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Aug 14, 2007
03:56 PM
Activation Woes
I'm new to InstallShield and would like to post some feedback on your PITA activation process. It made a tremendously bad impression for your product right out of the gate. KUDOS!!!
First of all, when registering my serial number, I got a generic error message "Insufficient Information" after filling in all the required fields. After 30 wasted minutes of trying different browsers and different machines, on a whim I decided to try a different phone number format. Shazam! It finally went through; but alas, after about 30 seconds I received some generic message that the registration service was down. This happened last Friday late in the day, so I gave up until Monday.
I tried again Monday morning and got the same error message trying to register my serial number. I start looking for support numbers...anything so I can get my InstallShield activated and working. No support number anywhere on your site. Excellent customer support! I find an email address and try that. A day later I get a generic auto-response saying I don't have a support contract and could not get support. Heh! Didn't anticipate needing support to get the product installed and working.
Finally, on Monday afternoon, the serial number registration finally worked. So, thinking my problems are over, I then proceed to activate my new InstallShield 2008. When trying to do online verification, after about a minute, it responds with an error stating the verification service can not be contacted, please check my internet connection and try again. Well after another 30 minutes of wasted time trying to get my copy verified, I break down and do the offline verification method.
12 hours later, I'm finally activated and can create installers w/o the nag dialog. Well kind of, the IsCmdBld.exe still creates the installers with the nag message and after another wasted hour I find the work around for that. 😞
All told, the activation process cost me about ~3 hours of wasted time trying to get my EXPENSIVE copy of InstallShield to the point of actually using it. All I can say is you're a sad bunch. I work for a large ISV, much larger than MacroVision, and people would be fired over such a crappy initial user experience here.
Software protection is a dual-edged sword. What little money you gain from otherwise pirated copies of your overly expensive software is lost because of a horrible user experience and support costs for what has been a historically very error prone activation process. I worked at another ISV years ago that shared the same absurd copy protection philosophy you do and 50% of all support calls were activation and licensing related. 50%!!!!
So how's that copy protection working out for you?
First of all, when registering my serial number, I got a generic error message "Insufficient Information" after filling in all the required fields. After 30 wasted minutes of trying different browsers and different machines, on a whim I decided to try a different phone number format. Shazam! It finally went through; but alas, after about 30 seconds I received some generic message that the registration service was down. This happened last Friday late in the day, so I gave up until Monday.
I tried again Monday morning and got the same error message trying to register my serial number. I start looking for support numbers...anything so I can get my InstallShield activated and working. No support number anywhere on your site. Excellent customer support! I find an email address and try that. A day later I get a generic auto-response saying I don't have a support contract and could not get support. Heh! Didn't anticipate needing support to get the product installed and working.
Finally, on Monday afternoon, the serial number registration finally worked. So, thinking my problems are over, I then proceed to activate my new InstallShield 2008. When trying to do online verification, after about a minute, it responds with an error stating the verification service can not be contacted, please check my internet connection and try again. Well after another 30 minutes of wasted time trying to get my copy verified, I break down and do the offline verification method.
12 hours later, I'm finally activated and can create installers w/o the nag dialog. Well kind of, the IsCmdBld.exe still creates the installers with the nag message and after another wasted hour I find the work around for that. 😞
All told, the activation process cost me about ~3 hours of wasted time trying to get my EXPENSIVE copy of InstallShield to the point of actually using it. All I can say is you're a sad bunch. I work for a large ISV, much larger than MacroVision, and people would be fired over such a crappy initial user experience here.
Software protection is a dual-edged sword. What little money you gain from otherwise pirated copies of your overly expensive software is lost because of a horrible user experience and support costs for what has been a historically very error prone activation process. I worked at another ISV years ago that shared the same absurd copy protection philosophy you do and 50% of all support calls were activation and licensing related. 50%!!!!
So how's that copy protection working out for you?
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Aug 15, 2007
01:06 PM
Sorry to hear that your user experience wasn't what you had hoped. Walking through the process myself, it seems to work pretty seamlessly most of the time. However, you are correct that sometimes things go wrong.
I did want to confirm that, on Friday, we had an outing related to the Registration Page. Sorry for any inconvenience that caused you.
In the future if you have issues, please definitely give a call to (847)413-2896, you can also e-mail us at support@macrovision.com and someone should address those issues. Please keep in mind that issues not related to activation and registration require a maintenance contract, which you can purchase on the main macrovision website by going to the Purchase -> Online Store. Typically, activation & installation related incidents should not be rejected as those do not require any form of support.
While I can understand your frustration, I believe you'll find that the remainder of your user experience is what you wish it to be 🙂
I have forwarded the constructive criticism portion of your support experience to the appropriate individuals as well.
I did want to confirm that, on Friday, we had an outing related to the Registration Page. Sorry for any inconvenience that caused you.
In the future if you have issues, please definitely give a call to (847)413-2896, you can also e-mail us at support@macrovision.com and someone should address those issues. Please keep in mind that issues not related to activation and registration require a maintenance contract, which you can purchase on the main macrovision website by going to the Purchase -> Online Store. Typically, activation & installation related incidents should not be rejected as those do not require any form of support.
While I can understand your frustration, I believe you'll find that the remainder of your user experience is what you wish it to be 🙂
I have forwarded the constructive criticism portion of your support experience to the appropriate individuals as well.