Reuse License

Jimmy06

Hi, I own a license that I used once before my Pi died and I got a new shiny Pi 3b+ but cannot find a way for me to use my license. Please can someone help?

IKS

A license is just a digital footprint of your hardware. This footprint is created during the first activation and saved on our servers. It can be reused to activate the same device again and again, but as you might understand, there is no way to use the same license for another hardware. Additionally, there is no reliable way for us to tell if somebody does actually break his Pi or just tells us he did, while continuing using our software. This is why our website states a license price is PER DEVICE.

Jimmy06

OK Brill, I will just claim it back then thank you for your time.

Jimmy06

@IKS said:
A license is just a digital footprint of your hardware. This footprint is created during the first activation and saved on our servers. It can be reused to activate the same device again and again, but as you might understand, there is no way to use the same license for another hardware. Additionally, there is no reliable way for us to tell if somebody does actually break his Pi or just tells us he did, while continuing using our software. This is why our website states a license price is PER DEVICE.

It doesn't actually say PER DEVICE it says / DEVICE

This could mean exactly how I portrayed it as a license can only be used on one device.

/ DEVICE does not explain anything.

DrRokko

i aggree with Jimmy,

in case you wanna upgrade your hardware, you have to buy another license, that's a shame!

IKS

Well, as I have explained above, there is neither technical way to reuse a license nor there are guarantees that nobody will abuse that. We are currently evaluating other business models in order to lower the price for personal use - you can already see it at our landing page. But this isn't the main topic here.

@Jimmy06, you will receive an official answer to your PayPal request as soon as possible. But your argument about the "per" vs "/" isn't sound, as we can prove that the day you have purchased the license it way actually saying "per device". We have changed that label just a week ago.

I hope you really don't want to argue with us on that level, since you have agreed to our terms of service before purchasing:

we are selling a digital good, so the right of withdrawal expires upon a purchase (see the purchasing window and Section 6.2 of the license agreement)
after the activation, there is no way to reuse the license on another device (see Section 3.1 of the license agreement)

I think it is a good time for all sides to calm down a little bit. We are definitely not interested in taking advantage of such situations and I am sure there exist multiple solutions, which are satisfactory for both sides. To start somewhere, I recommend you reading the license agreement very carefully and contacting us directly (e.g. email or phone) afterwards. We are open for a constructive and organized conversation, but I am really not a fan of such public conflicts.

Jimmy06

Well you have as the product never activated to start with but consumed the license. I replaced the hardware as it was faulty and cant use what I paid for because it wrongly activated on the broken device. On the broken device it also says Evaluation constantly.

SanderK

I guess the License Manager app could periodically check the validity of the license currently coupled to the device and disable it if the server tells it to. That way the license can be decoupled from a device without giving you the ability to keep using the old device in an activated state. This of course requires the Pi to have an internet connection, so I see how that could be a flaw in the system.

Jimmy06

either way per device does not indicate that it's limited to one device forever either. That could mean a multitude of things. I can only activate windows on one device but nothing stop s me going and activating it on another one deactivating the first device in the process. This needs to be made clearer.

IKS

@SanderK said:
I guess the License Manager app could periodically check the validity of the license currently coupled to the device and disable it if the server tells it to. That way the license can be decoupled from a device without giving you the ability to keep using the old device in an activated state. This of course requires the Pi to have an internet connection, so I see how that could be a flaw in the system.

In this case, activating the device and removing the License Manager application afterwards would give you a fully working system with no restrictions even with working internet connection (including updates). This would certainly promote fraud, since unlimited number of devices can be activated by re-associating the same license.

As I have mentioned above, there is no technical way to "decouple" a license. Even with a possibility to remove and invalidate a license on one device, we would still need creating a new one, which can be associated with the new hardware. Re-associating an existing license (if made possible) might additionally lead to unforeseen legal and tax consequences, since a clear mapping between licenses and devices they are used would be lost. I am sure we could re-invent our whole architecture, but I don't see a necessity for doing so.

@Jimmy06 said:
Well you have as the product never activated to start with but consumed the license. I replaced the hardware as it was faulty and cant use what I paid for because it wrongly activated on the broken device.

The license was consumed by a working (at least up to that degree) device. We have no possibility to keep you from activating a license on a device you want. If it was your own mistake, we will be glad to offer you a new license for a discounted price, but I don't see how this justifies withdrawal from a valid contract.

@Jimmy06 said:
On the broken device it also says Evaluation constantly.

So the old device is still working? Can you please provide us more information about how it was activated and whether this issue existed from the beginning? We will be happy to fix the problem on THAT device.

@Jimmy06 said:
either way per device does not indicate that it's limited to one device forever either. That could mean a multitude of things.

I don't agree with you on that. Neither does the general definition of this word (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/per), putting "per" on the same level as "for each". This exactly matches our model - you have to pay for each device you would like to use our software with. I am sure this wording is used commonly on the internet for the description of licensing models.

@Jimmy06 said:
I can only activate windows on one device but nothing stop s me going and activating it on another one deactivating the first device in the process. This needs to be made clearer.

We are not Microsoft, our resources are limited. But I have already recommended you reading our license agreement carefully - it explains all the details in a very clear manner. BTW: it is way shorter than the one in Windows.