Products
A complete software protection and licensing system is formed by a collection of tools, components and applications that all work together seamlessly.
When you purchase the SoftwareShield System SDK, that's exactly what you get - a powerful software protection system comprised of:
On this page and those that follow, we will give you an introduction to the products of the SoftwareShield System and briefly explain how you can benefit from using them and realize your organizations licensing and copy-protection needs.
SoftwareShield Software Protection System
A complete software protection system is formed by several key components.
License Manager
The SoftwareShield License Manager is a feature-rich,
powerful editor for your licenses. It gives you complete control over
what features you include in your license and how they should behave.
The SoftwareShield License Manager assists you during development
with a variety of features and functions; from automating tasks such
as COM server registration and un-registration to writing sample code
for your projects to help you get started. The License Manager comes
with all editions of SoftwareShield.
CheckPoint™ License Server
The SoftwareShield CheckPoint™ License Server
allows you to control the activation of your software from a central
secure server location. The CheckPoint License Server is a Windows
ISAPI web-application and database system that interfaces with your
license project files to provide end-user license Activation functionality
and customer tracking capabilities.
Run-Time Components
The SoftwareShield ClientProtector™ component
is a cross-platform COM server that can be used in exactly the same
way from any high level language. The ClientProtector provides a rich
interface for your applications to manipulate and control your licenses.
The ClientProtector itself does all the work of enforcing your license
terms based on a sophisticated set of enforcement logic. The ClientProtector
then feeds back the result of this work to your applications so they
can take appropriate action. The ClientProtectorT comes with all editions
of SoftwareShield.
COM-Activator™
The SoftwareShield COM-Activator™ is a COM
component that allows you to generate Activation Codes programmatically
from virtually any environment and language. The COM-Activator gives
you flexibility to build your own in-house activation solution, for
example by integrating it right inside your existing CRM tools.
Diagnostic Tools
To assist your software teams during development and maintenance,
the SoftwareShield system comes with a variety of tools. Most of these
tools are integrated into the License Manager. However, you also get
the SoftwareShield FingerPrint Viewer™.
The FingerPrint Viewer is a utility program that allows you to inspect intermediate and final FingerPrint values. Its features are also available internally in the License Manager, but used as a stand-alone application (FingerPrintViewer.exe) it can be run on any machine - even where the SoftwareShield SDK is not installed. This allows you to take the program into the field at a customers location if you need to field test or in some cases pre-configure a copy-protected license, or quickly test a variety of machine configurations in your testing process. The FingerPrint Viewer comes with all editions of SoftwareShield.
Activation Code Generators
To control your licensed applications after you have deployed them - you will use Activation Codes. In the simplest sense, an Activation Code "unlocks" your application. However, SoftwareShield is much more powerful than that. Activation Codes have a variety of features built in to them (such as "shelf-life" or "single-use") as well as potentially being the carriers of the client computers FingerPrint - and more.
To generate these Activation Codes, you must use an Activation Code Generator. There are two Activation Code Generators that ship with SoftwareShield:
- The SoftwareShield Manual-Activator™ which
is a simple desktop application that you can use to "manually" generate
Activation Codes for your clients. It has powerful features that
enable you to see what the client has requested, and fine tune how
your Activation Code will be configured to respond. The Manual-ActivatorT
comes with all editions of SoftwareShield.
- The SoftwareShield Web-Activator™ which
is a Windows CGI web server executable that you deploy on the web
for a completely hands-off solution. This allows you to automatically
generate Activation Codes for your clients behind your purchasing
sub-system - completely automated. The Web-ActivatorT only comes
with the Internet Edition of SoftwareShield
Comprehensive Help Systems
The SoftwareShield System comes with excellent, context sensitive and fully linked help. From the precise and informative help files, to the symbolic help that integrates right into your IDE, to numerous example programs and code written in several different languages, to the test-case check-lists and flow-charts, to the fast response technical support - using SoftwareShield has never been easier.
Download a free trial of the SoftwareShield software protection system.
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