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.

Comments

Re: Depends on what it does

[cas2000]

have you ever heard the term "false dichotomy"?

because, you know, internet spyware and $1000 dongles are not the only alternatives.

Nothing!

[IonOtter]

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.

TiVo

[93 Escort Wagon]

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.

A lot of software packages...

[rnturn]

...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.

Re:A lot of software packages...

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

It also enables them to delete or redirect the help for older versions of software you paid for, pushing users into upgrades they otherwise didn't want or need. Like almost any phone-home software that isn't doing it as part of a genuine communications feature, it's just one more way to artificially limit the life of something that would otherwise carry on working just fine.

Re: Depends on what it does

[geekmux]

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.

Adobe, et al

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Adobe, et al

[TheRealHocusLocus]

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.

Congratulations AC, you have offered the only useful and practical idea I've seen so far in this thread. Virtue signalling self-policing comments like, I tolerate Internet reliance because I'm a good person and I know there are bad people out there... people (laughably) listing things that are pointless without the Internet... uggh.

It is good to have cracked [frozen,current,standalone installable] versions even if the software is not strictly 'online required' today, but you have committed to follow an automatic patch-in update path where your operating version begins to diverge seriously from your purchased installable media past a major version. And especially if any step renders your oldest files to become un-usable (or even worse!) subject to some possibly-buggy "conversion step". The gist of it is, I have typically found software to be adept at converting from the previous major versions, but as I discovered on the long and tortuous Aldus Pagemaker 2 (came bundled with 'new' Microsoft Windows version 1.0.3!) thru Pagemaker 3,4,5 Adobe Indesign now Creative Suite path, converting your documents from versions beyond previous can be a shitshow.

I cite Pagemaker only to illustrate, for it was firmly grounded on the principle that you purchase software for life and are entitled to a functional offline installer. Since Adobe arrived on the scene that idea has been challenged somewhat, and because of that I never fully committed to the Indesign path. When you have stuff that works you should start to ignore new features, especially if they are Internet-bound and just work anyhow.

But I've been caught at times, and my reaction would seem direct and 'extreme' to the silly anti-pirates that hang out here. THE FIRST TIME I'm sent a document that triggers the message "It looks like this document was saved using a previous version of [x]. Would you like to download a [special lens,filter pack,wonder-tool] so we can convert/open the document?" I sound the general bullshit alarm. This alarm triggers the following actions,
1. acquire cracked 'previous' version that installs without Internet.
2. acquire cracked current version that installs without Internet.

Every week someone at Microsoft asks someone else, "Why are so many people still using XP?" and they receive a direct honest answer. Which they forget because it is uncomfortable. Then they ask again next week, as those people continue to run XP.

If your hardware or software does not work with Windows 7 you'll never sell any to me. Life gets boring around here sometimes but hey, I own books too. And IF (some say WHEN) the Internet becomes strictly a local affair and the connected world dissolves into enclaves, bunkers and redoubts, I'll be able to assemble working systems off the shelf. What will some of you be doing?

Reading books, that's what! HA HA HA HA HA...! I'll rent them to you.

Linux

[Anonymous Coward]

Basically unusable without a constant connection to Stack Overflow.

Chumby

[Sarusa]

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.

Google Maps, VoIP Phone

[Torin Darkflight]

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.

PC games

[Misagon]

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.

Re:PC games

[mjwx]

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.

Actually sales killed the used game market on the PC, not that it had a huge one to begin with. When I can buy a year old game on Steam for £10 or 2 year old game on Steam or GOG for £5 new, why would I pay £15 for it used?

The reason Consoles have a used game market is that Console owners have less money and fewer sales, 12+ months after release you're still paying near release prices for old games.

As for DRM... there's yet to be one that has remained uncracked. Also I don't reward companies that pull this kind of bollocks, hence EA and Ubisoft has not seen a single one of my currency units (I have cards in multiple countries) since they tried to force me into their own platforms.

Calling home

[The Cynical Critic]

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.

Re: Outside of my Roku?

[CSMoran]

Those small furry creatures, did they groove with a Pict by any chance?

Re:Outside of my Roku?

[TheRaven64]

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.