4 ms·

If you're using electron... what's to stop someone from just modifying the client side JavaScript to circumvent the licensing?

• semireg 3y ago
  Not a ton, I suspect. On macOS there'd be app signing/notarizing issues and you'd probably have to disable gate keeper or knock another hole in the walled garden. The real "trick" is keeping the app inexpensive and the purchase low friction. If I raised prices there'd be more pressure to pirate. People who need my app are solving a "terrible problem" (printing labels). They aren't the kind of customer that would seek out a pirated copy or try to pirate it. For example, for a period of time the app's licensing could be bypassed by starting another 14 day free trial using a different email address. After watching these "clones" keep re-registering every two weeks (for maybe 20 weeks!), I finally updated the licensing to be slightly more restrictive: you can register again but the 2nd free trial on any particular computer is limited to 4 hours, the 3rd registration doesn't show a free trial. Guess what happened? ~50 new customers over two weeks, all from a particular geography. It was wild. But I've had no complaints. Long story short: People will pay to solve the soul-crushing task of label printing. I joke that I write the colonoscopy of the software world. It can be a dirty job.
  • kayson 3y ago
    Thanks for the insight!