Great videos from MicroConf 2012

I found awesome videos from MicroConf 2012. 

http://www.microconf.com/videos-2012.html

Almost all of them are worth to watch. 

I love Peldi and Patric presentations. There are lots of things to learn.

It is really sad that there are no more MicroConf13 tickets left.

SoftwarePassport (Armadillo) as a copy protection and licensing system

For years I used another software protection system called Execryptor.

It was really good one. And I thought it worth every cent I paid for it. But later authors stopped making any new versions and I found out my software, protected with Execryptor doesn’t work in new Windows 8.

So I was looking on other copy protection and licensing systems and found out there are plenty of them:

• SoftwarePasport (ex Armadillo)
• WinLicense (Themida without licensing)
• VMProtect
• Obsidium
• Enigma Protector
• ASProtect
• Register Maker
• Private Exe protector
• LimeLM

So I read all protector related posts on Business of Software forum, other forums, like Russian shareware forum RSDN  and even on crackers forums and finally from this list I’ve chosen VMProtect, WinLicense and SoftwarePassport/Armadillo.

I downloaded and installed demo versions, protected my software, tested for False Positive alarms on VirusTotal.

That gave me an a final choice was Silicon Realms SoftwarePassport vs. VMProtect.

But finally I’ve chosen SoftwarePassport because

• it supports short license keys, that are really convenient
• the software is owned by a big company, so for sure it will be well maintained
• I believe my software will get lesser number of anti-virus false alarms
• from internet forums I’ve got an impression Software passports is almost an industry standard for micro ISV.

Price of  Win32 version of SoftwarePassport is $299.

Apart from Win32 and Win64 versions you can purchase:

• SoftwarePassport Windows Bundle v9 | $599.00 USD
• SoftwarePassport Corporate v9  | $999.00 USD

But in the order form I found a text field “Coupon Code”. I searched for coupon codes and found one  that works: FSS-T8EC-OFBF.  This discount code saved me about 50 USD.

Also I wanted to buy PHP key generator, because I noticed that it is quite convenient to make the sales process fully automatic. Many e-commerce providers can generate license keys for SoftwarePassport, but it was not my case. My e-commerce provider doesn’t support it. PHP licenes key generator for Armadillo separately for $99.  But you  got a 30% discount when purchase keygen together with Win32 or Win64 version. So I saved yet another 30 USD.

An interesting feature of Armadillo is custom builds, that really help to make it harder to cracker to bypass  your software protection by making your protection code different from other software protected with Armadillo.  To get a custom build after purchase you can click Help/Get Custom Builds to download a custom build:

By the way, I found out  the Software Passport license key I received was a temporary one.  The real license key came on the next day. It is quite interesting scheeme for uISV owners who have a little paranoia about copy protection.

Addition: Silicon Realms stopped sales of Armadillo.

So now I would choose the DRM system from the list of VMProtect, Themida and Obsidium.

Hello world!

I am an independent software developer and entrepreneur from Russia.

I run my tiny but successful one man software business that feeds me and my family.

I started to learn programming at age of 12.

After graduation I worked as software engineer, project manager, head of programming department. The most successful project I started while worked for “the man” has brought to “the man” more than $30M (but not to me:).

For a few years I worked abroad in western Europe. There I found that I want to start my own project. And later I started my own micro ISV. I found a niche, quitted my day job, made the first version of the software and offered it to the world. And so far it goes well.
At the moment I rent small office and working on the next version.