Can someone point me to some good information on creating a time-bombed version of my app for release as a demo? I know there has to be more to it than just storing the install date somewhere (i.e. registry), as that's pretty easy to get around.

Any other advice on creating a demo is welcome. Thanks.

J

Yes. IMO, never make your app stop working, there is no point in that. Cripple your demo version in some way that still allows people to use your app and review it, but not have 100% functionality. When they buy, give them the full version.

--
William Stacey [C# MVP]

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
Can someone point me to some good information on creating a time-bombed version of my app for release as a demo? I know there has to be more to it than just storing the install date somewhere (i.e. registry), as that's pretty easy to get around.

Any other advice on creating a demo is welcome. Thanks.

J

I understand what you're saying, but this is a pretty simple app. Not much in the way of functionality I could cripple and still keep it useable.

If I disabled the save functionality, for instance, it's possible the folks would just do without it rather than buy it. I don't intend it to be very expensive, but still I'd like a better incentive for people to cough up the dough. If they like it and it stops, that's a pretty good incentive.

But I still advice on the best way to implement a registration system, etc, so people can't just give everyone their reg key.

Thanks for the reply.

J
"William Stacey [C# MVP]" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
Yes. IMO, never make your app stop working, there is no point in that. Cripple your demo version in some way that still allows people to use your app and review it, but not have 100% functionality. When they buy, give them the full version.

--
William Stacey [C# MVP]

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
Can someone point me to some good information on creating a time-bombed version of my app for release as a demo? I know there has to be more to it than just storing the install date somewhere (i.e. registry), as that's pretty easy to get around.

Any other advice on creating a demo is welcome. Thanks.

J

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
> I understand what you're saying, but this is a pretty simple app.
> Not much in the way of functionality I could cripple and still
> keep it useable.

IMHO, if your application is really that simple, I don't see the point in
bothering with the demo restriction in the first place. Just make it
shareware and be done with it.

Conversely, if it's really that simple, then don't worry too much about how
hard it is to circumvent whatever "demo protection" you build into the
application. No matter what you do, a determined hacker can disable your
protection, so what you're really trying to do is make it inconvenient
enough to motivate users to pay for the product while (and this is VERY
important) never inconveniencing users who have already paid for the
product.

Most really secure copy protection falls flat on their face when it comes to
the latter point.

A simple registry key is probably sufficient to block most users, unless for
some reason your proposed customer base is especially technically proficient
(and if they are, you're back to the problem that there's not much you can
do to block them from using your program).

> If I disabled the save functionality, for instance, it's possible
> the folks would just do without it rather than buy it. I don't intend
> it to be very expensive, but still I'd like a better incentive for
> people to cough up the dough. If they like it and it stops, that's
> a pretty good incentive.

I don't understand. Didn't you just say that if you disabled the save
functionality, it's possible people would just do without? But your
proposal now is to prevent the application to stop working altogether
instead? Wouldn't they also just do without in that case?

> But I still advice on the best way to implement a registration system,
> etc, so people can't just give everyone their reg key.

There's little you can do to prevent someone from sharing their registration
key with someone else. Microsoft has taken the "Product Activation"
approach and frankly that's a huge waste of time even for the relatively
big, heavy, expensive applications they apply it to. It just annoys users
and it doesn't stop people from using the software without paying for it if
they want to do that.

Pete