Software Companies and Lost Serial Numbers?

Frustrated by "Customer Support" asks: "My company purchased a retail boxed piece of software from a small company about 8 months ago, before I worked here. My predecessor was not organized at all, and he misplaced the serial numbers. Now it's time for that software to get reinstalled, but we're unable to due to the missing numbers. I contacted support for the company, and they indicated that they were unable to provide replacement keys, even after I faxed them my proof of purchase. The company claims it's the customer's responsibility to keep track of the keys, and that they're unable to supply replacements as the key could still be used to run there software. I find this totally ludicrous, as we've paid for a license to use the software. So Slashdot, does a missing serial number or software key invalidate your license to a piece of software that you purchased? Does one have any recourse to get a replacement serial from a company that won't supply them? Does one purchase software or do you purchase serial numbers?"

Comments

The answer is obvious...

[Jhon]

Don't lose the keys.

I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be unhelpful, but thats really the best solution. It's not difficult -- a simple excell sheet with product names and reg keys. Store it someplace safe -- which gets backed up with everything else. The actual paperwork? A simple binder with clear folders. Just stuff all your keys/serials there.

Since you are already *IN* that boat, you may want to try a few things on some test platforms:

(a) install the software on new platform
(b) copy the install directory from the old to the new platform
(c) cross fingers

or

(a) install the software on the new platform
(b) copy the registry entries created by the old software to the new platform
(c) cross fingers

or

(a) install the software on the new platform
(b) crack open your handy disasmbler/softice combo
(c) attempt to ID the protection and disable it
(d) cross your fingers

Don't expect any of these things to work, but it wouldn't hurt to try. Other places you may look for hidden keys: win.ini, *.dll (usually created by the installed software), *.ini, *.cfg, etc etc etc. Keep a sharp eye and you may get lucky but as a betting man, I'd bet that you are going to be buying new licences, though.

I find this totally ludicrous, as we've paid for a license to use the software.

My guess is that you can't show that you haven't transfered those licences to another party.

Re:The answer is obvious...

[nacturation]

I fail to see the reason why any company would respond to the BSA, but I don't dispute the fact that they do. I'm not sure what's worse, giving up your fourth amendment rights or bowing to a industry "organization." The BSA exists to make examples out of people. An easy way to do this is by doing a "self-audit" and then admitting defeat. Make them work for it, regardless of the base of the accusations.

I wondered the same thing for a while, but then the answer became clear -- if the BSA has solid evidence that your company is using unlicensed software, they will make you a deal which would go something like this:

"Let us do an audit to our satisfaction and if we find you're deficient, you agree to fully license every piece of software you have plus pay a little bit extra as penance. You don't have to allow us to do this audit -- it's completely volunatary. However, if you don't do this we'll take you to court and we have good evidence that you are using unlicensed software. Your company will not only then have to fully license all the software, but you will have to pay the maximum civil damages we can get to us (as representatives of the software manufacturers), cover both our and your legal fees, and go through the public humiliation that a losing court case, which shows that your company is a den of thieves and pirates, will produce."

Unless a company is 100% certain that it's legit for software and hates caving in no matter what, it's going to always opt for the lesser of two evils and deal with an audit.

I know you've talked to the company...

[Txiasaeia]

...but have you asked them to resupply your original serial(s)? Surely they'd keep track of the serial numbers they've given out in the past, right? How much money are we talking about if you have to repurchase the software?

Re:Serial Numbers

[TripMaster Monkey]

Here's how I've been told he SPA works (assuming they even bother to do an audit of you in the first place).

(We're also assuming that you have in fact purchased the software in question, and are using either duplicate serials or pirated serials for the sake of convenience.)

1. They audit your machines...they find either pirated or duplicate keys.
   
2. They ask: "What's up with these keys? Did you in fact purchase our software?
   
3. You answer: "Of course we did."
   
4. They challenge: "OK...then let's see your proof of purchase/COAs/etc."
   
5. You show them the required proof.
   
6. They go home.
   
   Software companies don't care if their products are licensed properly...that's just a means to an end. What they are really concerned about is whether or not they have your money.
   
   

Re:Serial Numbers

[pyrrhonist]

Further, is it actually illegal to grab some keys off the net for products you have purchased? They say they can't replace them.

Well, you'd need to ask a lawyer, but even so, I find it hard to believe that a judge would find for the company under the circumstances.

In the event of them coming down on you, how would they verify that you had "illegitimate" keys?

• They actually do know what keys they gave you (doubtful - it's obvious that this company doesn't keep track of it's licenses).
• They already gave out the key to someone else (doubtful, see above).
• The key is on their list of, "compromised keys".
• Their key generating algorithm doesn't produce keys that look like that (i.e. it passes the program's verifier, but it has none of the other information in it that a real key would have).

Re:Just crack it

[BoomerSooner]

There are places to do this. Make certain you have java turned off and pop-ups off too...

Re:As a software developer...

[Aeiri]

This is one of the things I love about Valve's Steam, as much as I hate some of the licencing terms: If you should ever completely lose everything you ever had related to the software, you can still buy a new box, enter your username/password, and download everything or borrow a "backup" from a friend.

Uhh... if you lose everything related to Valve's software, all you have to do is download steam, enter your password, download the software, and play.

You don't have to borrow or buy anything in order to get the game back. You can even burn the data on a backup disk in case you have to format.

Lightscape

[robson]

I bought a personal copy of Lightscape 3.0, a radiosity rendering package, back in 1997. At the time, the license system involved the following steps:

1.Install Lightscape.
2.Enter serial number into installer.
3.Installer gives you a second number.
4.Send the first and second numbers to Lightscape, who will then generate a third number and send that to you.
5.Run Lightscape and type in the third number.

From there, you're "set". Of course, that second number was completely machine-dependent, so you need to get a new third number from Lightscape every time you upgrade your machine.

Oops... except Lightscape was bought and assimilated by Autodesk, who stopped supporting the app in July 2003. The problem here, of course, is that where Lightscape is concerned, "support" was necessary simply to install the product.

Guess as a paying consumer, that's just what I get for patronizing a company with a draconian licensing scheme.

Re:Serial Numbers

[Thing 1]

Yes, write a letter to their CEO, cc your state's AG, the BBB, and the FTC.

And cc: Slashdot as well, so we know who not to do business with in the future.

In fact, I find it a little odd that the Slashdot Asker didn't list the company in question. It's frustrating to know there's an evil company and not be able to flood their 800 lines! ;-)

Re:Another one (ArcServe too)

[10scjed]

Actually, that was due to a change in the way netware counted users (25 to 30) from version to version, the old keys were expecting workgroup to only have 25 users as in nw4 and wouldnt work on nw5 workgroup because it had 5 free extra users for 30 total. or something like that, from what i recall.

Key recovery

[AmiMoJo]

I work for a computer repair shop, and we sometimes need to recover keys from machines to do a re-install. Usually, we ask to see the original licence, but in cases where we have seen the licence but it is no longer available (urgent job, client can't bring us the bit of paper, licences destroyed in fire, stolen etc) we try to recover them from the machine.

One of the best tools for this is AIDA32ee (Enterprise Edition). It's free, and will display the licence codes for a number of programs including Windows, MS Office, Works etc. The only problem is you have to be able to boot the system to run it. Windows licences can be recovered from a hard drive by reading in the registry.

Moral of the story: back up your paper licences!

Re:EULA

[bhtooefr]

But the one on the website is the valid EULA, according to almost every EULA I've read ("this document may change without notice").