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Author Topic: Unlicensed Mach4 on desktop?  (Read 45763 times)

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Offline rcaffin

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Unlicensed Mach4 on desktop?
« on: December 19, 2019, 04:56:23 AM »
At present I am using Mach3. My fully-licensed version is on the PC running my CNC, with an ESS. But I also have a copy of Mach3 running on my office desk with no hardware attached. This is where I do all my programming and initial testing. I seem to remember that it is legal to run a copy like this for Mach3.

Question: can I do the same with Mach4?

Cheers
Roger

Offline Tweakie.CNC

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Re: Unlicensed Mach4 on desktop?
« Reply #1 on: December 19, 2019, 05:00:17 AM »
Yes you can.  ;)
PEACE

Offline rcaffin

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Re: Unlicensed Mach4 on desktop?
« Reply #2 on: December 19, 2019, 05:12:36 AM »
Thanks Tweakie.

Andy at Warp9 is trying to persuade me to switch to get better threading than I WAS getting under Mach3, but I think I have sorted that out now.

Cheers
Roger
Re: Unlicensed Mach4 on desktop?
« Reply #3 on: December 19, 2019, 06:05:38 PM »
Hi Roger,
Mach4's licensing is much tighter than Mach3 but not unreasonable.

With Mach4 each PC as defined by the unique PCID is licensed. With one Mach4Hobby purchase  you may have up to five PCs
licensed at once.

You manage your licenses on-line at the NFS website. If you buy another PC you can license it within minutes 24/7.
If you have a PC which dies you can (on-line) release the license for it  and get a new one for its replacement PC. You are allowed seven
such transactions in a two year period.

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'

Offline rcaffin

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Re: Unlicensed Mach4 on desktop?
« Reply #4 on: December 19, 2019, 06:15:50 PM »
Hi Craig

Those license conditions were not obvious from reading the web site. Where are they?

I would suggest ArtSoft should make those conditions more visible, probably on the 'front page' of the description. I think doing so might be effective.

Cheers
Roger
Re: Unlicensed Mach4 on desktop?
« Reply #5 on: December 23, 2019, 04:01:33 PM »
Yes, the license conditions are pretty much hidden. They are probably so intransparent with it because the license restrictions may discourage people from buying Mach4. If I had known it earlier I would have thought twice whether to buy a license.

However here are the licensing details: https://www.machsupport.com/my-account/license-maintenance/license-maintenance-instructions/

I wish they would add more details e.g. what exactly causes the PCID to change. Especially because the PCID is not only changed when changing hardware. Some settings in windows 10 cause mach4 generate a new PCID. So be careful when changing settings. It could waste license renewals.

best regards

Brandon

Offline rcaffin

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Re: Unlicensed Mach4 on desktop?
« Reply #6 on: December 23, 2019, 04:12:54 PM »
Some settings in windows 10 cause mach4 generate a new PCID. So be careful when changing settings.
Tell me more, please. I had thought that the PC ID was a hardware thing, not a SW thing.

Mind you, 7 changes per year for a total of 12 is an awful lot of dead PCs ...  So far, in 8 years, I have had one change of PC. 

I imagine that they are fed up with the Chinese pirates selling hacked versions of Mach3. I can sympathise.

Cheers
Roger
Re: Unlicensed Mach4 on desktop?
« Reply #7 on: December 23, 2019, 04:49:56 PM »
Tell me more, please. I had thought that the PC ID was a hardware thing, not a SW thing.

I do not really know exactly what changes the PCID. However one setting that changes the PCID that i am aware of is the network computer name.

Mind you, 7 changes per year for a total of 12 is an awful lot of dead PCs ...  So far, in 8 years, I have had one change of PC. 

I imagine that they are fed up with the Chinese pirates selling hacked versions of Mach3. I can sympathise.

Yes that is very generous. But consider that some windows updates or settings cause the PCID to change too. Thus your renewals consumption is not strictly bound to hardware failures.

I personally dislike the license system because it makes you depended on the Mach4 license service. Consider this: Machines last way longer than a companies' life. I have several machines in my shop whose manufacturer does not exist anymore. Machines older than 20 years, still running Windows 98. If i would have to renew a license via internet it would simply be not possible anymore. That's why I consider the license system of Mach4 a great pity. It's not a smart long term solution for me. Imagine in 3 years there will be Mach 5 or Mach 6. Will the Mach 4 license system always be available? I guess not as everything is discontinued at some point. I agree that they should and must do something against the pirates. But I dislike how they did it. Some competitors sell USB dongles which contain a license. Maybe that would have been a better solution. Besides that I do not think any software is uncrackable. Mayor software these days are cracked and some have a multi-million dollar budget to prevent cracking. When it happens ... it happens. Serving the paying customers with regular and great feature updates is the only real thing that can fight piracy in my opinion.

Don't get me wrong, I use Mach4. It is great software and I can recommend it with good conscience if one is willing to accept the license restrictions.

best regards

Brandon
Re: Unlicensed Mach4 on desktop?
« Reply #8 on: December 23, 2019, 05:07:57 PM »
Hi,

Quote
That's why I consider the license system of Mach4 a great pity.

I disagree....strongly.

With the open slather licensing of Mach3 NFS or Artsoft, as it was then, lost huge amounts of revenue. The Mach4 licensing is
not to prevent genuine purchasers from using the software but to prevent the lost revenue.

All of the developments over the last year alone, thinking script based THC, Zero Brane, mcSurface plugin and more that I have forgotten, derive
from the revenue that NFS generates. The more revenue, the more they can invest in Mach4.......employing a technical document writer to update
the product manuals for instance, the better. We as paying customers benefit because of that investment.

If we expect a 'professional level CNC software solution' then we must expect to contribute and abide the rules just as we would any other commercial
software vendor.

Craig
'I enjoy sex at 73.....I live at 71 so its not too far to walk.'

Offline rcaffin

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Re: Unlicensed Mach4 on desktop?
« Reply #9 on: December 23, 2019, 06:25:54 PM »
If we expect a 'professional level CNC software solution'
Aye, there's the rub ...
Does the guy buying a sub-1$k cheap router from China expect pro-level SW?
But then, is Mach4 aimed at that guy? Or would he be better off with LinuxCNC or GRBL? Maybe.

What do I want?
Mach3 works for me at present, but if and when Mach4 can do everything Mach3 can, for both Mill and Lathe, and when it has had all the bugs ironed out, maybe ...

Cheers
Roger