My CAD software called home, and no-one answered, so it shut down
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When it arrived, I fired up the installer, used the serial, and everything installed without a hitch. I ran the program and it asks to activate online. "No problem," I think, I used a legit serial from a legit copy, I should be fine. What I didn't consider was that the activation server was taken offline (I'm sure the official reason was "cost savings" but "force people to upgrade" fits in there pretty well in my opinion).
So now I had a perfectly good box of software and a stack of manuals for a product I couldn't use for no technical reason other than the company didn't want me to use it.
I feel at a certain point, if you've sold software that calls home and you are unwilling to maintain the servers and there are still people using it, you should hand it off to the Internet Archive or a similar org so they can run it. Leaving users stranded with no hope of using software they're familiar with, have paid for, and have supported is just a bad move.
Moves like what Autocad did to you are why large companies are using libre software, if upstream dies for some reason, your business won't click off tomorrow.
Ironically, this is also why some DON'T use libre software. They question what happens when the maintainers stop.
The problems with these servers though is typically isolated to hobby users who don't have the money to hire people to keep the ancient software working for them.
Instead, people who don't use X make up excuses as to why not, rather than simply saying they like Y. If you like AutoCAD, use it.
In taking customer feedback it's important to only ask potential customers, not people who'd never use your product anyways. Even if their feedback is honest it won't help with what you're doing.
The question I'd have to answer is - would this be a net positive? Would it lead to more or less sales? Would we only lose customers who wouldn't buy a new license anyway? What would the cost be of my proposed feature that helps customers in the future?
In our situation there is zero risk of e.g. losing business to open source, so management would likely be deligthted with the idea that users would not be running our old software. In reality we avoid the problem entirely by just selling subscriptions like so many others these days. The software has a kill switch that makes it unusable after the planned release date of version N+2.
As a sibling poster points out, running a license server is a trivial expense and if you require it for your product you should budget to keep it running. It's roughly $400 for a perpetuity paying $20/y to run the server indefinitely.
It's a one-time expense if budgeted properly. Buy a perpetuity to cover it. If you ever discontinue the service you can release an unlimited copy of the software and recover the value of the perpetuity.
The problem migrates to AutoCAD being like C++ and having a long list of legacy objects that are never broken.
A competing format was headed by Bentley with OpenDWG but they abandoned it somewhat after RealDWG gave in to giving them the doormat for free.
My employer is a member of the Open Design Alliance [0] working on IntelliCAD. I work a layer up, building plugins for both AutoCAD and IntelliCAD. Free trials are not hard to find, so you can decide if it will work for you.
The UI is really nice. Version 3.0 whenever it comes out is going to be awesome. You may also try FreeCad for things this can not model, but that has its own problems - particularly UI.
The OSS world still needs a full-featured NURBS library that supports trimming. Solvespace does, but the performance suffers as complexity increases.
The installer told me to call a number but it looks like they disabled that number and they are currently in the process of setting up a new system. Meanwhile I can't use my legit copy...
what happens when the Douglasses are no longer around?*
...
Here is how the plan works. Immediately upon learning of our deaths the executors of Dick's estate (his two highly computer literate kids) will post two files on our www.compmngr.com web site and will send out a broadcast email advising our customers how to download the files. The first file is a small standalone computer program called RegisterEvent.exe, which allows you to create your own registration files. So you won't have to register with Douglass Associates and you won't have to pay a registration fee. You can read more about RegisterEvent and how to use it below. The second file is a ZIP file containing all the source code for COMPMNGR and its supporting programs. This file will only be of interest to those few users who want to continue COMPMNGR development and who either know C++ programming or or willing to hire a C++ programmer.*
> what happens when the Douglasses are no longer around?
> ...
> Here is how the plan works. Immediately upon learning of our deaths the executors of Dick's estate (his two highly computer literate kids) will post two files on our www.compmngr.com web site and will send out a broadcast email advising our customers how to download the files. The first file is a small standalone computer program called RegisterEvent.exe, which allows you to create your own registration files. So you won't have to register with Douglass Associates and you won't have to pay a registration fee. You can read more about RegisterEvent and how to use it below. The second file is a ZIP file containing all the source code for COMPMNGR and its supporting programs. This file will only be of interest to those few users who want to continue COMPMNGR development and who either know C++ programming or or willing to hire a C++ programmer.
You guys know, it just dawned on me that beyond the practicalities of the question, we're looking at something incredibly significant here. That is, if this story is in fact genuine and not just a fictious commentary on subscription models.
So first of all... a software activation model from the '80s? Twenty years before Microsoft "invented" it? Back when even ARPANet was only a curiosity? That's something incredibly awesome. Key disks, manual code entry, and serial or parallel hardware keys were a thing - remote activation, now that's something else entirely.
It's like finding an ancient Egyptian D&D-like rulebook and twenty sided dice dating from the age of pharaoh Ramses. Not "impossible" as such, just extremely remarkable and improbable.
Then, the other wonder here is not that the activation server stopped, it's that it stopped in twenty-effing-seventeen. I'd have expected that BBS to have been scrapped around '95 at the latest. Also, phone numbers - where I grew up, phone number formats and area codes have changed three times since the '80s, a BBS call coded in the '80s would have stopped working before '91.
Also, I cannot imagine the change-averseness of someone who keeps using a CAD suite from the '80s (probably on some ancient XT or DEC or something weird and irreplacable) well into the 2010s. I mean my dad is the image of conservativeness, and yet even he migrated all his CAD work from the old DOS tools over to Windows-based, modern stuff when Windows NT 4.0 came out...
I'm not saying "it's not true", just that if it is, this should probably be on some Youtube computing history show as the curiosity of the year.
D20: Rome. Close, but not that close. (Found in Egypt though)
http://geekologie.com/2012/11/move-over-ancient-romans-new-o...
In spite of the old system, the software works absolutely fine and there were no reasons to upgrade or change. In fact, the hardware it was running on was upgraded several times. Until one day, the dongle broke (a bump by the cleaning staff cracked it apparently). The company behind the software went bankrupt years ago, and there was no way to either obtain a new dongle or extract the data from the software (custom db as well).
The software was easy to crack by just nop'ing a couple of bytes, but the owner of the company was absolutely shocked by the experience as they reverted to paper archives for about a week with no easy way out.
I was quite young at the time and it served me as a life lesson. Since then I never used or considered anything with DRM, remote licensing or SaaS for exactly that reason. I never had trouble finding alternatives either.
I have seen similar things happen, some proprietary data analysis framework from the 90s relying on hw dongle (from a company busted years ago) used in research lab. Talk about reproducible results, when you wouldn't even be able to reproduce it yourself when it breaks, I wonder how these people think. I guess their cancer research isn't very important so...
Sure, the commercial tools are slightly more competent and have a nicer interface (although the FOSS tools are improving with every release). But there is no guarantee AutoCAD doesn't go bankrupt next week or changes business next year or is bought by Apple and becomes the next Logic.
Unfortunately, the way technology moves on, the only way to really ensure this is to commit to it as an active process. Much like backing up your data, it has to be an ongoing and active maintenance process. This takes time and effort and incurs risk and disruption (changing formats and software).
I understand how the person in the original post got themselves into this problem, and I don't blame them. But with the benefit of hindsight one can see the lesson. For data to be durable over time, it has to be in the most compatible formats or the most general formats which allow them to be economically (wrt time/effort/money) moved to other systems.
With OSS and open formats you have a fighting chance, but even then the ultimate cost can be having to maintain the software yourself which for most people who are using design software isn't likely their main goal.
The software never contacted it's home server again, but instead a hosts file redirected the request to a random server.
First thing your app does is present a login screen instead of creating a usable window? Won’t work without an Internet connection? Error messages that default to “accusing me” instead of “helping me”? Upgrades that mysteriously fail to support older file formats? If so then sorry, I am completely reworking my environment to never use your stuff again.
After a little coaxing to get it running on 64 bit I managed to get it running and the community could finally play for another few years..until that server died and this time it was me who didn't have the time/interest to fix it again. Then it sort of died for good.
I wonder if there is an opportunity to provide a service/servers for legacy games so that every time the nostalgia hits a gamer he can come play online.
I think it is what GameRanger does. I played Age Of Empires games and Rise Of Nations with it, it works quite well.
Also, Bob Staake, a New Yorker illustrator, has been doing all his work in Photoshop 3.0 until 2008, and he's probably still using it. He was running it in the Classic environment on a PPC mac in 2008, I remember reading that he switched to a VM recently but can't find any info on it.
Probably this: http://www.lugaru.com/
I know of a number of commercial facilities still using 20+ year old versions of it.
Here's one.
It's not like DOS software is going to do anything with more than one core.
Long story short: This thing does XOR and all caveats of XOR apply. Like XOR-ing the ciphertext with the plaintext will yield the key. So cracking these things boils down to extracting the key and either emulating the dongle or decrypting the "protected" parts of the program and placing them in the binary in the clear.
I'd be surprised if your fathers program used something more sophisticated than that.
I'm pretty sure you can use something like this: https://www.startech.com/Cards-Adapters/Serial-Cards-Adapter...
Though I cannot vouch for this since I ended up ripping my control system out and replacing it with something modern. You should talk with a startech representative to make sure before you buy.
Perhaps that is worth considering, compare tidying a room every day instead of putting up some storage...
Admittedly the DRM aspect is a bit naff, but it's hardly evil empire at that scale.
But, you're right, it's satisfying knowing that it's like building a house. You can put a lot of effort into designing it solidly with a long future in mind.
I mean, that doesn't seem possible.
My best guess is that some later version of the software was updated to include phoning home.
For example:
http://www.darkridge.com/~jpr5/mirror/fravia.org/academy.htm
I was definitely moved when I heard of his death, which is coming up for ten years:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fravia
(It was only years later I realized that +ORC was almost certainly +fravia in disguise. At the time I first read all the posts I was more trusting ..)
I'm fairly certain importing correctly from a 35 years old format is not impossible, though there could be surprises for sure.
I understand the familiarity vs productivity issue and that learning something new is always painful, but if you want to avoid sw calling home, go for open source.
(I'm impressed by the way that something this old gets not just replies to questions but living servers to answer. I wonder if the answering machine is also from the 80.)
If you have this tight finance why not go with opencad or freecad?
I am still using it some 35 years later, because, once you learn one CAD system and create 1000's of library parts, why switch?The risk which is known to people maintaining VAX systems from parts found on eBay.
This is the core of this story: he paid for it 35 years ago (or still pays a subscription) and he depends on the company existing.
Say you're not going for billion dollar unicorn or broke, but for a life long small business. You always have non-main line of business systems that are technically obsolete but it doesn't matter to 99.9% of day to day operations because it works and when it doesn't work its only 0.1% of the time you spend anyway. To replace it when it completely breaks, its fully depreciated so to speak, you could pay $5K today or $5K next year, you certainly have $5K, but how exactly do you benefit by throwing down the cash today? I guess you get the tax deduction today rather than in 5 years but who cares? There's no way 0.1% of your day to day operation can have a significant bottom line effect no matter how much the new technology improves things in its little 0.1% corner of operations.
Even worse, when you forklift upgrade its going to be a hit to your productivity for "awhile" and you're busy today so you simply can't afford it. But sometime in the next five years there is certain to be a recession and then you already have the money and then you'll have the spare time to convert. Just not today. Its only 0.1% of your business and you don't want to turn away paying customers today to min/max that last 0.1% today. Play games with new toys when there's 10% unemployment and you have nothing to do for a week. In fact during that future recession you'll get newer technology than today plus it'll probably be cheaper if they're hurting for customers.
When its technology, 100% tech people are blinded by technophillia, but if it was an obscure metalworking tool that only gets used once a year for a few minutes, even tech people understand that when you're a busy one man shop, once that tool is completely depreciated and obsolete, waiting for it to break is the wisest possible choice.
There are businesses out there that make a living supporting devices that were designed to run on 5.25" or 3.5" floppies. The machinery still works fine, but now the owner can't load files because replacement drives can't be found, or they can't buy floppies, or... So a business springs up to interface a thumb drive to a DOS HDD controller.
Note to all: there's money to be made everywhere
Note to self: so why am I not making any :-(
Check out SolveSpace. You are free to contribute to the UI as well.
I do not think that it's this clear-cut.
DRM server
the request goes unanswered
one hand is clappingWhat kind of hardware could that guy possible be using to run that at this point? There is being stuck in your ways, and then there is being STUCK in your ways.