Here is the paradox that happened when V6 got introduced and the Cloud Zoo got created (which does not support earlier licenses).
Rule 1: Adding an upgrade to a previous license remains a single license. A previous version license key is required to validate an upgrade and they are then āforeverā linked together.
Rule 2: All upgrades to the same license need to be installed in the same location and fashion as the previous license thatās being upgraded over. For V5 and earlier, this was either locally on one machine, or in the LAN Zoo for sharing on a network. Otherwise, in theory at least, the upgrade would refuse to validate.
Why rule #2? To insure rule #1, otherwise it would be possible to run the original license on one machine and the upgrade on another simultaneously, i.e . you sorta have two licenses now.
To support rule #2, during the install, it would check for a previous V5 license key - not only the key itself, but where/how it was installed. With the introduction of the Cloud Zoo that did not support installing licenses earlier than V6, that threw a monkey wrench into the machinery.
- If the previous license was installed locally and the upgrade was also local, OK.
- If the previous license was installed on the LAN Zoo and the upgrade was also put in the same Zoo, OK.
- If neither of the above, not OK.
The paradox is of course that if you installed an upgrade in the Cloud Zoo, neither 1 nor 2 were true, so if the system were strict, any V5 previously installed either locally or the LAN Zoo could not be used to validate the upgrade being installed in the Cloud Zoo. The validation would fail and the upgrade would not run.
I believe at the outset that this was actually enforced by the installer. Or at least we were were told it would be. I had a document I sent to clients warning them about what would happen going from V5/LAN Zoo to V6 (upgrade)/Cloud Zoo.
Thatās when the story was - either ākeep it all in the same place (local/LAN) and let the automatic validation system checkā or āuninstall V5 completely, send us the proof and weāll validate your V6 upgrade in the cloud Zoo āmanuallyā behind the scenesā. I actually think at the beginning it might have even been enforced.
The second option was way too much administrative work, plus the procedure made the clients angry. So it sorta quietly disappeared. At a certain point they just had to let V6 and later Cloud Zoo-installed upgrades validate without flagging the mismatch on V5 and earlier location (still checking the key of course) - with the possibility that yes, one could have V5 installed locally on one machine and a V6 and later upgrade in the Cloud Zoo, giving you ātwoā licenses when you only paid for one and one upgrade.
Given that V5 is now three versions old, I donāt think it really matters much anymore.
Validation has been steadily tightened since V4 - previously it was possible to use multiple e-mails, install a license on more than one computer, etc. Not the case anymore, but the past loopholes remain of course.