NI have announced they will no longer activate discontinued products

[sacer]

Next step will be that they don’t allow to activate kore2, maschine 1 and other products - they should just upstate them for native access and stop to make their long time customers angry

[audiot]

According to the NI statement, it's not trivial:

At this point the effort required to keep mechanisms for products that have been conceived and implemented more than ten years ago has already impeded our path towards more modern modes of delivery and use. For example, Catalina introduced a new level of complexity and multiplied issues with our activation processes. There was also growing concerns in regards to Service Center maintenance and security which needed to be addressed.

You shouldnt believe everything you read. My feeling tells me that we will be using the same Native Access registration method in one year.

And this is no explanation why the copy-protected sample libraries will not work anymore.

A nice company would think about two options:

- Upload unprotected offline installers for older products (they are already available as cracked versions)
- Continue the old Service Center with a "use at your own risk"-warning. This wont make their servers sweat.

[EvilDragon]

"Native Access registration method" actually uses three or four different authorization methods under the hood. One of them is being faded out.

[Markus Krause]

What companies that create computer-games usually do when their games are getting older is that they release a patch which removes the protection.
Maybe Native Instruments lost the source-code of the products or they are unable to compile the projects, because the programmer left the company.
The reason why they switch of the activation-server might be security. It could be using an old php version which is not longer updated.
But this is all speculation.

[audiot]

"Native Access registration method" actually uses three or four different authorization methods under the hood. One of them is being faded out.

Sorry evildragon, but this is not interesting at all! To me it's a fundamental question about ownership and about big companies pushing the borders further and further ...

[chk071]

You see what you want to see, I guess.

[yellowmix]

Kinda reminds me of the old Camel Audio Apple buyout , except I think the Camels did right by the old users ...

Camel Audio provided installers that had the personalized DRM embedded in it, and a few months to download them. I'm still running Alchemy and don't see myself not being able to use it for a long time since they are 64-bit and I'm on Windows. Apple users are probably out of luck with Catalina but that's on Apple, and they've got the current version anyway.

I can understand if the original NI codebases are too old/convoluted to refactor with a local DRM or to strip it entirely. Recompiling might be a factor depending on their tooling since they moved to 64-bit (and did the VST SDK change too?). Alchemy was a current flagship product when Camel Audio got bought out so these weren't as big an issue.

It's easy to say in hindsight NI should have always had a local DRM or disabled DRM ability ready to go. So it's refreshing to see devs like Seaweed Audio publicly announce a bus factor DRM disabling plan from the beginning. And of course license file/serial number devs who have similar foresight and wisdom. Think about the plugins you have and if you know what happens when the response server is no longer around to get challenged.

While this may be an unfortunate unresolvable situation perhaps NI can learn from this and commit to ensuring its products today could not be limited by online DRM when they get invariably discontinued. Could be as simple as compiling the two versions with each release, so there's the unencumbered version ready to go, no matter how long ago development stopped.

[noiseboyuk]

They are looking at the problem and potential solution from the wrong perspective i.e rather than bemoaning the logisitcs involved in bringing their archaic authorisation systems in-line with new OS' (which would indeed be a waste of resources), they should perhaps look to a solution that they can 'bolt' onto the front-end to circumnavigate the old authorisation altogether. An example I have seen suggested would be to use a serial-number generator, similar to those that software cracks use, that would apply only to the current crop of to-be-culled libraries.

Interesting times. Mario's unearthing of this term in the Native Access EULA:

5. Should Native Instruments, for whatever reasons, no longer be able to fulfill its obligations to deliver the activation key, it will provide Licensee with a key which ensures the continued use of the licensed software independent of changes to the computer.

...means that legally they have to figure something out here. Looks like them just dropping it really can't be legal.

Incidentally, one of the biggest misconceptions in this sorry tale is that its all about dropping support for Service Center. I think every one of these libraries is actually Native Access supported currently, hence the above EULA term applies.

[machinesworking]

While this may be an unfortunate unresolvable situation perhaps NI can learn from this and commit to ensuring its products today could not be limited by online DRM when they get invariably discontinued. Could be as simple as compiling the two versions with each release, so there's the unencumbered version ready to go, no matter how long ago development stopped.

Owning Komplete etc. since 2003 I can say flatly that NI have never had a history of supporting legacy products, it's just how it is with them. Expect to use their products for about 5-7 years, then expect to have to update them or figure on a replacement.

I'm not even angry about it, they make great stuff, but the stories about how Kore was too bloated code wise to continue, Rig Kontrol had an incompatible with the latest OS audio hardware so no new drivers, etc. etc. etc. it's always something else, not their fault that they choose to abandon, not support or fix older soft and hardware they aren't getting money from anymore.

You want fantastic software at great prices? NI for sure. You want long term commitment to products they sold you years ago? that's not NI at all. My 16 year old RME Fireface 800 is constantly updated for the latest OS changes etc. but it was about 8 times the price of Rig Kontrol. The level of support is reflected in the price.

[digitalboytn]

Here's a good idea for NI that will create a great deal of goodwill...

The programs they are not going to authorise are discontinued,so there is no source of revenue from them...

So how about the release a version of each of those plugins that won't require any authorisation to every customer who has a registered license ?

After all,what the're saying is that it's old stuff that has been eclipsed by their "future of sound"...

They would keep the customers happy who are hanging on to their old favourites and create a ton of goodwill and NI wouldn't have to pay to keep them online..

We went through this same BS with NI when they decided to axe Kore, so I'm not prepared to listen to their tales of woe anymore because unfortunately,it happens with quite predictable regularity

FIRE THE BEAN COUNTERS,HIRE A TEAM OF INSPIRED CODERS AND GET BACK TO RELEASING GREAT SOFTWARE !

[Calenberger]

Dream on.

[digitalboytn]

Which bit am I dreaming about ?

The authorisation free plugins ,the bean counters,or the fact that a lot of their good coders have been fired and the bean counters can't code shit ?

I'm not a betting man,but I'm prepared to take a gamble here

[JJ_Jettflow]

Who cares? Life goes on. Better things come along. If you are that tied to your gear, what kind of music are you making?

I'm not tied to any gear but that's irrelevant and the kind of music I make is of as little relevance.

The whole thread is irrelevant. Battery 2 was released 18 years ago. Are you honestly saying that is a big deal to the majority of musicians out there? Or is it just another reason for the KVR dickholes to start bashing another company they already do not like. Same shit with Massive X. Nothing really wrong with it but the KVR dickholes have to have an endless thread about how it was released "incomplete" because it did not have every single feature they personally wanted. I have been using Massive X since it was released without a hitch. Just more dev bashing here, nothing more.

[Calenberger]

You‘re completely right.
But perhaps we should stop feeding the trolls... Reasonable arguments are in vain in such an environment.

[EnGee]

Oh screw it! I'm going to get rid of every online activation only software! NI, Arturia, Cubase Elements, ... etc.

I have great software that has offline option and with friendly protection, why don't I use that instead?! U-he, Synapse Audio, Sugar Bytes, Tone2, Bitwig, Image Line, Samplitude and some others can even surpass NI in sound!

I'm sure there are many thinking the same way. NI attitude and response are stupid with false economy. They are giving insecure feeling about investing in their software and hardware! So stupid IMO! Companies are doing everything they can to make customers feel secure about the future, and NI is doing the opposite to save some dollars