ELD - ELECTRONIC LICENSE DISTRIBUTION
Many of you may not have heard of this ELD. But those who have recently installed Microsoft products will be aware of Microsoft Product Activation. This is one way of reducing piracy of software. In the past where software is sold in boxes, there was a serial number accompanying the CD-ROM that was used as the activation key for the software. But this method of activation did not prevent software piracy. So Microsoft introduced Product Activation for some products like Office XP. What is Electronic License Distribution?
Electronic License Distribution is a method of activating a software package. It can be done through the Internet or through the telephone. The basic concept is that the software package delivered to the end user contains activation routines. The activation routines will search out some hardware identification that is unique to the PC. Such hardware identification can be the network card MAC address or the disk ID header or CPU serial number. Then this number is encrypted with the Product ID No. to generate a number to be input into the Activation Server.
The Activation Server will then generate an activation key based on the input data. It will also keep track of how many times this Product ID No. has requested for an activation key. A typical value the activation server is set to is 5. The activation key can then be communicated to the end user via telephone or Internet. With the activation key, the software package can now be activated and used.
However, if the hardware encounters a failure and after replacement, the activated software may not run. This is because the MAC address or the disk ID header is changed. The user will then need to get another activation key from the Electronic License Distribution Centre by phone or via Internet.
The Electronic License Distribution is the new concept. The old concept was to get a hardware dongle to secure the software. Only with the dongle, will the software be able to execute. Rainbow Technologies will be providing this ELD service to software developers through Systems Design shortly.