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Change to Official License Key Policy

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mouser:
Following a discussion on alt.comp.freeware (see this thread https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=1756.0), we have decided to make a change to the License Key policy at DonationCoder.com.

Our old policy was that users who do not donate can download freeware license keys that eliminate all reminders for 6 months.  After 6 months the program would stop working until they come back to the key download page here and grab another 6-month freeware license key for the next 6 months, and this process could be repeated indefinitely.

Our new policy for non-donator freeware licenses is as follows:

* programs will no longer stop working after the license period.  They will only show startup reminder nags when a freeware license "expires."
* non-donators can generate a 6-month license key twice.  After that period (1 year), they can visit the page and generate permanent non-expiring license keys that will never require them to generate another key or see another nage.
In summary, we are making it easier for people who cannot or do not wish to donate to use our programs freely without worry.  There is now no risk of programs stopping working after some period, and no one has to resign themselves to visiting our site every 6 months indefinitely if they've already made clear they are not going to donate.

mouser:
Note: we are open to further suggestions, and as we have made clear in the past our intention is not to punish those who can't donate, but mainly to encourage people who are willing to donate to actually follow through, and to give us a chance to make our case to people who normally might not pay attention.

An interesting issue is whether we should really require people to come back to the site twice before giving them the permanent non-expiring license.  It may be that this is overkill, and we should simply require an initial 6-month freeware license key, followed by giving them the permanent non-expiring license key on their next visit. We are open to making this change in the future.

Arguing for it is the idea that if they are still using it 6-months later but still don't want to make a donation, then they probably are not going to be effected by making them wait another 6 months.

Arguing against it is the idea that after 6 months they might be exactly ready to donate having realized they like the program, but that having a single click to get a non-expiring license may be just too easy to push and be done with (as opposed to going through the steps of donating), and so having to renew once may be just the motivation needed to differentiate the reluctantly lazy from the committed non-donator :)

mouser:
One more thing: I've said this before but I'll repeat it here again for those who are concerned about such possibilities.  This site is not going anywhere, but if people are afraid that somehow the site will dissapear one day, I'll state the following openly: should the site ever close up shop and/or stop  giving out license keys, then all members with full license keys are hereby granted permission to share these keys legally with the public for anyone to use.  This should allay any fears that somehow something will happen in that year long period that would make it impossible for people to get their permanent non-expiring key.

rjbull:
Minor point you haven't made yet - anyone who is a committed user of one of your programs would probably want to come back at six-monthly intervals anyway, in case there's an updated version?

mouser:
very good point -
there are very few programs on our site that take a license key that don't get updated more frequently that once every 6 months.  plus there are new programs, etc.  so very good point.

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