Software licensing - how to implement ?

[Mr Alphaque]

Hi, my company is providing software solution for customers, one
problem i face is how to control the software licensing ? Let say, the
customer buys only ten user license from me, how do i code it in my
Java code that only ten users can access to my application (assuming
my application is a web based Java application) and the 11th users
will get the access denied message. Basically, i need a software
license control software components to enforce my licensing. I try to
find the Internet, the one comes close is Microvision FlexIM product
(http://www.macrovision.com/products/flexlm/index.shtml) but that
needs a lot of money to implement..Anyone know any free library or
free java class i can download to implement the software license
control in my solution ? thanks

 

[Harald Hein]

Basically, i need a
software license control software components to enforce my
licensing.

The classic solution for your licensing schema (floating licenses,
independent of machine running the software) is indeed to use a license
server. But keep in mind that Java is easy to decompile and licensing
software is easy to hack.

I try to find the Internet, the one comes close is
Microvision FlexIM product
(http://www.macrovision.com/products/flexlm/index.shtml)

FlexLM is very popular among developers, and hated among system
administrators. It is sheer horror if you have to administer multiple
products using different versions of FlexLM. You either have to run
multitudes of FlexLM license daemons, the ones that come with every
product. Or if you want to reduce the number of FlexLM installations to
maintain, you have to start to find the combinations of licenses and
FlexLM daemons that works. Different FlexLM daemons are broken in
hundred different ways. Some FlexLM versions also had some serious
security problems some years back.

Anyone know any free library or
free java class i can download to implement the software license
control in my solution ? thanks

If you can live with a low level of security, why not hack your own,
and obfuscate the bytecode?

 

[Roy Epperson]

Take a look at JLK
http://members.chello.at/stefan-schneider/JavaLicenseKit.html.

Please send me private email and I can talk to you about the license scheme
I am using.

 

[brougham5]

Hi, my company is providing software solution for customers, one
problem i face is how to control the software licensing ? Let say, the
customer buys only ten user license from me, how do i code it in my
Java code that only ten users can access to my application (assuming
my application is a web based Java application) and the 11th users
will get the access denied message.

First, remember that people will steal software. If it's worth stealing,
somebody will always steal it.

The question then becomes how easy is your software to use for the
legitimate users who have gone to the trouble to buy it? Make it difficult,
and they may never buy another product from you again. Make it too
difficult, and you may get bad worth of mouth.

If it's business software, I'd suggest selling your software outright.
Unless it's something they can't live without, odds are good that they can
find other software with better terms than having to run some sort of
license server.

If you're just trying to keep them somewhat honest, create your own
licensing server that pops up a warning when the 11th copy is started. Most
businesses don't want to intentionally violate the terms of their licenses.

Licensing servers malfunction. Software companies go out of business or
have days when they can't be contacted.

For your bottom line, why should you care whether they run 8 copies or 11?
I'd suggest creating a single-user license, a "physical building" license,
and an enterprise one. Make it easy for them to buy and use your software,
and others might start beating a path to your door.

 

[easylm]

[Commercial] We offer EasyLicenser, a low cost Java license manager
that you may want to consider. As a Java house we have considered and
we think countered the several ways to hack into a Java program. We
also offer a low cost pay as you go pricing scheme suited to new
ventures and products. Please take a moment to check us out at
www.easylicenser.com

Best of luck with your product!


Dominic Haigh
Agilis Software

 

[Adam Jenkins]

Hi, my company is providing software solution for customers, one
problem i face is how to control the software licensing ? Let say, the
customer buys only ten user license from me, how do i code it in my
Java code that only ten users can access to my application (assuming
my application is a web based Java application) and the 11th users
will get the access denied message. Basically, i need a software
license control software components to enforce my licensing. I try to
find the Internet, the one comes close is Microvision FlexIM product
(http://www.macrovision.com/products/flexlm/index.shtml) but that
needs a lot of money to implement..Anyone know any free library or
free java class i can download to implement the software license
control in my solution ? thanks

A product like FlexLM is only needed if your software needs to be
installed on the client machines, and you want to control how many
instances can be run. Since you say your app will be a webapp offered
as a service to clients, you can just limit the max number of active
sessions from the server side. You just need to keep track of the
active number of sessions in an application scope variable, and refuse
requests for new sessions once the max number of sessions has been
reached.