> My main client is transitioning from a hardware to a software 
> based system (my fault <grin>). He is not at all comfortable 
> with standard software licensing (and in this specific case, 
> I can see why) and so wants to include a hardware locking key 
> to control the use of the software. His clients won't mind 
> since they are used to the current hardware anyway. Other 
> comments regarding how evil dongles are should be tagged [OT], please.
> 
> The problem is that I can't seem to find any company that 
> offers them in medium small quantities ( low hundreds ), for 
> reasonable prices ( e.g. < $20 each ) and releases source 
> code samples for how to connect to them. I had assumed there 
> would be a DLL you include in your installation and you would 
> call if from your application, but everything seems to be 
> much more complex and secretive. We aren't trying to stop 
> hackers here, just keep the users honest.
> 
> Has anyone had any good experiences with this? I'd sure 
> appreciate a referral.
> 
> Thanks!


Can't help you on prices, but I did have a play with the keys from
www.aladdin.com a while back.  In short, a DLL they provided talked to the
key, and gave you a Yes/No signal.  I didn't have any problem getting them
to work under VB or C++.  You had to load a custom driver too (no big deal).

These were read/write, so you could store serial numbers, name, keys,
algorithms etc.  Can handle multiple application too.  Simplest
implementation is test for the key in as many places as possible.

There's a bunch of different versions, some with counters for time limts or
# of uses, network variants etc.

You could always stick a loop-back connector in the serial port...

Tony

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