I am trying to find the best method to license custom software written in LabVIEW [not a hardware key -dongle - method, just software].
Following on from this thread, which is a little old, I was wondering if anybody has any new methods they can share (without them feeling like they are giving away their gameplan).
I was hoping the VIPM team might be able to chip in as they have a nice license setup.
Is everything done over the web with a authentication license server nowdays for easy management?

Regards

JG

Hi JG,

It's important to keep in mind that "licensing" software (what people agree to do) and "enforcing/managing licensing" (a.k.a. "activation" or what you try to make people do) are two seperate beasts.

I can't go into how VIPM works, beyond what's in the documentation. What I can recommend is that, when you feel you are ready for a software activation system, you look for an off-the-shelf solution or keep your system as simple as possible.

Remember, most of the time you should only be trying create a system that lets honest people easily/painlessly comply with your licensing terms. Most of the time, your energy is better spent on (1) creating a great software product that people will want to use and tell others about and (2) making it very easy for people to give you money. Only after you solve those two challenges, is there much value in trying to enforce licensing terms.

Cheers,

-Jim

I wonder how difficult (possible) it would be to include products in the NI License Manager. I know that some of the products we distribute are LabVIEW addons, so we could assume that the NI License Manager is installed, but I wonder if it even supports products external to NI...

I doubt it.

Oh, I do too, but wouldn't it be sweet?

If 'ifs' and 'buts' were candy and nuts...

Yes, but you will never plough a field if you only turn it over in your mind...

There once was a man named Enis...

Who whacked a flying *enis

Before this thread is highjacked by great sayings....

Thanks Jim, I thought as much that spilling the beans would be a problem on people discussing such a issue who have implemented it as a custom solution.

As a young'n I created a psuedo setup whereby I could statically (in code) link a user(s) to the application and I also have a time expiry whereby it blocks out a user. Of course they can wind the OS clock back but I covered that by creating a file (hidden somewhere) on the first time out to know if this occurs. Of course if they did a fresh install with and set the clock back it would work. If they could be bothered I thought good on them.

At the end of the day it was cheap and nasty. But it worked for what I needed (small volume), I did it ages ago and I still use it now and then.

Now I am hunting for something a little more professional.

Let's put it like this: The FlexLM core in LabVIEW and other NI products is an extensible system. However the way it is build into LabVIEW it assumes a specific secret key to sign licenses. So in order to generate your own licenses you would need to know that key and NI certainly will not publish it since it is secret. And even if you knew it, use of it would likely be against one or more laws to protect copyright such as the DMCA and probably some others.

Rolf Kalbermatter

So it's wings have been clipped to work with only one key to assign licenses? That's a shame.