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Reply to: Providing sofware downloads
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Previously on "Providing sofware downloads"
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plenty of companies do this for a living. Not expensive and can be a percentage of sale. Unfortunately its a bit like AV you keep chasing a secure solution as the cracks get better. try google for software copy protection.
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Originally posted by xoggoth View PostDefinitely a write it myself d0000000000gh, keeps the old brain active.
IIRC, this one is designed around doing digital downloads.
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That IP2C looks brill. Very easy to set up. Cheeeeeeeeeeeeers.
Ta aTw but unfortunately it's very specialist UK nature stuff, my sister's pics of British insects etc probably won't really sell elsewhere although we have had very occasional interest in past from odd places like Dubai and Indonesia. True, if did sell through 3rd parties it might solve any liability problems.
Definitely a write it myself d0000000000gh, keeps the old brain active.
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There are 3rd parties who will do this for you, if you want to go that route... issue the customer a link and login, and allow them X downloads, possibly within a limited timeframe. They can even host the files if you want.
Or do you want to write it yourself?
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Country level geo-location is pretty accurate these days.
Not sure why you are concerned about insurance - better check with them, chances are so long as it is UK law you might be covered, perhaps with exclusion of Canada/USA.
If I were you I'd focus on international markets - many more customers out there can be reached, why not take advantage?
There are specialist software distribution companies that will handle purchases, can't mind names - they would take a cut of sale price, possibly 30%.
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Originally posted by xoggoth View PostLoadsa great answers, ta!! As I understand it, due to dynamic addresses, there is no foolproof way of associating IP address with a country so maybe putting it in terms and conditions is the way to go.
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Originally posted by xoggoth View PostLoadsa great answers, ta!! As I understand it, due to dynamic addresses, there is no foolproof way of associating IP address with a country so maybe putting it in terms and conditions is the way to go. I did use to have an auto update option in the programs so know how to connect to net from .net but how reliable that would be given an unknown program and firewalls not so sure.
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Loadsa great answers, ta!! As I understand it, due to dynamic addresses, there is no foolproof way of associating IP address with a country so maybe putting it in terms and conditions is the way to go. I did use to have an auto update option in the programs so know how to connect to net from .net but how reliable that would be given an unknown program and firewalls not so sure.
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Originally posted by xoggoth View Post2) How to stop download being available to anyone who has that link but still allow customer to try again if his download fails for some reason. How can one detect if a download has worked?
3) How to restrict number copies installed.
Could also have the software check the IP address of the machines its running from during the registration process to ensure its a UK based IP address...
Ofcourse nothing is 100% as there are always round stuff like this.
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Originally posted by xoggoth View Post1) I would like to restrict sales to UK only for insurance reasons but doesn't seem any reliable way of doing it. I could ensure only GBP cards are useable but that's not quite same thing. Not sure if just a notice "for UK only" would be legally sufficient.
Originally posted by xoggoth View Post2) How to stop download being available to anyone who has that link but still allow customer to try again if his download fails for some reason. How can one detect if a download has worked?
Originally posted by xoggoth View Post3) How to restrict number copies installed.
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Originally posted by xoggoth View PostDecided to add program download options to my website. Sales of our CDs are dropping off, too pricey and inconvenient these days.
Planning to use same cart pages but with radio buttons for download/CD. Obviously former sets lower price and no postage and (assuming there are no other posted orders) the delivery details required are reduced to just customer name & email. Bung those in mysql table for check, customer clicks link in email sent, fills in name to download.
Leaves some problems I can think of:
1) I would like to restrict sales to UK only for insurance reasons but doesn't seem any reliable way of doing it. I could ensure only GBP cards are useable but that's not quite same thing. Not sure if just a notice "for UK only" would be legally sufficient.
2) How to stop download being available to anyone who has that link but still allow customer to try again if his download fails for some reason. How can one detect if a download has worked?
3) How to restrict number copies installed.
Anyone got any experience of this, any general tips, pitfalls etc? Cheers.
The best way to restrict access to downloads is to require people to have an account and authenticate first, although with a licensing scheme in place it's less of a problem, you could even make the downloads public but time limited without a license key.
I think if you want to restrict it to UK only users you could validate their postal address and do a geographic lookup of their IP address, although that can cause problems for people behind proxy servers in other countries, and of course people will always find a way to subvert these sorts of measures if they want to. If this restriction is due to insurance then it's probably worth asking your insurance company what they would consider reasonable, it might be that writing "UK only" into your license T&Cs will be enough.
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Originally posted by xoggoth View PostDecided to add program download options to my website. Sales of our CDs are dropping off, too pricey and inconvenient these days.
Planning to use same cart pages but with radio buttons for download/CD. Obviously former sets lower price and no postage and (assuming there are no other posted orders) the delivery details required are reduced to just customer name & email. Bung those in mysql table for check, customer clicks link in email sent, fills in name to download.
Leaves some problems I can think of:
1) I would like to restrict sales to UK only for insurance reasons but doesn't seem any reliable way of doing it. I could ensure only GBP cards are useable but that's not quite same thing. Not sure if just a notice "for UK only" would be legally sufficient.
2) How to stop download being available to anyone who has that link but still allow customer to try again if his download fails for some reason. How can one detect if a download has worked?
3) How to restrict number copies installed.
Anyone got any experience of this, any general tips, pitfalls etc? Cheers.
How will you be processing payment Xog ? If it's paypal, there is a php script called 'LinkLok' which does exactly what you want. It sends a virtual link to the customer which can only be used a fixed number of times (configurable) and within a specified time period. Have used it in the past and it works well and is very easy to set up.
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Could you ignore the download issue and create a validation routine when called when program first runs? The page could then provide a link to your website if they haven't already registered.
This could then call a webservice to validate the installation and the number of times that user had installed the software.
Trying to ensure people have loaded the software correctly is a world of pain.
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Providing sofware downloads
Decided to add program download options to my website. Sales of our CDs are dropping off, too pricey and inconvenient these days.
Planning to use same cart pages but with radio buttons for download/CD. Obviously former sets lower price and no postage and (assuming there are no other posted orders) the delivery details required are reduced to just customer name & email. Bung those in mysql table for check, customer clicks link in email sent, fills in name to download.
Leaves some problems I can think of:
1) I would like to restrict sales to UK only for insurance reasons but doesn't seem any reliable way of doing it. I could ensure only GBP cards are useable but that's not quite same thing. Not sure if just a notice "for UK only" would be legally sufficient.
2) How to stop download being available to anyone who has that link but still allow customer to try again if his download fails for some reason. How can one detect if a download has worked?
3) How to restrict number copies installed.
Anyone got any experience of this, any general tips, pitfalls etc? Cheers.Tags: None
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