Product Keys

["Scott Hofmann" <shofmann@xxxxxxxx>]

Hello everyone,

I'm involved in a software product being developed in Java and wondered if anyone here has had any experience with product keys and registrations?  I'm hearing from the developer that to do registration:

 

"From my research online, it looks like the only truly secure way is to have a license server.  The software would then connect to the license server to ensure that it is legitimate.  However, this seems like an expensive solution as it requires *much* more development work in addition to having another server to maintain."

 

Sooo... I'm trying to identify ways others are doing their product keys or have heard of doing them. We really do not need a truly secure key. The product will sell for under $50. What we need we think is just a simple solution that help to:

 

- Keep people honest and not feeling to free about passing along copies to other.

- Being able to provide support to those who truly purchased the product.

- Most likely we would not trouble ourselves with those people who are dishonest and feel the need to find loop hole in software product keys in order to use it anyway.

 

Any advice or thoughts on this topic would be helpful.

 

- Scott Hofmann