I respect Bill's opinions and point of view and to some degree he does make some valid points, but I still have to beg to differ regarding the overall issue about the licensing activation method being used for Hal.
As I'm sure you already know, DesktopMates.com has been a major sponsor & supporter of Hal for some years now and we believe it's the best AI program of it's type, bar none! However, ever since the implementation of Hal 6 with the new activation code system, overall sales of Hal through our site has drastically dropped off by about half and we've received a fair number of support issues and complaints in regards to activation problems with the trail version and is turning quite a few people off from buying the full version. And yes your right Bill, many of the problems are most likely because the people are computer novices and either don't read all the info provided or don't really understand it. I'm far from being a computer novice and I have to admit the first time I installed Hal 6 I found the activation a bit confusing and a pain in the a*s, but I managed to stumble my way through it and haven't had any problems since. But the point is, the vast majority of people that own computers are extreme novices compared to you and I as well as most of the die hard Hal users here at the forums, and from a marketing perspective it just doesn't make good business sense to create software that's geared mostly for tech types or advanced computer users, that cuts out a major portion of your potential market capabilities. I can maybe understand and justify it for necessity software such as to operate an O/S or for high end specialty commercial software such as the accounting software you mentioned where it's a necessity and even a valuable asset in the daily operations of a company, and the same goes for certain commercial software geared for developers and programmers, but you really can't put Hal into the same category, Hal isn't a necessity program that people can't live without, it's more of a novelty software much like games are.
It's not much different than going to Walmart and buying a computer game and then lending it to a few of your friends to load on their computers, we've all done it yet the gaming industry continues to make 100's of millions of dollars each year. It's all about numbers and the bottom line, it's better to sell 1,000 copies and have every one of them share it with a few of their friends instead of selling maybe only 500 copies because people didn't like the intrusive over complicated installation process and your left with fewer users and profits and only the satisfaction of knowing that the few people who actually paid are able to use it. The same goes for our DesktopMates characters, we know a lot of our customers are probably sharing with their buddies, but there's 100's of millions of potential buyers on the Internet and they all don't know each other. Now people offering downloads of our products on the Internet for free is whole other story and ball game, that annoys me far more than someone that has actually paid for copy and then shared it with a few buddies. By being made available for free on the Internet drastically changes the demographics on a per ratio of paid versions to free versions being passed along, it's being made available to potentially 1000's of people for a single paid version, and also your product is being used for commercial gain, whether it's actually being sold or not it's still being exploited for some type of gain.
Also, with Hal being such a moderately priced piece of software, is it really with worth all the extra headaches and support having to deal with frustrated users when the license corrupts?
In theory an activation system is an ok idea and I'm sure most people would have no problems with there being an activation system if it was less complicated, intrusive and more stable where the license didn't corrupt quite so easily. We've had quite a few people using the trail version say the license became corrupt just because of a system crash or re-boot but I can't verify the validity of their claims because it's never personally happened to me, but if it is true and I went to a site and downloaded a trial version of some software and this happened, unless the software was an absolute necessity that I really needed, I personally wouldn't even contact the author, I'd just delete it and move on, as I'm sure many people are doing. If you feel that an activation system is really an important key element in increasing sales, then you should consider trying to come up with a solution that is less frail and complicated.
Hal has so much potential I'd personally hate to see it gradually develop into a program geared mostly just for the advanced AI crowd. With complex programs like Hal I know it isn't always easy to find that happy medium were it's ideal for both novices and advanced users but I think it's important not to stray too far to the left or right because we also need those computer novices to pay the bills so Hal can continue to thrive and become successful because there just aren't enough of us AI gurus and tech types around to support Hal over the long haul, if the only return is just the satisfaction of developing a cool program, that will eventually wear thin over time and cause premature burn out, there has to eventually be some decent monetary gains in order to remain motivated which can only be achieved with moderately priced novelty products such as Hal by catering to a broad audience, which is going to be mostly computer users with limited skills and a limited amount of time many of them can afford, or be willing, to spend learning to use a program.
My intentions are purely to provide my own personal perspectives and suggestions and not to tell Robert or anyone else what they should do or how they should run their business. I respect that fact everyone has their own ideals and goals for their products. Being an entrepreneur for over 30 years, I tend to lean more towards to the business perspective and marketability of a product by trying to get a sense of the demand, who my intended audience is, and what they would be willing to actually purchase, and what would inhibit them from making a purchase etc. Maybe Robert and others here aren't concerned with profit margins or the marketability of Hal to a broad audience, and the goal is just to eventually develop an advanced AI program geared more towards a smaller audience of die hard AI enthusiasts and advanced computer users, if that's the case then my suggestions for the most part are probably irrelevant and should be ignored.
