I filed this under rhino developer because it’s a how to for Cloud Zoo plugins to make things easier for the user.
The timing of this post, and suggestion that Rhino follow the same practice, is because of a thread just this morning in which a user is following the complex path of remembering a unique key McNeel hands out with the download.
Suggestion: rather than unique registration license keys, why not use a single constant one for a given product or family of products? That would make things much simpler for new users to get on board.
- It does work with Cloud Zoo licensing in practice
- I believe that it conforms with the Cloud Zoo spec although a casual reading might not lead a developer down this path because of the uniqueness requirements
- the end result is equivalent (user has a unique serial number and key for the trial license)
Key insight: the spec requires that license keys and serial numbers be unique but doesn’t require that the key the user asks for a license with matches the key the software vendor’s license server hands back (for either GET or ADD). This isn’t a bug; there are sound technical reasons for this behavior.
More thorough discussion and details of implementation:
Easier Rhino Plugin Free Trials – Cloud Zoo – Software Side Roads