Why the iLok hate?

[melomood]

It uses up that other USB hole

That's why

I don't even want to hear any arguments that I have preemptively deemed unreasonable

[AnX]

True, I pay for the copy protection system, but I´ll also indirectly pay for piracy-incurred lost sales of non-iLok-protected software (higher prices to compensate for lower sales, higher risk of companies disappearing).

absolute bullshit, no company puts up its prices due to cracking

sylenth1 is prob the most cracked synth in history... how much has it gone up in 10 years?

[epiphaneia]

absolute bullshit

After reading your finely worded, profound analysis of the issue at hand, I acknowledge your intellectual superiority.

Never mind that I apparently know the difference between "raising prices" and "calculating prices that take factors like piracy into account" (because I have been doing, and evaluating, such pricing schemes for more than 10 years, and have seen many companies disappear who haven´t been successful at that) - when someone says it´s "absolute bullshit", he can surely back that up with his own proven business savvy and track record.

[robotmonkey]

iLok is apparently the only copy protection scheme that after many years still has not been widely cracked, and seeing how big a problem software piracy can be for small boutique software companies, I understand the reasoning behind it.

That is patently false. Every single iLok plugin has been cracked and gets cracked pretty quickly for several years already. And it does not matter if its soft iLok or hardware iLok. This makes it even more insulting to everyone who has to put up with it for their paid software.

I would actually ask how you know all that, and to prove it, but, that could prove embarrassing for you, couldn't it?

Apart from it being false most likely as well.

You're serious right? Literally anyone can verify it with a simple Google search.

[chk071]

I know that a couple of iLok protected stuff was warezed in 2016 or so. As far as i'm aware of, that "loophole", or however you want to call it, was closed though. So, not sure what you're claiming, TBH.

If iLok was a joke, none of the companies would use it anyway.

[epiphaneia]

iLok is apparently the only copy protection scheme that after many years still has not been widely cracked, and seeing how big a problem software piracy can be for small boutique software companies, I understand the reasoning behind it.

That is patently false. Every single iLok plugin has been cracked and gets cracked pretty quickly for several years already. And it does not matter if its soft iLok or hardware iLok. This makes it even more insulting to everyone who has to put up with it for their paid software.

I would actually ask how you know all that, and to prove it, but, that could prove embarrassing for you, couldn't it?

Apart from it being false most likely as well.

You're serious right? Literally anyone can verify it with a simple Google search.

That´s what I did after your post, interesting... (from what I found, it´s "Windows only" and it´s not the iLok protection itself that has been cracked but the way certain software manufacturers implement the iLok checks in their software can be circumvented, some fixed it since 2016, some didn´t... ).

Anyway, even IF iLok was just a way to scare of the "casual pirate", it seems that companies using iLok seem to think that this overcompensates the lost sales, thus it´s all a matter of market forces. I reckon it´ll be hard to please everyone, some people prefer a solution like Native Access, I detest it. etc.

[yehboy1]

It uses up that other USB hole

Exactly. Imagine if every category of software we buy - video games, music plugins, accounting software, video editing software - has a dongle each. Crazy for just a music plugin to take an entire usb slot.

[robotmonkey]

I know that a couple of iLok protected stuff was warezed in 2016 or so. As far as i'm aware of, that "loophole", or however you want to call it, was closed though. So, not sure what you're claiming, TBH.

If iLok was a joke, none of the companies would use it anyway.

Then I guess you're not very well informed.

[chk071]

Yeah, i'm happy to admit that in this case.

Just ask the companies why they still use such a crap, i guess that'd be your best bet. Or just realize that it's obviously still a worthy choice for them.

[robotmonkey]

It uses up that other USB hole

Exactly. Imagine if every category of software we buy - video games, music plugins, accounting software, video editing software - has a dongle each. Crazy for just a music plugin to take an entire usb slot.

No problem, you could just use one of these

[chk071]

It uses up that other USB hole

Exactly. Imagine if every category of software we buy - video games, music plugins, accounting software, video editing software - has a dongle each. Crazy for just a music plugin to take an entire usb slot.

Imagine all of those had their own activation and licensing software installed on your computer.

[yehboy1]

It uses up that other USB hole

Exactly. Imagine if every category of software we buy - video games, music plugins, accounting software, video editing software - has a dongle each. Crazy for just a music plugin to take an entire usb slot.

No problem, you could just use one of these

So many slots for my dongle.

[fmr]

Anyway, even IF iLok was just a way to scare of the "casual pirate", it seems that companies using iLok seem to think that this overcompensates the lost sales, thus it´s all a matter of market forces. I reckon it´ll be hard to please everyone, some people prefer a solution like Native Access, I detest it. etc.

Native Access is much fairer, and any problem you have, you deal with the company, not third parties (actually arrogant bastards third parties, that don't even honor their own guarantee).

Besides, your licenses are stored THERE, on their site. and attached to your account. No one can steal them, and no key can be broken with them.

I am using iLOK because I have certain software that uses it, but I strongly dislike it, and would gladly get rid of it. I am not against dongles, but in what concerns dongles, I think eLicenser is way better.

[fmr]

Imagine all of those had their own activation and licensing software installed on your computer.

What will be the problem? It's just another piece of software. It doesn't take that much space on the hard drive, and you will only have to run it when you want to check and install updates

[chk071]

Read again. "What if all of those had their own activation and licensing software installed on your computer". So you'd end up with dozens of license managers on your systems. It's already a nightmare for me to have 3 or 4 of those on my machine. Worst thing ever. I even prefer iLok or eLicenser over those, at least, those are systems which work for several plugin vendors, not just 1.