I'm developing a shareware desktop application. I'm to the point where I need to implement the trial-use/activation code. How do you approach something like this? I have my own ideas, but I want to see what the stackoverflow community thinks.
I'm developing with C++/Qt. The intended platform is Windows/Mac/Linux.
Thanks for your advice!
Perhaps the real problem is the Time-limited trial. The company I work for does a lot of Active Directory work and we usually limit our software to a small amount of users for trial versions. I feel that limiting functionality in some way is sometimes better, easier to implement, and doesn't fail when the user simply changes the date on their computer.
There is balancing act in that you can't limit functionality too strictly, otherwise users get nothing out of the trial. At the same time, a limit that is too loose gives no incentive to purchase.