SoftwareShield™ is designed to be flexible and customizable to the license model you want to achieve.
SoftwareShield™ defines a "License Model" as the terms and conditions (or rights and restrictions) that you grant an end-user and/or customer of your application as defined by your business model. More specifically, "supported SoftwareShield™ License Models" refers to the available license model enforcement options SoftwareShield™ provides for your software.
DRM: by minutes, hours, days, or by specified start/end dates
DRM: by number of launches or activations
DRM and Customized versions: pay-per-level, pay-per-item, microtransactions, or "create-your-own". These types of models are achieved by combining SoftwareShield™'s IronWrap and SoftwareShield™ SDK-based protection
Deliver a "token of ownership" to your software (a Serial Number) which can be physically packaged for retail sales and activated online.
SoftwareShield™ also supports unique license models such as our viral distribution model that allows applications to be shared and our in-application activation model, which embeds purchase/checkout in the application and injects the serial number to automatically unlock the application.
SoftwareShield™'s license models can be combined in numerous ways to create the exact license model your business requires.
The logic for these models have been pre-defined for you and compiled directly into SoftwareShield™'s protected applications and can be easily selected and implemented within the License Manager or New Project Wizard mode.
These are conceptual models that are supported by SoftwareShield™, and are implemented by you by interfacing with SoftwareShield™'s SDK at run-time, or in combination with IronWrap. Your application can enforce these models in its own code.
The IronWrap system provides a number of pre-defined license models for ease-of-use and to speed up the wrapping of your applications. These models will determine how your IronWrapped application will behave. The following IronWrap license models are available in SoftwareShield™:
This model must have the application activated and copy protection released before running. This model would be commonly referred to as Full Purchase (ESD) or as Download-To-Own. Or Always Execute. The application run with no restrictions with all the protection capabilities of the SoftwareShield™ SDK. However, the license file must be found and successfully parsed.
The application will run for a duration measured in absolute days. This model is your standard Trial model.
The application will run for a duration measured in hours and minutes of cumulative execution time - regardless of the absolute time that elapses between executions. This model would be commonly referred to as Try-Before-You-Buy (TBYB).
The application will run always launch but will only run for a limited amount of time. The application will terminate after the duration has elapsed. Unlike a Duration Model the user may launch the application again and will run again for the limited amount of time. Also known as Session Limited Mode. This is ideal for Demo versions or Media Release versions.
The application will run until a preset hard date. At this point, the application will no longer run. Also known as Date Expiry Model. This is ideal for Demo versions or Media Release versions.
The application will allow the application to run only for a preset amount of times. Also known as Execution limited Model. This is ideal for limited releases such as Demo versions or Media Release versions.
You design your own custom application model, which may be similar or the same to various fundamental license models listed below, or refinements of IronWrap license models.
This is also the model you wish to use if you only need to wrap advertisements into your application.