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Originally Posted by Synetech  Well they’ll need to find something less intrusive. Checking a file every ten seconds for eternity is unacceptable. It may not have a huge performance hit for everyone, but it can certainly add up, especially for those of us who have older systems. Besides, doing something the wrong way is still wrong no matter how little the its effects. Microsoft would never be able to get away with doing something like this (and they haven’t, people nagged and complained from day one of WGA), neither did Sony, so why should any other company? |
I agree. The dilemma is such; There are two ways to enforce a trials and registration keys: Require people to register for trials and use time-limited product activation, or hide things and hide them well.
Key activation is the high ground, as the software is checking the trial period on the publisher's computer, which is their property, and the user knows of the activity.
If you enforce the trial locally, you have to keep track of it somewhere. A time stamp saved in the program's registry key or install directory isn't really bad, because it's just another saved setting. Unfortunately, it's also easy to crack.
Hiding registry keys, files, drivers, etc.. is questionable. You don't have to go to the expense of trial keys and activation servers, but you are playing games with your customer's machines behind their backs.
That being said, the reason for this is obvious: SlySoft products, until recently, used non-invasive but very easy to reset trial checking. I guess they got tired of trusting their customers. Well, they lost one here.