Increasing registration count not possible without active maintenance support

[Leif Uneus 43]

See this answer from Embarcadero to a customer who wants to increase the registration count:

 

Reinstalling Windows without re-registering Delphi

 

 Update : The linked message was deleted by a moderator. Only visitors with enough reputation can view the original message.

 

Quote

 "We received your request to increase the registration limit for your serial number XXXXXXX. Unfortunately, there is not an active support and maintenance agreement for this license. Licenses without active maintenance are not eligible for technical support and this includes increasing the registration limit for your license.

 

Historically, we provided limited support for activities such as changing registration limits as a courtesy. However, this courtesy required time and resources to support. As we now include maintenance with every new license and encourage customers to remain current on maintenance, we changed our support policy to align with industry standards.

 

Going forward any support services requested will only be provided for licenses with active support and maintenance."

 

 

Edited May 21, 2019 by Leif Uneus
Updated info

[Bill Meyer 337]

Wow. Masterful marketing. This will make it easy for any who have considered dropping off to do so.

For years, we have  been assured that developers simply don't understand marketing. That may be true, but clearly we are not alone in that deficiency.

[WillH 33]

That is outrageous. Especially for older versions which were sold as a perpetual license. Now it seems that customers cannot legitimately continue to use software they own and have paid for.

 

Is Delphi ransomware now?

[FredS 138]

Just now, WillH said:

perpetual license

It appears that feature is no longer implemented..

 

[David Heffernan 2345]

If this is true, you can't even buy what they claim you need. You have to purchase new licences. You can't purchase maintenence once it has expired. 

[WillH 33]

As an aside to this. What happens if Emba goes bust? are we all just locked out of the software?

 

I have an active subscription but I'm of the opinion that this change makes using Delphi a very risky choice as Emba seem prepared to cut us off from using the software we own.

 

Why can't we just move an activation from one machine to another without needing to go through the process of phoning in to ask permission?

[Larry Hengen 39]

If this is true (and I have no reason to believe it is not), I would predict more piracy and illegitimate use of the community edition in EMBT's future as well as a downward trend in their customer base.  A lawsuit is also a possibility IMHO.

[Sherlock 663]

The blessings of DRM. What has been true for gamers turns out to become reality for business software as well: You may have paid for something, but it sure isn't the right to use our software anytime or anywhere you like.

[dummzeuch 1505]

That's one reason I have switched "my" license to using a license server. No problem with having to increase the registration count any more.

 

I wonder what will happen to my maintenance only version (10.3.1) if the maintenance runs out. Currently I am getting a warning. I theory it should continue to work because I got it while maintenance was active.

[Bill Meyer 337]

2 minutes ago, dummzeuch said:

That's one reason I have switched "my" license to using a license server. No problem with having to increase the registration count any more.

Had an unpleasant experience with the license server last year, which necessitated a new slip file. Although the license shows perpetual, there is a subscription expiration date in the license, and that seemed to be an impediment if it became necessary to install new, as in creating a new VM.

Also, the license server "solution" requires that Delphi be able to reach the server at least every 30 days.

[Lars Fosdal 1792]

I like the MS VS way better than the EMBT BDS way.

[Fritzew 51]

If this is true, then Embarcadero is not anymore a Partner you can trust.
 

[cupwalker 5]

Last weekend was a perfect situation on not being able to do anything in the case of registration - data center was down. - Registration limit for the community edition is a joke. I personally won`t invest any more in delphi or anything from buggy emb. 

[cupwalker 5]

Since I cannot use once buyed product - can emb give me the money back? @David Millington

 

I dont know what industry standards you have but its crap and not industry standard

 

---

 

Hello ?ukasz,

 

We received your request to increase the registration limit for your serial number -----. Unfortunately, there is not an active support and maintenance agreement for this license. Licenses without active maintenance are not eligible for technical support and this includes increasing the registration limit for your license.

 

Historically, we provided limited support for activities such as changing registration limits as a courtesy.  However, this courtesy required time and resources to support.  As we now include maintenance with every new license and encourage customers to remain current on maintenance, we changed our support policy to align with industry standards.

 

Going forward any support services requested will only be provided for licenses with active support and maintenance.

 

I have copied the renewals team in this email response (renewals@idera.com). Your renewals representative will be able to provide you with the options to renew your support and maintenance. Once your licenses are current on maintenance, we will be happy to help with this registration limit increase.

 

We are closing this case #00694973. Once you have arranged maintenance reinstatement with our Renewals Team, please submit a new case with your request.

 

Sincerely,

 

Rosalba Chavez

Technical Support Engineer

[haentschman 92]

Hi all...

 

did you ever see when the stackoverflow thread was written?

Quote

asked Dec 24 '15 at 10:48

 

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, haentschman said:

Hi all...

 

did you ever see when the stackoverflow thread was written?

 

The question was posted Dec 24 '15.

The quoted answer was posted 20 hours ago, deleted 2 hours later.

[Dalija Prasnikar 1396]

There was an answer andout activating XE license with basically the same response from Embarcadero as posted here by @cupwalker posted 20 hours ago there... it is deleted now because it was not an answer... 

[Uwe Raabe 2057]

I am not sure they would get away with that - at least here in Germany. As long as the customer actually paid for the perpetual license (this excludes the CE), the ability to use it legally cannot be prohibited just because there is no current support contract. At least a reasonable fee for the registration bump would perhaps be acceptable, but definitely not denying it completely.

[Bill Meyer 337]

3 hours ago, Uwe Raabe said:

I am not sure they would get away with that - at least here in Germany. As long as the customer actually paid for the perpetual license (this excludes the CE), the ability to use it legally cannot be prohibited just because there is no current support contract. At least a reasonable fee for the registration bump would perhaps be acceptable, but definitely not denying it completely.

The history of stupid licensing conditions in the USA is as old as shrink-wrapped EULAs. The one ray of hope was the original Borland "just like a book" policy. 

[Uwe Raabe 2057]

11 minutes ago, Bill Meyer said:

The history of stupid licensing conditions in the USA is as old as shrink-wrapped EULAs.

I checked the German license and there is no such thing that would

a) mention any registration limit in the first place

or

b) state that increasing that limit is actually part of the support.

[Edwin Yip 154]

Holy, EMBT never cease to amaze me.

[FredS 138]

6 hours ago, edwinyzh said:

Holy, EMBT never cease to amaze me.

From the GM: New Updates and Changes to the Registration “Bumps” Policy

 

" We updated our processes and now route all issues raised from users who are not on Update Subscription to Sales and Renewals. "

[Attila Kovacs 629]

I have read that post 3 times but it just translates to "we need your money". Ah yes, and it's all the industries fault.

[FredS 138]

10 minutes ago, Attila Kovacs said:

"we need your money"

 

To me it sounded like 'the litigation department is bored'..

 

[Vincent Parrett 750]

WTF Embarcadero, you are just alienating the few paying customers you have left. 

 

If you use activation as a licensing mechanism, you MUST offer deactivation or a means to move licenses, without requiring support involvement. Seriously pissed off by this move, the cow is almost milked dry!