Product activation is a convenient means of ensuring, upon launch of an application (or other use of a digital product), that a user has a legitimate license to use the product. Designed to be transparent to licensed software users, product activation is simple and hassle-free.
Product activation is easy to use with or without an internet connection and doesn't "call home" or otherwise burden your customer after the initial activation. In contrast to systems that rely on local verification, you receive immediate feedback whenever an activation occurs, allowing you to properly track your success and recognize revenue.
Product activation also allows your product to be distributed via any technology or channel. Customers can acquire a license when and where needed through e-commerce or any other sales transaction, either direct or through your channel partners.
How it works
Figure 1: Sample licensing model
Product activation is required when a user launches a protected software application for the first time. A unique installation identifier is sent to the Protexis Licensing Server which generates a license to unlock, or activate, the software. Depending on the business model implemented by the software publisher, this license may unlock the software permanently or for a specific period of time or number of uses. It can also restrict usage to specific features.
After it has been activated, the protected software application may be used only within the parameters set by the software license. For example, if it is a time-limited trial license and the trial has expired, the user will not be able to use the product and will be prompted to purchase it. Once the user completes the purchase, a new software license is delivered from the Protexis Licensing Server which will allow unrestricted use of the software.
Advantages of product activation:
- deters software piracy
- immediate record of product activation
- no internet connection required
- valid for any online or offline distribution channel
- user acceptance and familiarity due to prevalence in software market
Hardware fingerprinting
Product activation employs hardware fingerprinting, which uses a snapshot of the end customer's hardware to create a system identity. Activation uniquely associates the software license with this system identity - the license can only be unlocked on the system with the associated identity.
Hardware fingerprinting is a sophisticated technique for tying an application to a specific computer. As a result, users who update their hardware or operating systems won't need to obtain a new activation code and re-activate their license. Protexis' patent-pending technology won't allow disk-imaging utilities to circumvent the persistent copy protection by imaging activated software for copying to new systems. However, customers can use disk imaging to replace their hard drive on the same machine without invalidating their licenses.
