It’s been a while since any news was released on the future of the Simple Software Licensing solution. I have been doing a lot of developer training and consulting in addition to figuring out what new features should be included in 2012 and what to aim for in 2013.

2012 Q4

• Online Software Activation – this is the most request feature from established software companies… I have said that I don’t think that it is necessary but since there are so many requests for it, I’m going to give in and include an online activation feature.
• License Backup – It is possible to backup your license keys in the file system but there is no easy access from the license manager and there is no way to import backed up data through the UI. A backup/restore feature will be added to the license manager interface.
• Compatibility – .Net 4 is guaranteed to work and is a requirement for the license manager all the licensing components also support .Net 3.5. .Net 2.0, 3.0 & 4.5 need to be verified for all features.
• Silverlight – ensuring functionality in Silverlight and determining which versions can be supported.

2013 Q1-Q2

• Blacklisting – Incorporate license key blacklisting feature so that you can block known pirated keys.
• License Sync – Allow synchronization of issued licenses between multiple instances of the license manager and server generated licenses.
• License Input UI – Incorporate a standardized UI control for WinForms and WPF applications to allow simple input of each of the license details.
• Windows 8 certification – The license manager should work on Windows 8 but this has not been verified in full and the product needs to go through the Windows 8 Desktop App Certification Program.

2013 Q3-Q4

• Run Count/Time Limiting – limit the number of times or time a trial or licensed version may be run.
• Volume License Keys – allow online activated keys to be shared by a specified number of installations.
• Shorter Secure Keys – By using partial key verification it is possible to have shorter keys without any practical security concerns.

Note

This is a roadmap so there is likely to be changes on the way and I greatly appreciate the feedback that I have received while figuring out what features are required for different use cases.