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Handango now forces developers to remove their trial versions - or customize them for Handango January 15, 2005 [General] | By Edward J. R. Last year, during 3GSM World Congress 2004 (in Cannes, France) we have obfuscated, due to his wish, a photo of a vice-president of Handango: 
This year both Handango and we are going to 3GSM World Congress again, but this time we will not be so kind to Handango, because Handango - after all an online shop with mobile software - is not kind to software developers - the very people on which it depends: Handango is abusing its semi-monopolistic position! Details: Handango does not allow a trial software to contain a link to the developer's web site (e.g. for trial activation), and they want the trial version to only provide a link to handango.com for purchase of the full product. Links to the developer's website in the product activation dialog are now forbidden. Basically, developers who want to have a free trial version on Handango must now make a customized version of their software just for handango, which contains only references to Handango in the activation dialog, and they are not allowed to use any challenge-response activation system. This is a big problem for some developers that use a challenge-response activation system: This type of activation system is more secure and reduces software piracy. It requires the activation key to be provided by the software developer, not by the vendor. The activation key is based on the device unique ID (not on the customer name or email). Handango developers who want to use such a method for full activation of their trial version are now barred from providing a free trial version on Handango! And even when developers use one of the activation key "approved" by Handango (less secure than challenge-response), they still need to make a customized version of their application for Handango, because it should indicate that the activation key can only be purchased from Handango (even if your product is also sold by other vendors). This involves doubling the number of product released each time a new version is created. We completely disagree with these new rules enforced by Handango, and we think that Handango:
Developers, what are your thoughts on this ?  Post your comment (free registration is required to post, but if you register you can edit your posts later) [ 20 Comments ]
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