What to consider when sourcing physical copy protection

Any software developer thinking about ways to protect their software will doubtless consider physical protection solutions when making their final decision. If you decide that your product would benefit from physical protection, you should approach suppliers forearmed and forewarned. Consider these issues when making your choice:

• Inventory
  How easy is it to get supplies of the dongle hardware on demand?

• Dongle loss or theft
  What is the outcome if the dongle is removed from the system? Can the user transfer the license to the PC and back to the dongle when appropriate?

• Standardization
  Will the hardware and associated driver need updating or upgrading with operating system updates? How will this delay and/or change affect your customer base when it occurs? What are the costs and rollout issues?

• Extra value
  Is the dongle that you are considering simply a way to stop software being copied, or does it add extra value, such as file storage?

• Reliability
  What is the mean time between failure of the dongle? How long before it will need replacing? This will significantly affect your costs throughout the lifecycle of the customer’s license.

• Flexibility
  Can your physical protection software be used to enforce different licensing models, such as trial period evaluations, rental models and pay per-use models?

• Unit cost
  How much will your dongle cost to produce in volume? Do you have to buy it directly from one vendor, and how will that impact ongoing pricing?