I do not own a mac-laptop. and my jobs sometimes require me to work in other places than at home.
i used my second activation on a borrowed macbook-pro and im trying to get it back now. i dont want to go through all this every time.
of course - its not possible for unity to check if i really deinstalled unity from this machine.
so what is the right way to go here? should i ask for a pro-trial-code every time?
or sould i have my second activation revoked when im done? (is this possible)
I’ve never been a huge fan of machine specific software activation for all sorts of reasons like this. (Even a simple motherboard replacement can really throw a wrench into the works.)
Obviously, the simplest approach is to buy secondary licenses for each additional machine you want to run the software on. (Of course, this assumes you can actually afford to do this…)
However, a more ideal solution would be to improve the activation system itself to accommodate multiple systems tied to a single license and have each machine check in with the activation server to ensure the that the license is only in use on one system at any given time. (Perhaps offered as an add-on feature at $50 per license.) Software, such as Luxology’s Modo 3D modeling package, already supports this type of licensing right out of the box.
You might consider mentioning this in the Wish List if it continues to be an issue for you.
Or simply offer the option to deactivate a computer, just like iTunes offers, for example.
In that case it would only become a problem if you forget to deactivate an install on a computer but in that case you could re-install Unity on that machine and activate and deactivate it.
I too would like to see some kind of user-controlled license management. It is very irksome to me to shell out $1500 for software that makes me ask permission directly from the company if I buy a new computer and need to reactivate (beyond the two activations allowed).
That said, Unity Technologies is currently a very nice company that has assured me they wouldn’t give me trouble if I bought a new computer and needed to reactivate the product.
Although everyone complains about Adobe, at least they have a “Deactivate” option for the user which checks into the Adobe server and revokes the license for the current computer, allowing you to install on another. I think this is quite reasonable enforcement of copyright while still leaving the user independent.
At the other end of the spectrum was the scrapped DRM system for Mass Effect/Spore. They were going to limit the number of activations allowed EVEN FOR THE SAME COMPUTER! Enough people complained that they relented.
the difference from Unity to Adobe is that you have 2 parallel installation on unity so you can have your mobile and desktop active at the same time.
If you need to disable one, just contact the support.
I don’t think that’s correct regarding Adobe. Adobe also allows up to 2 licensed computers AND they give you the user the right to manage which two computers are activated without asking tech support’s permission. The latter is the feature that is most important to me.