I've said it many times: I like the idea behind iLok and security dongles, but I despise the unethical business practices of PACE. If your iLok ever goes down (or your hard drive crashes that you had licenses on), it becomes a battle to retrieve your licenses if you're not feeding them money for ZDT. It's a complete scam because they hit both the producers of the program and the consumer for money, then have the balls to demand more money from the consumer to regain access if something happens.

Yet, all things gets cracked, I guess there's just nothing to prevent abuse, or use without purchase, for that matter. And now iLok2 is cracked, switching to iLok3 will be fun, I can't wait. And iLok4. And iLok5. Fun days ahead ;)
So yes, honest users are the only ones being punished, as using iLok makes things less straightforward than without. And being able to swap between computers is important for some, not for many, so that could be optional.
In the end, all of this is about kinds of people. Some people steal, most don't. Leaving your stuff out in the open might get them stolen, but it won't happen always, and it will be less intrusive than always being on the lookout to see if your stuff is secure. So that's my point: leave it out in the open.
Abandon iLok. Most of us will still purchase. Few of us will become thieves. 
And if you really want to hang onto hardware dongles, go the UAD route.
For as Grem justly states: at least they give you some processing power to help out!
 

wasn't attempting to start a flame war.  just very frustrated. Nothing worse than not having a project work over something like that. Apparently this problem is happening a lot with win 10 users after last few win10 updates.  I'll see if one of the older installers will work. i personally don' think iLok is necessary but not going to get in that debate :) 

For the record, iLok2 has been cracked for about 6 months now. Not the end of the world. It's very complicated to do and not something they can just pass along to others. The other good news is that a lot of the scene groups have split which means there are less new releases coming out to people. I'm sure there will be more in the future but for now, it's good news.

Forgot about ZDT. That bugs me humongously.

Geez Dana, what's with the name calling? People are frustrated. That doesn't make them idiots.

Ilok 2 here. No Problems.

joel77
Geez Dana, what's with the name calling? People are frustrated. That doesn't make them idiots.

I called no one names... and I empathize with Dub's frustrating situation over the holidays... I do get tired of blaming "iLok" which for the most part works exceedingly well...and I saw the typical piling on... it's like people always complaining about the EWQL Play engine, based on old information... furthermore, complaining about copy protection, "harming the legitimate user" when the very software we love won't survive due to pirates.  
 
Do I wish we had a different world? Yea..

You should read instead of assume. If you stop listening to arguments you think you already know, you'll never hear something new. Politics as usual 
 
Edith says: in sarcasian, the word defines as follows:
ass - from the sarcasian arse meaning "he with great skill"
u - from the sarcasian hey you meaning "come here"
me - from the sarcasian me? meaning "yes you"

Vastman
Been using iLok for years.  Never had a problem...aside from the old software which was cludgy, difficult for this idot to understand, and thus, a HUGE time waster.  However, since they revamped their entire system, it is painless for me and all the folks using it....  I am sorry for your problems, but they are unique and the flaming is from ignorant people who have no idea what they're talking about (no offense)
 
You can easily just move licences to your "computer" rather than I lok. You don't need an iLok any more,...
 
I have many iLok products... I totally understand the use of this as so many rip people off and destroy the very companies I love.
 
Don't know what ur problem is, Dub... internet?  updating to latest is always optional here.  Software is way improved... took me 10 minutes to download Bohemian Violin, authorize it while downloading... painless.  Kinda sucks that this occured over xmas as I'm sure customer service is down.
 
Most feel this is the instrument of the year.  I agree.  Without Ilok this amazing creation would be cracked in a week, as NI stuff routinely is.
 
Am I saddened that this is necessary?  Of course. But we live in a messed up world.  iLok is the least of my worries and I think all posting here, aside from Dub... who is naturally frustrated... are idiots.

I don't know where to start with this, so I'll just correct the one glaring error.
 
You CANNOT easily just move your licenses to your "computer".
 
The software vendor must EXPLICITLY support that. UVI does, and that's why I'm able to use UVI synths. Slate Digital does NOT. They REQUIRE the presence of the physical iLok.
 
I have a basic Dell XPS 8500. Running the latest PACE application, the iLok worked sometimes, didn't work other times under Win7. When I upgraded to Win10, I installed each new version of the PACE app when it was released, but was NEVER able to get the physical iLok to work...on any of my 6 USB2 or 4 USB3 ports...and I tried them all.
 
I've been dealing with PACE since those gawd-awful parallel printer port dongles (I once had three of them in series, and often had to rearrange the order depending on the weather, DOS version, and my boss's attitude that day), so I've got PLENTY of data supporting the pure hatefulness of their products. Two facts re PACE (I call them "facts" due to the lengthy and repeated nature of their "crimes"):
 
1) PACE products have NEVER worked reliably across the common computing platforms of the moment. Worked on some; didn't work on others.
 
2) PACE have NEVER provided any kind of end-user support in the event of trouble. I challenge you to have a meaning communication with them.
 
I have sent numerous emails to Slate, asking them to support the "move license to PC" option for PACE. They haven't even shown me the courtesy of auto-responding, so my Slate Digital investment with worthless to me.
 
Sad.
 
I'm happy it works for you. A little more sympathy for those of us for whom it doesn't work would be nice.