Is It Possible To "Tie" License To a Person?

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First of all my sincere thanks to Tom and all the team for their great product!

Being a private PCB design subcontractor I often find myself working on 
client's PCs. I've been using LP Wizard for several years but with each 
new client I had to convince them to by a license for their company and 
usually they are very reluctant to spend a dime for anything they 
consider "bells and whistles". But I really need this tool to have my 
job done properly and within time-line.

I assume that Footprint Expert single user license is it tied to PC (e.g
 network card MAC, hard disk serial number). Is it possible to have it 
tied to a person (e.g. my name) so I could use it for lets say half year
 at one site then for a year on another one etc? I realize that it might
 be a complicated task to prevent using the same license simultaneously 
but perhaps there is a solution to that.

Another question is if I buy Librarian option now will it be possible to
 upgrade it with CAD output options later on when I need it (for a lower
 price)?

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cioma Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Advanced User Joined: 17 Jul 2012 Status: Offline Points: 149	Post Options Post Reply Quote cioma Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Is It Possible To "Tie" License To a Person? Posted: 17 Jul 2012 at 1:06am
	First of all my sincere thanks to Tom and all the team for their great product! Being a private PCB design subcontractor I often find myself working on client's PCs. I've been using LP Wizard for several years but with each new client I had to convince them to by a license for their company and usually they are very reluctant to spend a dime for anything they consider "bells and whistles". But I really need this tool to have my job done properly and within time-line. I assume that Footprint Expert single user license is it tied to PC (e.g network card MAC, hard disk serial number). Is it possible to have it tied to a person (e.g. my name) so I could use it for lets say half year at one site then for a year on another one etc? I realize that it might be a complicated task to prevent using the same license simultaneously but perhaps there is a solution to that. Another question is if I buy Librarian option now will it be possible to upgrade it with CAD output options later on when I need it (for a lower price)?



Nick B Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Joined: 02 Jan 2012 Status: Offline Points: 1908	Post Options Post Reply Quote Nick B Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 17 Jul 2012 at 2:36am
	This where those USB keys we originally offered back around 2006 came in handy. Contractors loved them. Since then, we've had a lot of feedback/preference bias toward the software-based licensing. In response to your question if the license can 'tied' to a person... I would like to point out that ultimately/technically it must still be linked to the hardware or there's no purpose in having it. However, we are exploring other options to better accommodate contractors such as yourself. But I must add especially with the introductory price, the Footprint Expert can reasonably be expected to pay for itself way before the first project is completed. I think it's safe to assume most (if not all) customers who snagged the Wizard at the introductory price were increasingly thrilled with our updates and their decision. What's better with the Footprint Expert - there is NO maintenance fee, you still get all updates to v2012 at no charge, AND we will offer an upgrade path to future major versions v2013, v2014, etc. Best Regards, Nick

jameshead Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Expert User Joined: 20 Mar 2012 Location: Oxfordshire, UK Status: Offline Points: 576	Post Options Post Reply Quote jameshead Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 17 Jul 2012 at 3:41am
	I too preferred the old dongle approach which we use for Pulsonix since it meant if there was the liklihood of snow the next day then I could take the dongles home with me and work at home if I couldn't get to work, and also on a couple of occasions when I needed to work from home to be in for a delivery or the appointment etc. I think companies aren't very keen on dongles though when they go missing. I have a contractor collegue whose laptop with CADSTAR dongle was stolen and Zuken wouldn't replace his dongle for a nominal charge but wanted him to purchase a complete new copy of CADSTAR. Actually in this case he decided to change to Pulsonix instead so Zuken lost out there. I don't, for five minutes, think laptop thieves examine the computers they pinch and resell the software separately.

Nick B Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Joined: 02 Jan 2012 Status: Offline Points: 1908	Post Options Post Reply Quote Nick B Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 17 Jul 2012 at 4:50pm
	Cioma, I promised you I would look some more into this. Here's what I can offer -- in situations like yours, if you want to move the software from one computer to another, we can deactivate the software from the original machine -- only provided there is a functional license on it -- and reissue another activation for a different machine. I don't have a pricing model in place for this, but I would think we would charge a relatively small fee to minimize the frequency this manual task would be requested (we wouldn't want customers changing computers every week!). I hope this adequately resolves your issue... Nick

cioma Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Advanced User Joined: 17 Jul 2012 Status: Offline Points: 149	Post Options Post Reply Quote cioma Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 18 Jul 2012 at 12:07am
	That sounds good, many thanks! In coming days I'm going to buy Footprint Expert with PADS output as discount is very attractive indeed and I know that PCB Libraries software quality is high.

konraditen Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Active User Joined: 26 Mar 2012 Location: Vancouver, BC Status: Offline Points: 37	Post Options Post Reply Quote konraditen Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 20 Jul 2012 at 10:50am
	Hi Nick Were there any discussion about a floating network license? This would come in handy for larger corporations with multiple users. Regards Konrad

sureshmkm Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List New User Joined: 12 Jul 2012 Location: Bangalore Status: Offline Points: 1	Post Options Post Reply Quote sureshmkm Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 30 Jul 2012 at 8:23am
	Hi Nick, What is the network license cost? please let me know the expected date of availability. Regards, Suresh

Nick B Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Joined: 02 Jan 2012 Status: Offline Points: 1908	Post Options Post Reply Quote Nick B Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 30 Jul 2012 at 8:47pm
	The Network License is currently slated to be 1.5x the cost of the Single User. For example, if a Single User license is $399 (hint, hint!), the 1-User Network license will be $399 + (399 * .5) >> $599. We do plan on having several price points for the different CAD software/versions out there once we roll them out in the coming weeks and months. I'm saying this so you are aware that the cost of the Single User and Network Licenses will be higher or lower, depending on CAD format. Nick

LaserAlex Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Active User Joined: 06 Jun 2012 Location: Seattle, WA Status: Offline Points: 27	Post Options Post Reply Quote LaserAlex Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 31 Jul 2012 at 12:59pm
	I wanted to chime in and say I think it is great that you are planning to price according to the CAD package. A few years ago I looked into the Mentor product, but they wanted to charge more for that than I had paid for my unlimited license of EAGLE. It made no sense to me to spend $1500 on a footprint generator for a $1000 Schematic+PCB package. I assume that the EAGLE version will be priced lower than the version for more expensive CAD packages, and I think that is a great plan. I'm now running Altium, which has its own built-in "IPC Footprint Wizard." However, the number of supported component styles is much smaller, and there's no indication of which version of the IPC standard is being used. At the current promotional rate it was a no-brainier to grab a copy right away. At $400 I would have needed to give it more thought (since Altium has their own Wizard) but I suspect I would have purchased it anyway.

Tom H Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Joined: 05 Jan 2012 Location: San Diego, CA Status: Offline Points: 5717	Post Options Post Reply Quote Tom H Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 29 Dec 2012 at 12:22pm
	NEW: HASP USB key license now available, allows users to easily move license. Existing Fixed Node licensed users can change their license - contact us! HASP USB Keys Now Available: