Zugg Software :: View topic

Beginner Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 12

With zmud, you got 3 licenses, which you could install on 3 computers, including sharing with a friend. Am I right in my understanding that cmud only gives you one license?

Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2006 7:52 pm

Uummmm... not quite. zMud you had 3 licenses, or rather you can install a single license on up to 3 of your computers. To install on a fourth you had to uninstall a previous version or get another license. If your friend came and used your comptuer that was fine, but installing it on your friends computer (I think) defeated the spirit of the licensing agreement.

In CMUD for each install on a different computer you have to request a license from the Zuggsoft Store to have it installed to your PC. The generated license key is valid for 7 days. Once you've installed CMUD with a valid license on your PC you can upgrade or reinstall without entering the license again (unless, I'm assuming, you are beyond you 2 year upgrade period) unless you done something major like reformat your hard drive (or possibly replacing your OS). To install on another computer you'd need use a valid license. I believe there is a limit on license requests (1 or 2 a month) to avoid abuse of this system.

There are more details available somewhere, but I'm at work and can't look that up right now.

Beginner Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 12

GURU Joined: 10 Oct 2000 Posts: 873 Location: USA

Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2006 10:06 pm

Actually, the CMUD license and the zMUD license are the same (except for the 2 year upgrade limit on CMUD). The 7.21 version of zMUD was released last year to use the new licensing system which is being used by CMUD.

Using the newer licensing system, zMUD/CMUD are licensed to the *user* rather than to the computer. The limit of 3 computers was removed. You can install it on as many computers as you want within the 7 days that the license is valid, and after the 7 days you can retrieve a new license from the web site (like if you reformatted your computer or something). The 7 day limit makes posting the license key to the Internet less useful since it cannot be installed after 7 days.

Your licenses does not expire. Once installed, it will continue to work. If you reformat your computer, you retrieve a new license from the online store. This license will continue working with that version of CMUD forever. It's only to use new versions of CMUD in the future that you might want to upgrade. The version you buy does not expire.

The reason it's licensed to a *user* is that you will need to log into the online store to retrieve your license after the initial 7 days and anyone who shares their store login with multiple people is subject to getting their account cancelled. Most people don't/won't share their store login with other people since it contains their own personal information. Also, upgrades and other discounts are only available via the online store account. So, if someone shares this login with a friend, their friend could easily "steal" this account and use it to get future upgrades and discounts.

Also, each license key is embedded with the name and email address of the purchaser, so license keys can be tied to the original purchaser. So if someone shares their license with someone else, it could be tracked if the other person tries to get support or upgrades in the future.

Essentially the newer licensing system takes a less technical approach (it no longer "phones home" every 90 days for example), and takes a more personal approach.

The new store system allows you to purchase gift certificates. So if you want to buy on someone elses behalf, purchase a gift certificate for them, which they can use to buy their own copy of zMUD/CMUD. Otherwise, buying for other people or transferring a license to someone else is not allowed.

Hope that provides more useful information. Much of this is in the License FAQ

Beginner Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 12

Thanks, Zugg. That cleared up a lot of misinformation.
Next, related, question:

Years ago, I had bought zmud. (I think back in the 6.x days). Then I went through a number of email addresses, so I no longer even remember the one I had at the time. The problem is that my harddrive died and I didn't have a copy of my license information. Would I be able to get the discount on cmud since, in theory, you should have my billing information? I've asked about this before, and I seem to recall it was an elicense issue where they just shrugged and said "you should have printed out that email".

Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2006 2:45 am

Send whatever original purchase information you can remember to support@zuggsoft.com. If Chiara can find your original code, then she can update the store system with your new email address and then you should be able to get the discounts. The discounts are only available via our online store system.