Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: Which Software/Devices Are Unusable Without Connecting to the Internet? (techdirt.com)
New submitter AlejandroTejadaC writes: Currently, most commercial software and hardware manufactures rely on an internet connection for registering or activating their products and providing additional functionality. In an ideal world this works fine, but in our real world the buyer could lose access to internet for months --
such as in emergency situations like the aftermath of hurricane Maria -- and their products will refuse to work because they need an internet connection. Which companies are using their internet servers as replacements for hardware dongles? I want to see a complete list of software and devices that become completely unusable without a live internet connection. Just remember the infamous case of the Razer Synapse.
You prefered the days of USB dongles, license servers and an inability to rent per-minute licenses? I for one didn't I ask companies to add internet connection based licensing, I'm so sick and tired of managing FlexLM servers, replacement dongles and paying $1,000 a year when we desparately need it for 60 minutes.
The tradeoff is between the bad old days of hardware locked licenses or just as bad managing a license server. We have quite a bit of software that was a huge pain in the ass to move between computers or else had to connect to our vpn just to function. Connecting to the internet every few days is a small price to pay to simplify licensing and offer more flexibility in deployment.
One of the reasons I picked Tradfri over other other "smart"/IoT lights and switches is because it's all local---no cloudy stuff supported except for the things I've explicitly connected. However, there are a number of silly bugs and missing features that make it practically unusable. So, I'm still searching for lights and buttons that work, and my X10 system is still being used....
have you ever heard the term "false dichotomy"?
because, you know, internet spyware and $1000 dongles are not the only alternatives.
There is nothing on this planet that I need so badly, that I have to sacrifice it's ability to function if it cannot get on the Internet. If it cannot work on it's own, then it is of no use to me.
[End Of Line]
You have a two week grace period, but once it runs out of data and is no longer able to verify your paid account status... you've got an oddly shaped brick on your hands.
#DeleteChrome
You just don't understand the difference between an intranet and the Internet.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
...no longer include on-disk help files any more. Click on "About->Help" (or whatever) and you wind up directed to an external web page. I suppose it saved some disk space when the application was installed but pretty annoying if you hit a snag while using the software, need to access a reference, and internet access isn't available.
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
You prefered the days of USB dongles, license servers and an inability to rent per-minute licenses? I for one didn't I ask companies to add internet connection based licensing, I'm so sick and tired of managing FlexLM servers, replacement dongles and paying $1,000 a year when we desparately need it for 60 minutes.
I'll take a local license file and FlexLM manager any day over internet-dependent services.
I can handle one license server having issues, impeding work. I sure as hell don't want to deal with all of my license managers going down if I lose internet service.
And 60 minutes a year define your usage requirement? I'd outsource that shit.
Exactly. WebTV updated for the 2010s :)
One of the biggest problems with software is that the data created with it may only be usable with that piece of software. Adobe software is a prime example: you'll never be able to reuse an After Effects project without a copy of After Effects the same version or later to use it with, and today your only option is a subscription that can run out. When that subscription runs out, the countless hours you invested in using that software are rendered inaccessible. Sure, you can pull up that MP4 you rendered for YouTube that time, but if you want to revisit the project or reuse it in another? Nope, your subscription's out so your data has dropped to a value of zero.
I pay Adobe for a software subscription every month. I also keep the latest installers, AMT Painter, cracked amtlib.dll files, etc. lying around in case something goes wrong. The last thing I need is to be broke and unable to pay for my subscription and lose access to my countless hours of work as a result. Regardless of your position within the ethical arguments surrounding software piracy and cracking, it is good practice to keep a known working cracked copy of any "online required" software lying around just in case the vendor cuts you off for some reason.
Oh, and Adobe refuses to activate old (i.e. CS1) versions of their software, so anyone that "bought" such software and has a computer problem will soon find out that they didn't "own" jack shit. I see no ethical dilemma with using a cracked copy in such cases. Fuck software activation.
Basically unusable without a constant connection to Stack Overflow.
60 minutes a year define your usage requirement? I'd outsource that shit.
That's about my usage for printers, and for a long time I was relying on print services like ups store, and it was a huge pain in the ass. I ended up buying a wifi printer and it's also a pain in the ass so unfortunately there's no happy conclusion to my story.
lucm, indeed.
I stopped buying or using Android apps from the Amazon store because they stopped working after a while without an internet connection. If they couldn't call home, they died.
Sadly, while I really like the Chumby alarm clock form factor (it's a little padded beanbag you can pound to snooze, very satisfying), it's completely dead without an internet connection at boot.
At one point the company basically went under, but a benevolent soul has kept the servers running for another 5+ years - all of them would stop working without it.
It doesn't have to be continually connected, but periodically. And when it can't connect, you've got a worthless alarm clock, which is very bad for an alarm clock I really should replace it, but I'm not all that reliant on it (set my phone as backup when I have to make a plane), and I REALLY like hitting the soft top to snooze it.
Yes, you can download maps for offline use in a small area, but if you go outside that pre-defined area OR you didn't download maps for offline use and happen to drive through an extended area with poor or no 4G/3G service, it becomes useless. This is perhaps the most bothersome "no internet connection means it won't work" experience I personally have encountered, and it is the primary reason I still carry a standalone GPS device in my car.
There's also VoIP phone services, including a lot of the phone services provided by cable ISPs. Lose that connection, and you lose "landline" phone service...and yes, there are still lots of people who use landline phones either by choice or necessity.
DRM servers have killed the used games market on PCs.
There are lots and lots of games out there that are over a decade old even that you can't buy used because they have been "activated" on an old DRM server and can't be reactivated on another machine.
In several cases, legitimate copies of a game can't be played at all on any PC because the game had demanded to contact a now discontinued DRM server even to start.
"We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
Yes - I think this is what the topic is about. A printer, for example, that requires an internet connection to set up because it only includes a software down-loader so that the user gets the latest version of the drivers.
Logitech's "Harmony Link" is a great example... I can't imagine why anyone would buy one to begin with, but most people probably didn't realize what they were getting into.
Obviously software whose main function is networking would be affected, so I don't know why everyone feels the need to point that out. An MMORPG obviously needs networking.
It's also what makes buying a Chromebook dubious, but from my understanding you are able to work offline - although I'd imagine in a "crippled" way until you get back online, but I honestly don't know.
Stupid sexy Flanders.
Bollocks, MacOS doesn't require internet access. The default things the OS does internet-wise are update checks for apps, XProtect/Gatekeeper config updates, security updates and OS updates, all of which can be turned off from the Terminal using:
MUST.......RESIST........DONGLE.............JOKE!
But seriously, as terrible as local licence managers and dongles can be, at least when something goes wrong, you aren't left sitting in the dark hoping someone a thousand miles away will do the right thing to get things running again eventually. That and in some environments, a connection to the outside world is forbidden or just unavailable.
It's not a stupid question at all, unless your goal is to intentionally misunderstand the question. The OP obviously meant software that you wouldn't expect to stop working without the Internet. My favorite word processor, for instance, starts warning about the license after a few days without Internet access. It takes a week or two until it stops entirely.
Also, Firefox works fine without Internet and my webcam, too.
One of the professors at my old university once went to a conference and tried to demo an application he had recently written only to find that it would hang immediately upon launch. It had worked flawlessly when he had been debugging it a few days earlier and run the exact same build the day before. Turns out one of the APIs the application used would "call home" as part of the setup function even when none of the network functions in the API were used.
Needless to say he ended up with some proverbial egg on his face on top of what you usually get when you're called "Jerker" (Swedish male surname) and try to present something in an English speaking country.
"Why should I want to make anything up? Life's bad enough as it is without wanting to invent any more of it."
Those small furry creatures, did they groove with a Pict by any chance?
Every end has half a stick.
I've looked at other solutions and none is cheaper than my piece of shit inkjet/scanner combo.
...until your ink cartridge runs out.
(Which will happen after only 3 weeks, because why pack full-capacity inks cartridge, when you can pack demo cartridges.
Also, the whole "color" cartridge needs replacement, even if only one ink ran out.
Also, the ink in question is yellow, because fuck you US with your yellow dot coding.
Also, the ink didn't exactly run out, but the counter chip with DRM on it decided it's time to give up).
Then suddenly it seems cheaper to replace the whole printer than buy new cartridges.
(Or else you're in for a messy business of trying to refill your own cartridges at home.
Or hope that the local cartdiges refurbishment shop does a nice job).
You're better off investing into a :
- indeed, multifunction with printer/scanner combo is a good bet for your usecase.
- *laser* printer (check the toner cartridges price : they are usually MUCH cheaper in the long run due to minuscule per-page cost).
- wired printer, best over Ethernet (it's just a plain network printer cue. Works without driver on most OSes)
- check that the printer supports standard language like Post-Script (completely driverless in most OSes) or at least PCL (There are a few Cannon printers that lack PS, and only speak PCL or some useless proprietary shit).
- check that the printer has a USB port (so you can scan to a USB stick, if you don't want to scan to e-mail or scan to samba share)
Now for the specific situation of signing document, you might instead set your workflow to add a scanned signature on the document and burn it as an image and re-send it as PDF with JBIG images embed. But don't forget to sign your e-mail (or PDFs) cryptographically for security.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
I bought a Dell 1355 multifunction colour laser about 6-7 years ago (and had it for a whole two years before my mother borrowed and found it so useful she never gave it back). It had an Ethernet port and could talk SMB and FTP, so you can scan directly to a file server and emit PDFs (and you can print PDFs from there). It was about £100 new. I don't print much and found that I was spending a lot on my old inkjet because the ink would always have dried up and I'd end up buying a new cartridge for every 2-3 pages. The laser toner lasted the two years I had it and then the next three yeas that my mother had it before needing to be replaced.
For signing documents, I don't bother printing anymore - I just insert my signature into the PDF, run it through the print driver to generate a flattened PDF, and then email it back.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
And HP is among the best at supporting SANE on GNU/Linux.
Unfortunately, HP is one of the most evil when it comes to printer DRM. If you give them money, you're paying to be abused. They are also gigantic assholes about driver updates on Windows. They drop old scanners from the driver even when they use the same protocols as scanners they are continuing to support. If your plan involves giving HP money so that they can continue to fuck people over, it's a shitty plan.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
For BT within the UK, at least, it's over separate fibre or separate circuit-switched partitions within fibres that may also carry Internet traffic, but the majority of the phone network, in spite of running IP, is not addressable from the Internet. This is done to guarantee QoS for the voice traffic.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
The problem is that I use the built-in scanner a lot, since most of the stuff I print is documents I get by email that I have to sign and return. I've looked at other solutions and none is cheaper than my piece of shit inkjet/scanner combo.
Why not just get a scan of your signature and apply it to documents then send back without all the faffing around printing and scanning. Plus it's way cheaper.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u