No, updates aren't required to employ a shut-off date. There are a very large number of ways to do it, ranging from counting the number of day since installed to hiding a kill file at a particular time. Connection to the internet is completely irrelevant. BTW, if you're thinking of MS's practice, they do not require connection either with their free try it downloads.
HTH Pop`
Just tried it, and it works when not
lol, I hope you're right for your sake! That's a lot of trust for one to put into BETA software and backward compatability for the Released version!
If you guys really want to know, why don't you go after Google and get the word from the horse's (whichever end you prefer here)? They're the ones with the answers. In fact, this might even make an interesting Google search exercise. I'll bet they're counting and tagging posts like this. BETA sofware is ONLY good for play, not for work!
Pop
no(SPAM)vasys" Earth" in hopes that users will populate the "Google Earth"
Good catch: I'd forgotten that one. Another good way to judge the acceptance of a BETA software, I'd think, and get some PR at the same time. they obvious have some fairly big plans for it.
Pop
I knew one of you wouild be along shortly here! Just because you know what the processes end up being in cases like this does not in any way mean the masses do. It's also called venting and getting it off their chests and lots of other healthy things. When I read your short post I thought to myself, "Well, then why are YOU bitching about other people bitching?" But I just thought it; I won't say it out loud. Shh, don't tell anyone! So I says to msyelf, "Self, ... ."
Pop
... snip
I don't disagree with the need for businesses to make money. However, since Google does have several revenue models that don't require purchase of product from Google, disclosing the fact that the software will expire would be a reasonable thing to do. As you indicate, best practice is to avoid being a guinea pig unless you understand the rewards/risks
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
First, I don't agree that the software expired. It forced an upgrade to keep working. Which, by the way, is expressly stated in the license. It's not like the license is 30 pages long, either. Its only 4 pages and the update requirement is spelled out pretty plainly.
Now, not that I'm promoting violating the license that you all agreed to, but I'm willing to bet that the software will run until it phones home and finds out that there is an update. Now, if someone had a firewall and knew enough to figure out the probable range of addresses it checks for updates on, that someone could block access to that range. If it never hears about an available update, I suspect it will keep running. Is there some limit to the number of times it will run without being able to check for updates? I don't know, but if there is, the number is more than 10 ;-).
todd
None at all. I've tested it against the demo version of the commercial software, on one of my computers. I'm not counting on some future release.
Yep, and Google is pretty explicit about that--this version is for personal non-commercial use only. For work, you should be using the commercial version.
Thank you! I was beginning to think I was the only one who had gotten a copy of google sketchup that worked like that. Either everyone else's copy, other than yours and mine, is expiring, or else most participants in this thread do not have a copy, and are just reacting to what someone said they thought was happening.
I will say that the message, which I don't recall verbatim, was worded in a way that could make you think that it had time-bombed.
todd
And which works exactly as promised. All of the bitching is about what _MIGHT_ happen.
Behind (well behind, IMHO) all the bitching is a concern about what might happen, which concern users should be aware of.
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