Migration from "Crummy competitor"

Hey Stef,

Can we reuse our productkeys (serials)?

You can import your product keys, and you can do it in a way that you never have to send your customers their product key. However, you won't be able to just use old product keys in LimeLM. The reason being that our CheckAndSavePKey() function -- the step before an activation actually begins -- uses an internal algorithm to see if the product key is valid without contacting the servers. Thus random strings (or product keys from other licensing products) won't work.

So, how do you roll this out seamlessly to customers without sending thousands or millions or emails and without increasing your support costs?

Well, the good news is that we have an article covering this: How to switch your licensing to LimeLM, TurboActivate, and TurboFloat.

Many of our large customers have used this method to seamlessly switch customers over to their new versions of their software that uses LimeLM without ever having to contact the customers. Everything just works behind the scenes.

Does that make sense?

Where are the Information about Trial time and "Custom license fields" stored? In the Key or on the Server?

It's stored in the server, and it can be read from your app (if you want it to be) without the customer needing an active internet connection (because the data is downloaded as part of the cryptographically-signed activation data). See: Custom license fields

Hey Wyatt,

thank you for your reply.

So, I hope i understood that correctly.The user uses his old product key to activate our program. Our program gives the old product key to your DLL which queries the server for a product key with our old product key in its custom license field?Can we use the custom license field for both, old product key and features?

Is there a length limit for the custom license field?

Kind regards,Stef

The user uses his old product key to activate our program.

No, this is covered in this article, but simplified it's like this:

1. The customer enters an old product key and/or you detect that they've already entered an old product key.
2. If they have an old product key (and aren't already activated with the new key generated in LimeLM), then send a request in your app to your webserver submitting the old product key to this script on your website.
3. The script on your website, uses the advanced search web API function in LimeLM to find the new LimeLM product key associated with that old product key.
4. The customer gets that new product key (because the script on your website will return it to your website).
5. Your app then calls CheckAndSavePKey() and Activate(). Which does just what it sounds like -- it activated the new product key.
6. Optionally you can tell the customer from within your app that they now have a new product key and they should have it for future reference.

Does all of that make sense?

Can we use the custom license field for both, old product key and features?

Yes, see the article I linked to. You can import all of your data.

Is there a length limit for the custom license field?

2GB of data per field. However if you're using anywhere near that limit you're doing things wrong. A good conceptual limit is around 1KB. If you're using more than about 1KB then you need to rethink what you're storing in the custom license fields.

Does that make sense?

Hey Wyatt,

thank you for your good explanation 🙂

Kind regards,Stef