as using my iLok on a laptop is a pain, but it does cause problems where, for instance, if your machine dies, and those licenses weren't deactivated and can no longer be accessed (as the machine is dead), there is no way to get them back. (This has happened to me before.)

The ilok in the cloud function should be the ultimate fix for this (presuming you have internet access wherever you go) - trouble is I'm not aware of a single vendor actually supporting cloud activation as yet (and it's been out quite a while)

I second this. I actually sent a mail to Michael from Exponential Audio, and he wrote that in his opinion, PACE are not yet offering a costing model which works, and that PACE are still figuring out what to charge, because they'll have to operate servers in all parts of the world, and that he hopes that they will come up with a good plan this year. (Copied that from another thread) I'm curious how it will turn out, and if the Cloud protection will be picked up by other companies.

Again, kids, no need to worry. It's an additional option, not a "this replaces that" type of thing.

Apparently, they’ve got some less than appealing monetary scheme for the cloud thing. I’m guessing more expense for developers. Someone has to pay for running the iLok cloud servers.

I think that's the main issue. Devs have to pay additional cost for the Cloud protection, and need to sell it to their clients. At least that's the "recommended" thing stated on the iLok Cloud site.

[Urs]

(Just for the record: we had iLokalypse day today too. All build servers are down because of PACE and we can't even open PACE Central to see what's going on, a month before our licenses need to be renewed. Brilliant.)

[Examigan]

I put some (27) ilok licences on my MS Surface.

I changed nothing (its a Surface!) other than windows updates.
Overnight, ilok suddenly desided my computer had changed and created a new soft licence identity.
I cant get to my old licences as iloc think that the computer is a different computer (even though they are the same computer and even have the same ilok ID)
I contacted ilok and they basically said they cant help- licences are gone unless I can beg new ones of the individual software companies...this is time consuming and there are no guarantees...

So remember, at any time ilok can decide your computer ID ha changed for any reason (or apparently no reason) and without warning

You will be locked out and will no longer have access to all of those licences (so cant move, delete or reuse them)

Can you use System Restore to go back before that recent Windows update was installed?

[Examigan]

Weird, by this point in an iLok thread we usually have some people pop up saying it has never happened to them and is therefore absolutely fine.

Actually... it hasn't happened to me.
I am ok, but I feel bad for others who get messed up by iLok.

[Dasheesh]

That last update was a holy bitch for me too on a simple HP envy. Had nothing to do with Ilok, it broke my update chain and wouldn’t let me update any farther. I literally went through every repair option I could get agold of or learn about until one of them reset all my settings and it squared it away atbthat point. It has something to do with thier new invasive spying techniques. They updated thier user agreement recently and it said outright... “if you don’t like it you are welcome to stop using windows.” LMAO when I saw that. There are extra flash cookies and spy ware tactics being utilized now. It’s a constant cat and mouse situation with them.

[Woodgardens]

Good, good...

[jdnz]

Apparently, they’ve got some less than appealing monetary scheme for the cloud thing. I’m guessing more expense for developers. Someone has to pay for running the iLok cloud servers.

I think that's the main issue. Devs have to pay additional cost for the Cloud protection, and need to sell it to their clients. At least that's the "recommended" thing stated on the iLok Cloud site.

I could see cloud working well for subscription based software (slate etc) - cos then the dev can just add the cloud cost onto the sub. However, if you're selling a perpetual license a protection model that's got ongoing costs is going to be a nightmare

[deskew]

For the record, as a developer, we deliberately chose to NOT use iLok. As a touring musician, I've always refused to buy any product that required a dongle - just too easy for it to get lost or to break during a tour (and along the way, I discovered that zero-downtime wasn't!)

For the same reason, we stay away from online reverification for our audio plugin host. Again, imagine being on stage in the middle of a song and one of your plugins or hosts suddenly decides it wants to reverify you. Just yuk. Fortunately this has only happened to me once or twice during rehearsals and needless to say the plugins in question were instantly replaced!

The downside of course is that we're more vulnerable to piracy because the reality is that schemes that don't use such techniques are more easily hackable and that DOES impact sales (please, nobody give me the bullshit about people pirating because they wouldn't buy anyway). There are other companies (U-He comes to mind) that have a similar philosophy and we just hope that most people will be honest.

[ontol]

Wait a minute. I don't understand. I thought the purpose of iLok was that you can put all your licenses on a stick and take it from PC to PC.

They also do a 'soft' iLok that is tied to your computer ID

Well to me that's just plain stupid. If my PC burns up in a fire, I want to know that my licenses on my stick will still be good. I absolutely cannot see the point of soft iLok. You lose the main advantage of having iLok.

I use the stick for purchased licenses, but put demo licenses on soft iLok. This way, when you build a new system, the expired demo licenses die with the machine and don't clutter up the stick.

[Lotuzia]

I put some (27) ilok licences on my MS Surface.

I changed nothing (its a Surface!) other than windows updates.
Overnight, ilok suddenly desided my computer had changed and created a new soft licence identity.
I cant get to my old licences as iloc think that the computer is a different computer (even though they are the same computer and even have the same ilok ID)
I contacted ilok and they basically said they cant help- licences are gone unless I can beg new ones of the individual software companies...this is time consuming and there are no guarantees...

So remember, at any time ilok can decide your computer ID ha changed for any reason (or apparently no reason) and without warning

You will be locked out and will no longer have access to all of those licences (so cant move, delete or reuse them)

Really hope you'll get sorted out of this mess and recover all your instruments, and wish you the best luck for that.

[beely]

(Just for the record: we had iLokalypse day today too. All build servers are down because of PACE and we can't even open PACE Central to see what's going on, a month before our licenses need to be renewed. Brilliant.)

I even went to ilok.com to check their server status to see whether it was having problems, or it was just me.

Of course, they have no server status indication at all...

[electro]

A soft license tied to a harddrive is insanity and you are seriously asking for trouble. Put these things on a USB stick, better yet spread them out over two.

Stick #1. DAWs and Apps
Stick #2. Synths and FX

[beely]

A soft license tied to a harddrive is insanity and you are seriously asking for trouble. Put these things on a USB stick, better yet spread them out over two.

Thanks, but maybe we can make these decisions for ourselves based on our own needs and use cases?

I don't want to have two iLoks to carry around and look after and plugin to my laptop (and use all the ports, or require also carrying a hub) just to load a session.

I actually think the likelihood of physically losing an iLok is greater than the likelihood of losing a machine to a not working state. For those that are just sticking an iLok down the back of a PC tower or something, then of course that's not so much a concern. But that's not my case.

In my case, hard drive auths are the best for me, and if I was really worried, for the software that allows two activations, I could make a second activation to a physical iLok if necessary, as a back up.

[Caine123]

Im sorting my licenses and have problems since 2 days.... always server problrms etc. Anybody else?

Interesting discussion. I got an ilok2. I activated all licenses to my pc though. As i read it here u would recommend it better on the usb stick? I dont take it with me. My stuff is not used live.

[Echoes in the Attic]

I had issues several times with ilok and ended up selling everything I had that uses it. It’s not even just that ilok has suddenly stopped working for me (as in I can’t even open the license manager) it’s that when ilok can not help me get their software working, thus actually tell me that also can’t manually make changes to my licenses in my account! And neither can the software vendor of course. Now that is brilliant. If the software won’t open, the actual creators of the software can’t make changes to your licenses, which they store on their servers. Yeah that was it for me. Are you kidding me?