Well precisely. The problem is if the online checkup/authorisation takes place when you have an internet outage you will then not be able to use your software. Also if you are a licensed user and you are not able to use your software under the current licence agreement BFD are at fault.
If the change to the licence agreement for BFD4 means that we have to remain online whilst using or that we have to check in regularly is a no go for me. If however the Licence manager is what authorises BFD4 to work by simply being on your computer and whenever you go online it updates itself behind the scenes, well I could live with that.
What I would not like to see is a system where BFD is taking information from my computer about my use of BFD, or worse, information about my system to be monetised. Which is what I worry about - software working in the background like spyware.
Iām not sure it would work like that.
If these were to be random periodical checks and they werenāt able to access your copy of BFD3/4 because you were off line my guess is they would either try again at a later date or maybe email users to ask them to check in and update their licence.
How would they be able disable BFD3/4 if they werenāt able to access your computer via the internet?
Iām not sure they would be able to do it the way youāre suggesting even if they wanted to.
Right now this just speculation.
As Drew said, it is currently being discussed as an idea and he is hoping to change their minds, thatās it.
The current situation is a bug and so will be fixed in the next build.
Isnāt that exactly what the old crash logs were doing?
Admittedly it was down to the user whether on not to send in the crash logs but I donāt imagine many people refused to on the grounds they were being spied on. 
Steve
BFD3.4 is already disabled offline. If you didnāt sign in BFD3 would be disabled, which would be annoying if your internet was down.
Also having access to the registry as the License manager does could mean access to what the computer has been doing. Crash logs tend to be specific to a crash.
But thatās a bug as has been said many times.
Obviously you have to sign in initially to register it but my question is, how then would they disable it once enabled? How do they disable it when they have no internet access to your comperter?
The only way I see that being possible would have to be on a timer, that it would disable BFD3/4 after a few months.
I donāt see that happening.
Steve
I can unplug my Ethernet cable and Melodyne works. If I disable the network card, it does not.
Has something to do with the computer āprofileā
While what is currently happening is a bug, it shows that its perfectly possible to stop an application working when there is no internetā¦
Unless Iām missing something in the question?
Thatās kind of true but itās been disabled on account of the new release that has a bug.
Once that bug has been fixed it would require another update to disable it and that couldnāt happen if the user didnāt go on line to update if you see what I mean.
Steve
I think I see what you mean, but that is what I currently do. I go online for updates and dont allow the main DAW machine online otherwise, and if I can download it as a separate installer, thats always my first choice.
I have everything I can disabled in the background disabled, so I can wring every last bit of resources towards music.
As another example, MS fairly recently updated Windows to no longer support firewire devices, rendering my Focusrite Saffire audio interface useless. Its not directly relevant but as a way of showing how things can be completely borked with one official update, not even a bug.
I go through months at a time without home internet. If I were to get home from a friends, having downloaded the latest update, only to have bfd broken and no recourseā¦
Anyway, individual situations like mine aside, forced checking back with any regularity, and having it connected to being able to use the software doesnt sound very user friendly or prone to trouble free sessions.
EDIT: Im repeating myself a lot now 
I shall try and stop. But also, what your saying is, that offline user then has no way to update to the latest version unless they decide to have their machine connected at whatever times the publisher decides?
Thatās awful, there should be some legal recourse against microsoft for stuff like that but Iām sure they have loop holes within their terms and conditions.
I have taken to checking whatās on offer with every ms update but itās not fail safe and the last major update almost killed my laptop but I have a friend who fixed it through various command prompts.
Iām pretty sure BFD would notify their users of any intended changes as they always have done in the past. Each update would come with a, new features and bug fix list.
Hopefully they, and not just Drew, are reading these posts.
Steve
Absolutely no offence to Drew or any of the rest of the team, but thats demonstrably not true for this version 
I know there are mitigating migration circumstances in this instance but again, thats another reason why an app calling home to check whether its allowed to function, under any time frame, is dooming some to not being able to use it.
Re: Firewireā¦ Yeah, its partly a shrug of āthats just the way it goesā but at the same time, firewire not taking off was an industry thing, a monolith of a corporation, and I wasnt on their forums giving feedback The thing is, this is why Iām currently moving to Linux, and there are very few options other than MS.
Iād rather not be in this position with BFD too, so I dont have much option other than to argue against any proposed online checks being tied to functionality.
Dont even get me started on the concept of software as an always online subscription serviceā¦
But this is, (according to Drew) a bug and will be rectified in the next build so Iām pretty sure that had it been their intention to force users to be permanently on line, this would have been very made clear beforehand.
Surely if itās once every 3 or 4 months itās not that hard to go on line for a few minutes?
Donāt get me wrong, Iām not in favour of it at all and Iād like to know for what purpose other than as an anti piracy measure it would be required.
Steve
Thats true, I think I forgot what I was talking about?
Yes, it can be? On whoās time frame? Would you be happy with this if your OS locked up because you hadnt been online for 6 months? Because why? It doesnt trust you?
Its a drum app, not a petulant child demanding to use the internet.
There are so many working scenarios where this could be a showstopper.
EDIT: Im really not sure how adding more speculation of time frames the software is maybe going to call home is helping anything. Pointing out the bug makes sense tho.
Indeed. Set a date by which is has to be next authorised online, and if that auth is missed stop working.
The problem with periodic checks - as already mentioned, and as I have posted on KVR - is that you are guaranteeing that at some point, the software will cease to function through no fault of your own. Companies die, suits make decisions to discontinue software etc. etc.
Itās just a really bad idea to hand over the keys to your critical software to a third party. Iām fine with a ping on activation or when updating. Iām not fine with periodic pings that leave me at the mercy of multiple third parties (my ISP, inMusicās servers, the links between the two, inMusic itself yadda yadda).
The onus should be on me to ensure that my system is running and the software is functioning, and if there are any issues, I want to be able to solve them myself, not be at the mercy of third parties.
So for me, this is a massive no-no.
Iāve asked this a few times and got no explanation but, if youāre BFD3 and expansions are all licensed and running fine and then you disconnect your WiFi, how then are they able to disable it?
They will need to access it so the only way I see how that could happen is if it were on a timer.
Yes they could disable BFD3 when you next try to update it but then youād run the licence manager anyway so no issue there that I can see.
As Long as users were notified before hand and given a window in which to log in, like a week or 2 weeks at the end of a given month then that shouldnāt be too hard.
Like I said, Iām not in favour of it but itās a whole lot better than iLok. I have no iLok products on my system and am keen to keep it that way.
Steve
Well itās happening now where if youāre not online it doesnāt work, so same principle. Not difficult to program. Iād rather they spent that time programming a better product personally.
Iām not a huge fan of iLok, but I have enough iLok VST plug-ins to know itās not a huge problem - none require a dongle, theyāre all computer-authorised. One authorisation is less intrusive than once a week/month/year whatever the time schedule would be, I donāt care. Iāve paid for this software so stop checking up on me like some crim!
Iām not sure what this checking up on users is supposed to prove anyway. That people who have actually paid for the product arenāt doing what exactly?
That only happened as a result of us updating and installing the new licence manager and BFD3.4 , itās not the same at all.
If I decide to take an internet hiatus for the next year or so (once the bug is fixed in the next build) I may miss all the lovely updates but they wonāt be able to disable BFD3 unless as I said itās on a timer.
Totally agree there, Iām quite baffled, if youāre using a pirated copy you probably bypass the licence manager anyway.
Steve
Which if there is an expectation of users being online, there will be, otherwise your point is āwhy does it matter if it phones home and nothing happens?ā. If I update, and it expects me to be online in four weeks time, of course its got some sort of timer involved. Whats the point of the expectation otherwise.
Arguing with everyone and shoving your own speculation in there that you dont personally have a problem with isnt helping matters. Its not allaying fears, its just āi dont mind, neither should youā.
[maximumdembo]Beta Tester
Arguing with everyone and shoving your own speculation in there that you dont personally have a problem with isnt helping matters. Its not allaying fears, its just āi dont mind, neither should youā.
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**
Precisely. The only thing I am interesting is making the software work as it should so the developers can spend time improving it. At the moment I am stuck in 3.3. I would like to feel that I own a share in this software and that I can look forward to exciting developments. I have been looking at SD3 and have become less keen on it the more I have found out and heard. It occurs to me that I like the sound and flexibility of BFD3. I mix in Cubase and use a combination of 3rd party software to get the sounds I like. I want to continue to do this as I have done in the past working offlineā¦
Steve,
If, following the update, they have decided to make periodic checks mandatory then code will be included to require a check in to keep the software working. No check in during a set timeframe and the software disables itself. iLok uses this for their Zero Downtime insurance (which is not mandatory)