License Issue

[dj_buckley]

Please change the licence system guys.

The internet is currently down for an unknown period of time in my area which means I can't render anything.

I was hoping to use the licence offline but low and behold in order to get an offline licence file, I need to be online.  Make it make sense.

I have zero control over the current outage but I need to continue working

[pokoy]

It looks like they don't want to solve that problem. License state is supposed to be remembered for some time (hours, days?) but it clearly isn't. The moment the internet is down Corona stops working.

[dj_buckley]

Yup, I woke up this morning, walked into the office, internet was already down and no Corona.  It was working fine at 1am this morning, so if it did remember any licence state then it didn't remember for any more than 6 hours

[maru]

We cannot help with licensing issues over the forum, nor can we influence the way the license system works for all Chaos products. If you would like to report a problem or share feedback, please use the right channel for this (a support ticket): https://support.chaos.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

[aaouviz]

Surely you can use wifi hotspot/tether from your phone to get internet temporarily?

[dj_buckley]

As I work from home daily, I don't have a phone contract with a huge data allowance (because I'm rarely not on WiFi).  So I don't wanna rack up a bill for something I already pay for.  But yes, I could, in theory

[maru]

I am pretty sure the license check uses less data than visiting our forum. :)

[dj_buckley]

I am pretty sure the license check uses less data than visiting our forum. :)

Assuming I was at home when using the forum sure ;)

[pokoy]

I am pretty sure the license check uses less data than visiting our forum. :)

Not sure how many workstations have wireless connection ability, last time I checked not many do, just like mine.

This dancing around an obvious issue is tiresome.

Contacting chaos licensing support will leave you with exactly one option: borrow your license for 'some' time. I wasn't even able to learn  how long the borrowed license would last - 'you'll have to check back with us in order to extend it if it expires, we may or may not extend it'. That is the product that we pay for.

Sad situation we're in and I'm not sure the company selling the product realizes how much of a problem it is once the ISP is down.

[dj_buckley]

I am pretty sure the license check uses less data than visiting our forum. :)

Not sure how many workstations have wireless connection ability, last time I checked not many do, just like mine.

This dancing around an obvious issue is tiresome.

Contacting chaos licensing support will leave you with exactly one option: borrow your license for 'some' time. I wasn't even able to learn  how long the borrowed license would last - 'you'll have to check back with us in order to extend it if it expires, we may or may not extend it'. That is the product that we pay for.

Sad situation we're in and I'm not sure the company selling the product realizes how much of a problem it is once the ISP is down.

haha thats a great point.  I am indeed on a wired connection.

And yes I agree to the rest of it.

[pokoy]

Maru, I really think you didn't think this through. Even if I have a way to route internet through my mobile phone - am I supposed to leave it at the office for, let's say the entire weekend, just to make sure it works? I don't think this is a good option.

Since the license system is really quick to notice the connection loss and fully automated, it should be no problem to:

- Automatically send an alert email to the client saying 'It seems your license can't be verified, you may be experiencing loss of internet connection on the PC(s) running our product. You have 96 hours to contact us, after which the license(s) will be deactivated. Please contact us via xyz to resolve the issue to make sure your product can keep running.'
- Keep the license active for 96 hours, this is to make sure an ISP downtime occuring over the weekend can be resolved or worked around on monday without interrupting production. ISPs tend to need a day or two to fully resolve problems, add to that a weeked for the worst case scenario.
. Since some machines/slaves could be busy doing something else when the ISP goes down, all licenses the client is entitled to should be flagged active for 96 hours automatically. I'm sure you can figure out if the machines requesting a license are located at the same place going by the IP.
- If the client is unable to find a solution, offer to borrow a license for whatever time frame the client needs without any hesitation - he paid for it and Chaos got all the money upfront!!

Sure, the beancounters at Chaos will extrapolate the 'losses' by mutliplying license time with Chaos clients, but the fact is: Chaos has been paid already. A system like this would be fair to the user (the current one is Chaos being a dick because they can) and would probably mean way less work for the support team.

Please stop suggesting weird solutions, just try to be fair to your clients.

[John_Do]

Maru, I really think you didn't think this through. Even if I have a way to route internet through my mobile phone - am I supposed to leave it at the office for, let's say the entire weekend, just to make sure it works? I don't think this is a good option.

Since the license system is really quick to notice the connection loss and fully automated, it should be no problem to:

- Automatically send an alert email to the client saying 'It seems your license can't be verified, you may be experiencing loss of internet connection on the PC(s) running our product. You have 96 hours to contact us, after which the license(s) will be deactivated. Please contact us via xyz to resolve the issue to make sure your product can keep running.'
- Keep the license active for 96 hours, this is to make sure an ISP downtime occuring over the weekend can be resolved or worked around on monday without interrupting production. ISPs tend to need a day or two to fully resolve problems, add to that a weeked for the worst case scenario.
. Since some machines/slaves could be busy doing something else when the ISP goes down, all licenses the client is entitled to should be flagged active for 96 hours automatically. I'm sure you can figure out if the machines requesting a license are located at the same place going by the IP.
- If the client is unable to find a solution, offer to borrow a license for whatever time frame the client needs without any hesitation - he paid for it and Chaos got all the money upfront!!

Sure, the beancounters at Chaos will extrapolate the 'losses' by mutliplying license time with Chaos clients, but the fact is: Chaos has been paid already. A system like this would be fair to the user (the current one is Chaos being a dick because they can) and would probably mean way less work for the support team.

Please stop suggesting weird solutions, just try to be fair to your clients.

+1

Just listen to this guy. It feels like a good, balanced middle ground.

Something must went wrong when illegal users have a better level of service than the ones paying for the product. Enshittification at its best again.

[romullus]

I wouldn't call it enshitification, but when Corona team says that they have no influence on how the license system works, you know that something's very wrong.