macOS Timed Demo

[larswik]

Hi, In another thread I mentioned that a company was interested in a product that I created for role playing. They want me to send them a copy of my program to look over and make some notes on it that I will customize for a future release.

I want to send them a 15 day trial demo of it to test out. I can pull this off with checking current date with saved date. What what about them resting there computer date to trick it?

Are there any good resources to read up on this, or any ideas for making a timed demo?

 

[mfram]

If you really need the demo to be restricted, then have the demo check in to a server you control. The server can tell it whether to continue or not.

 

[Sydde]

Hi, In another thread I mentioned that a company was interested in a product that I created for role playing. They want me to send them a copy of my program to look over and make some notes on it that I will customize for a future release.

I want to send them a 15 day trial demo of it to test out. I can pull this off with checking current date with saved date. What what about them resting there computer date to trick it?

Are there any good resources to read up on this, or any ideas for making a timed demo?

Use some clock off the 'net to check against your expiration time. If the app cannot reach one of its time sources, it should simply announce "Network Error" and quit. Give them 5 business days, then have a discussion, if they are serious, that should be all they need, or you can send them an update if they can explain why they need more time.

 

[larswik]

Use some clock off the 'net to check against your expiration time. If the app cannot reach one of its time sources, it should simply announce "Network Error" and quit. Give them 5 business days, then have a discussion, if they are serious, that should be all they need, or you can send them an update if they can explain why they need more time.

That sounds like a good way. I guess in a way I can have it reach a text file on my server. I can simply set the text on the server to YES. Then when I want to stop working I change the text to NO. So it has to use the internet to function. That's a great idea.

I did run into a problem with it. I have not touched the code in about 6 months. after updating xcode and my OS it runs fine in xcode but the program will not stop when I press stop. When I hit run again it asks me to first stop the last one or add so I have 2 versions running. Very odd?

Thanks again!