PG Music Home Forums PG Music Product Forums Band-in-a-Box for Windows How many activations does BIAB have for windows.

I have been thinking about my prior post. This is the systems analysis part of me that can't help it :-)

So lets take MultiCharts as a base. When I purchase it I get a number that identifies myself to TS-Support (the MultiCharts people). So when I am online trading MultiCharts calls home to mamma often and lets me trade on that machine. If I buy a new machine such as my notebook and install MultiCharts on that machine I have to use that number so the TS-support database for my account knows it is me installing MultiCharts on that machine. These machines also have this number somehow on my machines for offline use. So to give a true story one day I was trading the futures which runs overnight. I left the house with my notebook after supper and forgot to turn the desktop trading machine off and MultiCharts was still running. I got to my FAV coffee shop and started up multicharts to do some offline research work on the market. However there was an internet connection and I automatically connected. The notebook MultiCharts called home to mamma and asked me if I wanted to kill MultiCharts on the desktop back home. I said yes. So it wrote out the files back home to store its day of collecting data and shut it down then allowed me to run multicharts on the notebook at the coffee shop (I think there was a tiny overlap since I did not need to wait).

So that is very cool and it protects TS-Support as well as making me very happy (another reason they have risen to the top so fast). However I could have fired up MultiCharts off-line (where there is no internet at a coffee shop) and it has no way to call home to mamma. What MultiCharts does it is allows this in the agreement. I can work to do research but I obviously can't trade since all trading is done on the internet. They know I will not research forever without wanting to trade live eventually.

So this could be applied to BIAB and RealBand in the same way. The difference would be the call home to Mamma would be maybe once a month only and save PgMusic a boat load of work. It might go like this.

Pg-Music supplies the same type of number to identify me on the machine and for calls home to Mamma. If I am trying BIAB without such a number obtained when I pay for it BIAB runs for the standard 30 days and then stops so it can no longer run on that machine unless I reformat and do it all over again (few will want to do that). Few will want to return an image because sometimes that fails (had that happen twice actually).

So if at the end of the 30 days I buy BIAB I get my number. This allows me to install on 2 machines (the PgMusic database is designed to allow me unlimited machines if I want to waste my money this way but I don't). However if I am running off line it keeps track of this and allows me to run off line only for maybe a week or a month. When I run on-line it calls home to mamma and updates this time to bump it ahead so I can run off-line for another week or month or whatever. This is all automatic (no one at PgMusic need do anything). With this setup I can format and install on my two machines as much as I want. I just have to reinstall with my number so when BIAB calls home to mamma it knows who I am. So back home on the database for my account at PG-Music the record of my account knows the identification for my two machines. If one of my machines fries and I buy a new machine it is a very simple process that occurs to identify this new machine with PgMusic that takes place almost exactly like MultiCharts uses. The call home to mamma detects my number calling in but on a different machine. It asks me if I want to remove that old machine from my account and use this new machine. I say yes because I know that old machine went in the trash can or maybe I have decided to use it as a backup machine only like I have done a few times (I don't care if backups run a bit slow). So I say yes and I am happily running BIAB on my new desk top machine and on my notebook machine without having to bother the people at PgMusic nor wait for emails which is so old tech. If I tried to run BIAB on that old machine it would stop me or ask me to pay more money maybe or maybe just say you are not licensed to run on this machine and give a 30 day trial (PgMusic can decide how they want to handle this). Because I only have to call in to extend my off-line use maybe once a month or once a week I am good to go with my Jam group where there is typically no internet at the jam. However if I was to be jamming every week and did not call in to Mamma during the proper time frame I would not be able to run my BIAB for the jam. It is up to me to remember to call in to mamma to extend my off-line use. No problem. At least PgMusic personnel do not need to get involved (I am sure they have better things to do).

So that takes care of unlimited re-formats and switching to a new machine which we all have the right to do and avoids some clients getting annoyed with PgMusic as well (I have a reminder in my database reminder system telling me that PgMusic wants me to email them if I switch to a new machine so they are obviously okay with this but again it is email and old tech). Now purchases plans and what PgMusic decides to charge could be modeled off what I described in my last two posts (beta testers getting the best rates and those who do not need the latest and greatest with few bug hassles being happy to pay more and with some even buying a very expensive life time license that allows them to if they wish get 2 or 3 versions back upgrades).

To there you go. I do not have the expertise to program it but the MultiCharts programmers sure do. I have not heard of any stories of people ripping off MultiCharts via hacking.

So here is my theory as to why the MultiCharts people prefer their customers to buy a life time license over the others (it is a theory but it makes perfect sense). MultiCharts was started by two traders who were also computer science majors and great programmers as well. I suspect they are very good at trading and want the money up front so they can trade it and get great rates of return on their trading skills (making way more money than they would make in the bank). I upgrade to the current release however (they have no 2 or 3 back). So that is another theory. Maybe they want me on that latest release to test for them. Having said that I do not need to upgrade. I have upgraded maybe 3 times but normally because of a reformat or a new machine. If I can I try to go in a few months after the release comes out (after the initial bugs have been fixed).

So no this is not bad for PgMusic to read. People do not need to get all upset thinking I am attacking PgMusic. It is an idea that could save them labor costs and complaints. It is possible money in the bank for them if they choose to act on it saving labor costs in the long run. Sadly I can not help more than this. I have no idea how to program it :-)