Ages ago I asked if there was any way to set up a time limited standalone demo without using an external file. Phil Jimmieson contacted me off list to suggest I obtain the date created from the 'detailed files'. I finally tried it and it works fine - thanks Phil. All you do is, in an openstack handler in the splashscreen/standalone, find the line of the detailed files relating to the standalone itself. Item 4 is the date created. Work out the days elapsed and bobs your uncle. I now have a 10 day demo and a 12 month license version, each with a 7 day countdown to expiry reminder to pay me some money.

The nice thing is you don't have to set the expiry everytime you build, or worry about a secret file somewhere. The bad thing is that you need to build for each customer. Since I produce very small numbers and build for each copy anyway, this is no problem.

Of course, users could set back the clock on their machine, but I timestamp all output which in forensic assessment (which is what I do) would render a false date serious professional misconduct - much more scary than unauthorised use of software.

The script would be a breeze for all the scripting gurus out there, but if any apprentice gurus want to take a look at the script, contact me off list - it has a couple of twists I didn't mention above.

Best wishes,

David Glasgow
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Posted 10/2/2002 to the Use Revolution List   (See the complete post/thread)