iLok... or "how I was lo(c)k(ed)"

Since the forum is not yet closed, there is software section and there was related discussions....
 
Several days before New Year (was it 29...? I do not remember exactly) I have tried to run "ilok cloud" protected plug-in.
Guess what... the service was down . "Can not connect to the service. We do not know when it is back." dialog in the iLock License manager. I have tried to login in the web: "incorrect username or password". I have tried to reset the password: "internal server error, the team is informed".
 
Thinking that is somehow my computer or connection related I have attached to a friend in US. Guess what... the same.
 
So whatever people claim how good all these authorizations are, I am glad that at least my new DAW will never be "lo(c)k"ed.
For Cakewalk staff I still have X3, older Z3TA2 and DimPro.
 
I know that I can not avoid online/hardware authorizations completely, but that incident has remind me to re-check authorization conditions for the software I use.
 
PS. I am not and will never use iLok software. I just had to work with one plug-in to help other users. Bad luck? May be.
 
 

I use the PC authorization software with no problems.
 
I have NEVER been able to use the USB dongle successfully.
 
Anybody wanna buy my Slate licenses?

Thank you azslow, for a painful reminder.
 
Ilok is getting more reliable although the curse of what you may face in a degrading, begging battle to vendors if your computer fails is alive and well. This regarding the no dongle option. Smooth sailing until your hard drive goes south. Lose or smash a physical dongle and the joyful experience may be about the same. Multiple times they have told me I am up **** creek. Fuk off and take my problems to someone who cares. I can't even get them to remove computers that no longer exist from the garbage profile I've collected over time.
 
Worst experience similar to yours was a failure on a Friday night before a holiday and no support. Call back Monday during normal business hours. Problem was that a beautiful couple from Ghana came here half way around the world to do an album of music with ethnic instruments and poetry. Failure took down the DAW as well which kept bumping into the now forbidden plugins. Too ignorant at the time to know how to work around their block. Trip wasted on that one account and they left with a bad taste of what I had promised would be a beautiful experience in western digital technology.
 
Not a big fan of Ilok. May work well currently until you need help in a crisis.
 
John
 

ilok trouble free here since day one (over 8 years now) and that includes 3 system upgrades (XP -> Win 7 -> Win 10) and once complete fresh re-install.
 
I keep a spare on hand I do pay $30/year disaster recovery plan fee. 

So are you doing the hardware dongle? Way more forgiving if you don't lose or break it, and should in theory translate from breakdown to resurrection if needed across any dissimilar configuration.
 
No dongle Ilok is far more unforgiving if you have gone this route. Happy camper until something breaks down on the PC that carries your virtual Ilok licenses.
 
Article from awhile back said that there are like 12 components of the computer that the license carves into stone if you are going with the non dongle option. Change something critical as in replacing a hard drive or motherboard due to failure and the computer is no longer the original computer. Up s**t creek without a paddle. Learned this the hard way more than once.
 
I can understand where Ilok support is coming from in a sick sense. My word as a software pirate is not to be trusted. Take up my issue with the developer who has to determine if I am trying to rip them off or not. They are there to protect the developer, not to help me.
 
About to get my fourth defunct computer added to the tragedy list with Ilok licenses burned up that will never see the light of day. Ilok says they WILL NOT remove a failed computer from the garbage profile or reset licenses already burned on my word that the computer no longer exists. Live with it or take my business elsewhere.
 
I was given the creative option of trying to repair the failed components and log in again with the original configuration in which case they will migrate licenses or remove the dead computer. Got to find my sandpaper to grind out pits on the hard drive of one. Probably not worth 500 dollars to diagnose and repair a failed 50 dollar motherboard. They did give me an option however.
 
Thanks Ilok. Good, compassionate, helpful advice.
John
 
 

Byron,
You are correct and it is my naive approach to how I would want thing to be done that got me in the current mess.
In an ideal world, Ilok would have some threshold of sanity before it eradicates your licenses.
 
Means that if your hard drive, your motherboard fails, there should be enough evidence that you have everything else the same and not trying to rip off the developer to get another activation.
 
Frustrated here and fired up the warez cracks for only those programs that I have legitimately paid for. Slow and painful rebuilding of the system but for the most part, cut the begging ritual short.
 
Don't have no crack for the AIR programs, like Hybrid, Xpand, etc, but these guys the most quick responsive to reset authorizations if you have a catastrophic failure. Many other vendors not so nice when you are down in the pits. Nothing money can't solve if you are denied by many of them.
 
If your computer is immortal, Ilok no dongle is great. If not, do the hardware thing. Will save a lot of grief that will be dumped on you in an instant when the hardware failure happens.
 
John

Again,
You are correct.
I try to imagine some young guy or girl trying to make a paycheck to feed the kids or keep the electricity on.  Sales supporting their existence going down because someone has easy access to a crack not paid for. This is why the visionary folks at Alchemy went down. We all ultimately suffer directly of indirectly from the curse of software piracy.
 
My beef is with systems like Ilok that have not evolved a middle of the world protocol that can differentiate between an honest hard drive failure and some rip off attempt. This would be easy with current technology, but we are where we are at and the little guy suffers.
John

I will never give one penny of my money to Pace (iLock) again. Never.
 
I understand completely what azlow and John are saying. And I agree with them.
 
Slate never got a dime of my money. Neither did Soft Tube. Or any other software vendor that uses ilock. I take my money elsewhere.
 
And I have not had any software authorization problems. And I got a lot.

azslow3

bdickens
iLok only provides the method for managing software licenses. They do not issue them. It is up to the individual software developers to determine when, if and how many authorizations to give you.

They provide the management for issued licenses. You point could be an argument... in case iLok by technology can not do something. But there is a prove they technically can, they do if you pay them.
 

bdickens
So don't get mad at the vendors, get mad at the pirates.

Vendors can be mad from pirates, that is a valid point. But do I as a customer suffer from pirates? No.
Vendors shift the consequences of piracy to me with the logic:
"we have problems with pirates, well... let our customers suffer from piracy instead of us".
I first pay for the protection system and then suffer from it. I do not need it and that is vendor's choice, not my.
And so the vendor is responsible for my problems, not the weather/cat/child which can destroy a dongle, not a broken component in my computer which can be replaced under warrantee and for sure not some abstract "pirates".
 
I can speak for myself only. Have I bought any program because it was copy protected and had no crack? No!
I have bought the first license for Sonar because it had NO online nor dongle protection at that time. That was
deal breaking argument for me.
 

I'll just bet you have locks on your doors.

Bought an iLok gen3 dongle about a month ago. Moved my licenses from the computer over to the dongle. No issues.  I have about a handful of iLok licenses for Soundtoys, Eventide, and Softube.
 
I wish I could toss the Waves licenses over to it, but at least Waves lets you use a spare USB thumb drive.
 
Several years ago, I got burned hard AF after my HDD crashed one evening, and I was forced to reinstall Windows.  At the time, I had my license for Waldorf Largo on the PC (no dongle). $125 down the toilet!  Waldorf was at least sympathetic and allowed me to purchase a new license at a 90% discount rate.  Since then, I have Largo on an eLicenser dongle.  Between the iLok, USB (Waves), and eLicenser, I feel secure.
 
Windows 10 sucks so freakin' bad, and PC's in nature always need a re-installation of Windows at some point or another, that having guarded licenses worth $$$ (with no true "cloud backup" available) on an external device is the preferred solution for me.

azslow3

bdickens
iLok only provides the method for managing software licenses. They do not issue them. It is up to the individual software developers to determine when, if and how many authorizations to give you.

They provide the management for issued licenses. You point could be an argument... in case iLok by technology can not do something. But there is a prove they technically can, they do if you pay them.
 

bdickens
So don't get mad at the vendors, get mad at the pirates.

Vendors can be mad from pirates, that is a valid point. But do I as a customer suffer from pirates? No.
Vendors shift the consequences of piracy to me with the logic:
"we have problems with pirates, well... let our customers suffer from piracy instead of us".
I first pay for the protection system and then suffer from it. I do not need it and that is vendor's choice, not my.
And so the vendor is responsible for my problems, not the weather/cat/child which can destroy a dongle, not a broken component in my computer which can be replaced under warrantee and for sure not some abstract "pirates".
 
I can speak for myself only. Have I bought any program because it was copy protected and had no crack? No!
I have bought the first license for Sonar because it had NO online nor dongle protection at that time. That was
deal breaking argument for me.
 

We are so lucky to have you in our group! Thanks for all you do!