So very big happy
yes but will it still be possible to activate Dorico 4 with usb dongle or will it be finished
No, you won’t be able to use Dorico 4 with USB dongle.
ok thanks
Fwiw, and at the risk of being slightly pedantic, I don’t think MakeMusic’s system makes it particularly easy to illegally share licenses, at least no more so than Dorico’s forthcoming system. I do think their system is fundamentally less secure though because of their offline phone activation option; that’s the standard ingress of software pirates–all they need to do is backwards-engineer the validation algorithm and voila, unlimited working licenses that never once speak to the actual official validation server. But that aspect seems already addressed by the FAQ. An always-offline-computer is authorized via another computer that has to have internet, meaning every Dorico license will be validated online through an official server at least once in its life, which is one more time required than Finale.
As things are implemented currently in our development builds, Dorico checks its license each time it starts up, if an internet connection is available. It is also planned that it will refresh the existing licenses you have for any other products using Steinberg Licensing while it’s at it, so running Cubase would also refresh Dorico’s license. You can also refresh your licenses manually by launching Steinberg Activation Manager.
As things stand, Dorico does not periodically check its license validity while running, nor is there a background process that periodically checks. Dorico checks on start-up, and Steinberg Activation Manager checks on start-up.
No. The eLicenser is not part of the new Steinberg Licensing system. If you want to continue using eLicenser, you will not be able to update to Dorico 4, Cubase 12, and so on.
1 Like
Thank you for the answer.
I trust Steinberg completely.
I am just trying to test the system but I see that everything is planned.
As usual.
Bravo for everything you do.
I think when the great IP wars happen and the internet goes dark for 3 years I shall find returning to handwritten scores refreshing!
Seriously though the deciding factor for me is the ease of reactivating the license and as the OP says how often this is going to be a pain in the bum.
My Avid subscription as it is is the absolute worst - frequent reminders that the license is going to run out right before it’s renewed (I mean seriously, it’s like I’m not paying for it) semi frequent deactivations and the only way of sorting it is logging into my avid, copying the license key and computer number, pasting it in and waiting, then restarting the application multiple times until it takes.
Microsoft Office is similarly tedious by wanting to call home every time I open it on my iPad, which could be in the pit of a theatre where WiFi and phone reception fear to tread, making it a pain in the rectum when all I want to do is reword my programme note in a spare 5 minutes between shows.
So long as when I need to re-activate it all I need to do is put my password in to Dorico itself (ideally automatically via a password manager) and the system does the rest speedily, reliably and without restarting the app then I’m ok with it. If I end up having to make a cup of tea and have a lie down every time I want to enter an idea into a score then you’ll hear about it.
Honestly, piracy is a big problem but not one that I feel should be handed down to the users to be burdened with. I do think the train situation is likely to be an issue and I wonder whether it would be better to be 90 days, like your trial activation period…
Ironically, since I put my Old iMac in its box and replaced my dongle with a soft e license on my laptop I’ve been a lot happier - I haven’t given licensing a second thought! Couldn’t we just have had two soft activation keys per purchase and have done with that?
I know, no pleasing some people, can’t please everybody etc etc. I bet the software model in line with iOS apps might also be a factor…
1 Like
You won’t even need to enter your password again. You’ll simply run Dorico, and if it is able to connect to the internet, it will renew its offline allowance at that point, extending it for 30 days from that point – it won’t wait until you are almost out of time before it renews. It will renew each time the application starts, if it gets the opportunity, so in practice you should very rarely get close to the end of your offline allowance.
That said, we do take seriously the concerns expressed by Adrien and others about “dormant” users who run Dorico infrequently and could end up outside of their offline allowance and have the misfortune not to have an internet connection available at that point. I anticipate that we will be able to come up with a good solution for this.
7 Likes
One last concern - what happens if the internet is connected, but there is a network problem - how long is Dorico going to wait before it decides to enter offline mode? An annoyingly frequent problem with apps that contact servers when they start is that they are unusable in this period and frequently need restarting if the internet connection is poor…
As long as Dorico is already activated, it will just run straight up. The actual obtaining of the updated license etc. is handled by another process that Dorico kicks off, and which goes away again when Dorico quits.
1 Like
“I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.”
–Mark Twain
5 Likes
That’s a great quote. I can be sympathetic as well though. Most Dorico users are (probably) coming from Finale or Sibelius. The former have been utterly abandoned by their corporate overlords, and the latter are generally disgruntled with a subscription/licensing system they hate (also thanks to corporate overlords). So there’s a bit of sensitivity.
2 Likes
My general thinking exactly. The minute someone else’s piracy has impacted a legitimate user (of any software)'s ability to use a product is the minute that product has erred without great excuse.
I’m not anticipating any issues (especially given that the team is committed to making sure a dormant computer is accounted for), but if something ever does come up, It’ll seem essentially like a day when I’ve forgotten my dongle (which, you know…).
I have no qualms about folks asking questions how Dorico’s new authorization will handle specific situations, especially questions not already answered in the documents Steinberg produced yesterday. 
But when they creep towards panic (two months in advance of implementation and three months ahead of any 30-day auto-renewal) I have to shake my head.
And when they start veering into blame or suggesting poor or cavalier planning, I think they reach a little too far.
3 Likes
…except that such strictures already exist for nearly any product you own. Forced to activate a product? Required to log in? Need to reset your password? Annoyed by two-factor authentication? You can thank dishonest users for all those things. Obviously some inconveniences are more hindering than others, but they’re thoroughly unavoidable.
I think we’re all agreed that no licensing system would be perfect, it’s just a matter of Steinberg picking one that’s the least bad.
5 Likes
Fair, but in terms of most of the products I (me specifically) own, that’s in service of my own protection (like with my banking credentials, etc.), not the protection of the company’s profit.
I agree, no license requirement would be hypothetically ideal, but that’s not what anyone here is actually clamoring for. As it stands, my Dorico license is the least flexible license I own, which will still be the case after the switch.
1 Like
It is to some extent in your interest as our customer that we are able to protect our revenues, if you would like us to continue to exist in order to provide you with further value in the future, in the form of support, updates, new product development, and so on.
11 Likes
Yes, I did consider that, and while I’m generally particularly given to wordiness, right now I’m on my phone and was trying to be as brief as possible hoping nobody would point out the big hole in the way I worded my point. It is certainly well taken though! 