Activation policy

[yannick]

Hello,
First thanks for the good job !
Second I would like to know what is your activation policy ?
I used to make clean bootable images of my hardrive on an external HD and to copy them on my mac when it is necessary.
I had the surprise today to be obliged to reactivate Photo mechanics after copying the old clean image on my hard drive.
I have some activated sofwares on it but Photo Mechanics is the only to ask for reactivation.
I would like you to tell me if there is a limited number of activations for a licence and if there is a way to transfer the activation before copying the old image ?
Best regards

Nb : I am running PM 4.6.2.1 on Mac OSX 10.6.2 on a intel base

[Kirk Baker]

Hello,
First thanks for the good job !
Second I would like to know what is your activation policy ?
I used to make clean bootable images of my hardrive on an external HD and to copy them on my mac when it is necessary.
I had the surprise today to be obliged to reactivate Photo mechanics after copying the old clean image on my hard drive.
I have some activated sofwares on it but Photo Mechanics is the only to ask for reactivation.
I would like you to tell me if there is a limited number of activations for a licence and if there is a way to transfer the activation before copying the old image ?
Best regards

Nb : I am running PM 4.6.2.1 on Mac OSX 10.6.2 on a intel base

If you repeat this process enough times, our activation software will no longer allow you to activate.  How often do you do this?

-Kirk

[yannick]

Hello,
I have just done it once with PM activeted but I used to do this 3 or 4 times by year to keep a clean system on my mac.
Is there a way to transfer the licence ?
Best regards

[yannick]

Hi Kirk,
You did not answer to my questions :
1) how many activation per license ?
2) is there a way to transfer the license from on hard drive to another ?
Best regards

[Kirk Baker]

You did not answer to my questions :
1) how many activation per license ?

Well, basically it is two.  But since we don't have a way in the software to deactivate a system, we only do something about it when we detect abuse.

2) is there a way to transfer the license from on hard drive to another ?

No there is no way to do that and it is intentional.

-Kirk

[yannick]

Hi Kirk,
Thanks for the reply.
This is a very restrictive policy, one of the most restrictive I know.
It would have been kind to warn the consumer about this before he purchase his license.
For myself I would not have bought if I had new it in spite of the quality of the software.
Regards

[Kirk Baker]

This is a very restrictive policy, one of the most restrictive I know.
It would have been kind to warn the consumer about this before he purchase his license.
For myself I would not have bought if I had new it in spite of the quality of the software.

Why?  We let you install it on two computers.  Adobe doesn't let you do that with Photoshop.  Eventually we will add the ability to deactivate a computer.  I the meantime you can always call our support folks and explain your situation (we have actual real, live, people who answer our phones) and they will be happy to accommodate you.

We instituted the activation system because Photo Mechanic is pirated quite heavily.

-Kirk

[adrianlambert]

This is a very restrictive policy, one of the most restrictive I know.

Why?  We let you install it on two computers.  Adobe doesn't let you do that with Photoshop.  Eventually we will add the ability to deactivate a computer.  I the meantime you can always call our support folks and explain your situation (we have actual real, live, people who answer our phones) and they will be happy to accommodate you.
We instituted the activation system because Photo Mechanic is pirated quite heavily.
-Kirk

I agree that this is restrictive. More so than for adobe products and capture one who both track activations, due to the fact that we need to call you to put things right which means that in a week of 168 hours we can only get help for 40 - 50 of those hours for software that is used in all time zones around the world.

By the by, I talked to adobe staff on the phone a couple of years back and they told me that you can install photoshop on two computers for the very same reasons that you are talking about for PM. I and others have been doing just that for the right reasons for some time. So in practice it works even if Adobe state somewhere that you can't. Adobe and Capture One both have the ability to deactivate software manually before replacing HDs (which we also do at our studio annually) making their software less restrictive.

Don't get me wrong, real live people, I love 'em, but manually deactivating software is even better if those real live people are sleeping which they usually are when I'm at work here in Australia.

[Hayo Baan]

Why?  We let you install it on two computers.  Adobe doesn't let you do that with Photoshop.

Actually, Kirk, they do allow you to install Photoshop on two computers, as long as you don't use them both at the same time (the restriction for installing only one copy does apply to a copy bought with an educational discount though).

The only thing they don't allow you to do with Photoshop is install it both on Windows and on Mac as you buy only one of the two. Funny thing is, Lightroom does not have even this restriction.

Eventually we will add the ability to deactivate a computer.

Funny thing is, I didn't even know PS had a deactivation ability. If you implement such a thing, it would only be useful (IMHO) if you can deactivate copies running on other machines than the one you're using at that moment, otherwise you could not deactivate a copy running on a computer that has crashed. On the other hand, I can see this is dangerous too as this may allow people who abuse your license to block you from using your copy in a valid way. Ah well, nothing is perfect…

We instituted the activation system because Photo Mechanic is pirated quite heavily.

That's a really bad thing

Cheers,
    Hayo

[mbrakes]

Okay, just run into this problem myself and hoping to find a workaround here. Disappointed there isn't an actvation feature that is automatic, like with CaptureOne, as others have pointed out. I live in a time zone that is out of sync with the U.S., meaning I will now be left hanging out to dry for probably a day before having this manually reset (or whatever you do.) Your software being pirated is a bad thing and I understand that you take your measures against it, but having paid customers wait to use a product they have legally bought is bad. Cloning (as a measure of backup) and replacing crashed hard drives is comme il faut for most hard working professional in this industry and should be taken into account.

[Hayo Baan]

Hi mbrakes,

What problems are you running into? What version of PM, what OS? Old (numeric) or new (alphanumeric) license key?

The activation process is completely automatic, by the way. Only the deactivation process may require manual intervention (depending on your situation).

[Kirk Baker]

Okay, just run into this problem myself and hoping to find a workaround here. Disappointed there isn't an actvation feature that is automatic, like with CaptureOne, as others have pointed out. I live in a time zone that is out of sync with the U.S., meaning I will now be left hanging out to dry for probably a day before having this manually reset (or whatever you do.) Your software being pirated is a bad thing and I understand that you take your measures against it, but having paid customers wait to use a product they have legally bought is bad. Cloning (as a measure of backup) and replacing crashed hard drives is comme il faut for most hard working professional in this industry and should be taken into account.

Photo Mechanic 5 has both an automated (via internet connection) activation and a full deactivation system when used with our latest alphanumeric license keys.  Please be more specific about your particular situation: what version of Photo Mechanic are you trying to activate and what kind of license key do you have?

The problems listed by the original poster of this four year old thread should not be problems anymore if one has an updated license key.  We made it possible to both activate and deactivate systems without needing any assistance from Camera Bits staff with our new licensing system.  Cloning of drives will never be supported by our licensing system however.  There was no way to make a system that would allow both activation and deactivation with our numeric license keys so we have made a transition to our new license key system so that users can manage their licenses on their own.  If you end up needing assistance from our staff, ask them to help you transition to the new license key system.

-Kirk

[ron_hiner]

My 7-year old computer crashed and burned a week ago.   I restored the backup onto a new computer and PM just reverted to trial mode (30 days I think?)

I then plugged in my product key and it works like a charm now.  A system failure is never painless, but PM handled just exactly like it should have.

[Luiz Muzzi]

My 7-year old computer crashed and burned a week ago.   I restored the backup onto a new computer and PM just reverted to trial mode (30 days I think?)

I then plugged in my product key and it works like a charm now.  A system failure is never painless, but PM handled just exactly like it should have.

Hi,
I have also upgraded to a new MacBook Pro recently and had no problems at all. Typed PM's key and it was all fine.
After that I e-mailed sales at Camera Bits to convert my key to an alphanumeric one so I can deactivate PM by myself in the future if needed.
Regards,

-Luiz Muzzi