Plugin becomes be-online-to-own after years of normal use.

[martiu]

just buy software with serials and key files, no icrap or online authorizations and checks
one good thing right now is that there is a lot of options and you can have good alternatives

[Frankie.T]

Just in case any of you didn't saw this topic, here you find a community driven lists of developers who sells plugins just using SN or Key files without the need of any further internet connection (apart from the download ofc)

viewtopic.php?t=612966

If you know more, or you find something that isn't anymore the way it suppose to work, feel free to reply to that topic so we can keep an updated and clean list of the "good companies"

[seafire]

Vengeance... yeah, they "borrowed" a lot of stuff in their early products.

Wouldn't touch them with a barge pole

[funky lime]

[jamcat]

The CJEU has now made it clear that the supply of computer software by electronic means together with the grant of a licence falls within the definition of "sale of goods" for the purposes of the Regulations. It noted that the term "goods" is to be understood as meaning products which can be valued in money and which are capable of forming the subject of commercial transactions.

The CJEU also concluded that software can be classified as "goods" irrespective of whether it is supplied on a tangible medium such as a USB drive or CD-ROM or by electronic download, as a download is the functional equivalent of supply via a material medium.

This means that agents selling software which is provided electronically together with the grant of a licence will be protected by the Regulations and can claim a lump-sum payment on termination.

That is literally the source and cause of everything people are complaining about now. Subscriptions and other time limited licenses are a DIRECT RESPONSE to that ruling. You can thank the CJEU for your loss of perpetual, unconditional licensing.*

Bad law has bad consequences.



* Because only perpetual, unconditional licenses are bound by the UsedSoft v. Oracle ruling.
Companies still retain their IP rights for time-limited and conditional licenses.

[Havok]

Playing devil's advocate here. From what I can gather, you changed to an unsupported operating system, the plugin didn't suddenly change the way it's license is handled. You are responsible for not being able to use the dongle any more. If you don't want things to stop working, don't update your OS until everything you need is compatible. This happens with pretty much every new Apple OS

And I think the use of ilok isn't always about copy protection, it's also about license management. Using someone like ilok means the developer doesn't have to spend the time and effort making and mantaining their own licensing system.

[Lerian]

use of ilok isn't always about copy protection, it's also about license management.

Please define license management. Buyer's license management? Developer's license management? What kind of management does a license need? The way I see it an SQL table or excel file is the only management of licenses they both need - a name, the product, and associated serial number.

[plexuss]

You can't own software. When you think of what "own" means, it's impossible with software. This is why what you "own" is a license to use it. In terms of usage protection (aka copy protection), for the most part a keyfile is the most customer-centric approach. It's too bad we have all these different approaches such as dongles, account login, call home etc. Maybe one day...

[midi_transmission]

Is this just accepted nowadays, that plugins require the user to be online? Either constantly or having to reactivate once in an x amount time in my case.

The plugin in question is Vengeance Multiband compressor. It used to require an e-licenser syncrosoft dongle. And so it has worked for a decade or so. After switching OS to a new mac, the usb dongle was no longer supported, so now Vengeance requires the plugin to be reactivated every or so month.

This means that a plugin that i owned, is now "borrowed".

It's not normal. Delete the plugin, complain about it by mail and vote with your money in the future.

[Dunbar]

You can't own software.

You've been gaslit...

I'm fully aware of the specious retort about "licensing" verses "ownership"; so, save yourself the bother of repeating that nonsense here.

The fact is, venture capital is buying up the 'industry' and taking the p*ss out of consumers. They expect us to swallow their "it's not yours (despite having paid for it)" argument without push-back, it seems.

[dreamvoid]

I also made the mistake in the past to buy products from Vengeance, when their synth flagship was dongle protected. They changed everything and now it requires re-activation from time to time. User complaints were brushed away and re-activation in itself didn't work for many users at first attempts. If I wanted a Tamagotchi as a plug in, I would aks for it. I have no time for crap like this.
They are a horrible, user unfriendly company to deal with and I can only recommend to stay away from their products.