Re: anyone knows how to resolve this problem?

In article <1e1f5f83-9dd0-451f-b2f6-2f26a0b27ec0@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
amynguyen26@xxxxxxxxx writes:
I have a compiled C program that this small business would like to try
out. They don't want to pay for it yet. So I'm willing to let them
use it for a month. If they like it, they can negotitate on the
pricing, and if they don't want to use it, then, after 30 days, this
program will stop working.

Here's the question:

How can I make it work for a month only?

1) If I write the code to see if the date is later than May 15, 2009,
then, the C program stops. But the problem is that they can change
the current date of their Linux or Solaris computer, say, back to
January 1, 2009, and this program will run again. So I don't think
this method will solve the problem.

2) Or if I put a counter into a file somewhere on the computer. Say
the counter will stop after this C program runs for the 100th time.
The problem with this is that if they backed up the whole hard drive,
they will likely back up that counter file. If they restore that file
back, the counter might be only at 1, 2, etc. So, the software will
run again. I don't think this method will solve the probem either.


Any suggestions to solve this problem? Thanks.

Also, you need to be very careful what you do when the license
expires. In some cases, in some countries, just refusing to do
anything may land you with a whopping great bill for damages,
as ICL discovered in the UK.

IANAL, but from what I've seen of this and similar cases, make
sure your software, even when unlicenced, does not prevent the
user from accessing any data they previously stored in the
application.

Never allow a license which is the subject of a legal dispute to
expire (that decision becomes the court or the judge's choice,
and not your unilateral decision).

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]
.

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