I am sick to death of Steinberg licensing problems.
I’m going to start looking for alternative software, so I never have to use their programs again.
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Good luck out there!
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Sir, this is a Wendy’s.
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Yup … no one else has 'em … oh wait Avid Licensing Issue - Activation Error - ‘We are having some licensing server issue that might affect the activation process of Media Composer for both offline and online activation’. Oh and the dreaded Error code 14 during a MAGIX product activation.
I think companies should have their licensing simplified - users having an account with phone number and email and a serial number to run software and nothing to install beyond that.
These days it is getting a bit more complex, to run one software you have to install another software.
You may consider researching the real-world impact of business losses directly from ineffective copy-protection of intellectual properly. It’s put otherwise good companies out of business . Steinberg’s activation manager is as trivial as one could hope for. Once activated, you don’t even need an internet connection. You literally logon and click a big red “Activate” button. I purchased the Dorico 6 upgrade last night. Didn’t even have to log to my SB account - just bought it with PayPal, got emailed a code, pasted it into SDA, immediately downloaded it, and then ran SAM and clicked the big red “Activate” button. Done, and this process lets me choose which system I want to activate what on, and not just presume it’s the one I logged in from.
Even if it wasn’t brainless, I’m be happy to jump through one hoop one time to ensure my software is properly licensed, knowing that I am putting my trust in the longevity of a vendor who is making sure they’re around long enough for me to get value out of my product.
To me, SB actually has a DUTY to make sure they protect themselves from piracy so that I, the paying customer, get my money’s worth.
Of course, it’s a moot point because it’s about as easy as you could ask for. Just my opinion on the matter.
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Yes, companies have the right to protect software, but serial number, email-based activation or activation through website is also licensing. It has become a trend for companies to make users install a secondary software to download and activate primary software and they are also using the secondary software to market their products.
It is becoming a vicious cycle, you update Wavelab, then an update comes for SDA, then there is update of Activation Manager and then you open Wavelab. After that, there is a Startup Assistant (that I consider as a bloatware) that also links to YouTube.
Similarly, Waves plugins have Waves Central etc.
This can be avoided for users who use only one product form a company.
Reaper has only one line of code to paste and activate. Celemony has no extra software for licensing and for FL Studio users log in to their account through the DAW.
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SDA is able to update everything: itself, SAM, and WaveLab as well. So, I’m not sure which cycle you are talking about. When you want to update, just open SDA and that’s it. It’s as easy as it could be.
I said that generally, and I think SDA is also optional to install. Customers who use only one product from a company will find it painful if every piece of software they purchase, such as Wavelab, Avid, Reaper, or Ableton comes with an extra authorization software install.
For example, I use WinRar for windows, now imagine WinRar having 2 other software to install - one to activate and another to update the software and its activation manager. I’m pretty sure it won’t be enjoyable.
Think of it this way: SDA is actually the only application you need to install if you want to use any Steinberg software. Everything Steinberg-related then can be installed (and automatically updated) by means of SDA. Before SDA, we had to download separate installers for each app (Wavelab, Cubase, Dorico, …) and run them manually. This was much worse, I think.
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True. what you say makes sense to manage multiple products of Steinberg.
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Just to be clear…
I completely understand why they do it.
I was having a bad day.
The problems are fixed now.