Edgar, I know that we don't see eye to eye on this issue, but some of your problems are actually caused by the fact that you are using OSX (the need to re-boot, for example). I don't really think that it's fair to try to hold VSL responsible for the inflexibility of Apple's OS.
However, I (and I'm sure VSL) would be interested to hear about a better copy protection system, if there is one. Do you have any thoughts? I'm assuming that it is not cost effective for VSL to come up with their own. To my knowledge there are 3 main sorts of copy protection:
- Challenge/response. This one seems to be cracked almost before it has been released.
- Dongle. I only really know anything about Syncrosoft and iLok. I do know that most iLok products are cracked very quickly, and Syncrosoft ones take a lot longer. I also know that if VSL was using iLok, we wouldn't even be having this discussion, because there are no 64bit drivers for OSX yet for iLok. What other dongles are there?
- Water marking. I know nothing about this, but imagine that it might be a bit of a nightmare for replication. I also believe that even if it works, it is less secure, because it doesn't stop the product being used; it only allows the developer to see which user has allowed their product to be copied. They have to find out to do something about it. ;>)
Please feel free to post back any thoughts about other methods, because as Paul says that VSL is always listening, it might be that you have heard of a better solution that doesn't penalise the users who are actually able to work very efficiently with the current system.
DG