Software distribution processes

Here's an interesting posting from Phil Morettini regarding the use of copy protection in products. Essentially, copy protection was seen as "a bad thing" for quite a while, mainly due to the inflexibility of previous copy-protection solutions. Few customers liked them, so software companies factored piracy into their business models and managed accordingly.

Now copy-protection, in the form of license management is on its way back. Every time the software is used, a central licensing server is consulted first. Much more flexibility can be programmed in so it's not so blunt a solution any more. Worth a read.