• Jun 2, 2009

    Forecasting the weather in San Diego

    Last night, we were watching the news and the weather forecaster said that there was going to be drizzle today. I thought I was going to have to bring a rain coat as I knew I was going to be walking a bit today. I completely forgot about it when I left the house and was quite happy that I did. It was a beautiful day in San Diego! If you want to forecast the weather in San Diego, just say that tomorrow will be like today. Not very scientific, but more accurate than the computer models.

  • Jun 2, 2009

    Doing my civic duty

    Today, I honored my summons to goto jury duty. I've been called maybe 4 or 5 times in the past and have only come close to serving on a jury once (I was an alternate and the case was pleaded out after opening arguments). Now that San Diego uses the 1 day or 1 trial system, a lot less of my time is wasted. (OK, I say wasted, but others would say it is an honor and privilege to server.) For the 5.5 years prior to my current job, I just filled out the form saying it would be an extreme financial hardship as I was self employed. Fortunately for me, I have an EVDO modem, so waiting in the jury room simply meant that I didn't have the comforts of my home office, but I was still able to work.

    Luckily I wasn't called to serve on a jury, so I'm excused for another year. It was a nice day downtown and I managed to spend a bit of it walking during our lunch break (they gave us 2 hours for lunch, that IS a waste).

    Hopefully I won't be called again anytime soon.

  • Jun 2, 2009

    More on Registration Schemes

    Today I saw an update to Multiplex that I bought as part of the MacUpdate Promo bundle. I went into it, did the update (it uses Sparkle) and found that it was no longer registered. I went back to the original download link and downloaded the new version all registered. It looks like the developers embedded the license info in the Resources directory of the app bundle; so when it gets updated using Sparkle, the license gets wiped out. Wow, brilliant. Stop being clever and just have a reg file or a reg code; it is easier to maintain and it won't do stupid things like this (yes, if you move it to another machine you have to copy the reg info, but that's a minor price to pay).

  • May 30, 2009

    Flawed Registration Systems

    In the latest MacUpdate Promo, there are a number of programs I've never heard of and some that are big name products. I purchased the bundle, downloaded the applications, and started registering them. Developers have chosen different methods for registering their products. There are a few types of schemes that are being used:

    • Registration code that is just entered.
    • Registration code that is entered and then validated against a server.
    • Registration code that is entered and then validated against a server and then tied to a certain computer.
    • Custom downloaded app that is pre-registered.
    • Picture with registration information embedded.
    • Registration code that requires you to visit a web site and then your code is sent to you.

    When I started ReceiptWallet, I used eSellerate's system and chose option number 2. After I received a very nasty comment on VersionTracker that my company could go under and he'd never be able to re-register the application, I immediately switched to option 1 as the user was absolutely correct. Registration schemes, for the most part, keep the honest people, honest. All of the systems above, except for the first one and fifth one, have one serious flaw. That is, the company must still be in business if I change computers or lose the registration number. In addition, their servers must be working and they can't rearrange anything on the server or the validation may no longer work. I understand that people are trying to protect their software, but protecting the software at the expense of penalizing legitimate customers is, in my opinion, bad business. I'm sure people will disagree with me, but I've had a few successful programs that used method number 1. I sold something like 4000 copies of one of my programs to NASA and I wasn't really worried about piracy.

    Developers, please re-consider your registration systems and spend more time writing software and less time on registration schemes.