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How does "activation" work?

May 23, 2013, 12:00 am
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>>I go on vacation for 3 weeks to a remote desert island and take my computer with me.

Er, remote desert island. Big oops. I live in New Zealand. And for those of us who live here, at the centre of the universe, North America is a remote desert island. Decentre, eh.

Your phrase suggests that this is the most unlikely or most idiosyncratic of use cases. Not so, there are a number of places I may go, and go for longer than 3 weeks, where there is no connection or to travel to the nearest place where there is one just to re-activate X1 is serious time and cost (e.g. many bush locations in NZ due to the terrain, places in Samoa, Cook Islands, Vanuatu, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Norfolk Island, Nauru, Tuvalu, Tonga, Fiji etc, or islands in Thailand - these places are not "remote" and they are not "desert" islands, that's city talk).

And, extending the time period is not a fix. The problem is that X1 actually shuts down when it cannot get an Internet connection. My Acrobat, CS6, iTunes, or Dragon don't do this.

X1 is the best of the bunch by far but who crunched the numbers on this? (loss of customers from intrusive activation vs what's the upside?)

Your need to "manage" your software is not my problem. If you make it intolerably so, I will find another product.
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Search

How does "activation" work?

May 23, 2013, 12:00 am
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Sticking this topic, to make sure folks in this forum see it. I think it's an important topic, and I'd like to answer any questions I can on it.

Rhonda
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How does "activation" work?

May 23, 2013, 12:00 am
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Kenward wrote:We are gradually extracting from the X1 team details of how this process works. Sadly, the Help file is mute on the topic of "activation", so we have to guess what might happen in certain circumstances. (There is something on activating, but that only came up when I searched for "Internet", and that item makes no mention of needing regular Internet access after installation.)

How about this one?

I go away for two weeks holiday. What happens when I get home and fire up my PC?



In the below, right now the “time period” is 5 days. We are looking into extending that as I have mentioned several times.

What happens if…
1.… I lose internet connectivity for 4 hours. A: Nothing – everything works as expected
2.… I lose internet connectivity for 4 days. A: Nothing – everything works as expected
3.…I have spotty internet, but am able to get a signal here and there every few days. A: Nothing – everything works as expected
4.…I go on vacation and leave my home computer turned off for 3 weeks and fire it up when I get back A: Nothing – everything works as expected. X1 doesn’t HAVE to phone home every “time period”. If it can contact the internet when you restart it, all is fine.
5.…I go on vacation and leave my home computer turned on for 3 weeks A: Nothing – everything works as expected, other than a higher energy bill. X1 will continue to function.
6.…I go on vacation for 3 weeks and take my computer with me. A: Nothing – as long as you can get an internet connection every now and then.
7.…I go on vacation for 3 weeks to a remote desert island and take my computer with me. A: X1 will stop functioning if it can’t get an internet connection at least once within a “time period.” Once you get an internet connection, X1 will re-function as usual. There is no deletion of the program, or loss of index.

I hope this helps Image
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How does "activation" work?

May 23, 2013, 12:00 am
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Trajan wrote:
Quote:Rhonda wrote:
Trajan wrote:I agree with Kenward. This is ridiculous. Shame on me for not checking into this closer before I purchased. I would not have upgraded to Search 8. X1 simply is not good enough to put up with this kind of intrusion. I won't be recommending X1, or renewing my license while this ridiculous policy is in place.

There is a 30 day refund policy.

Regards,

Rhonda
That is an excellent way to build a customer base and revenues. Perhaps your technical licensing people should take a business or marketing class.


Well considering your message, I wanted you to be aware that you are not set in stone for this purchase. People complain that X1 is too quiet but now unhappy if we're not. I am sorry I do not know what you expect me to say to your initial post. You were unhappy. I told you that there's a way out.
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How does "activation" work?

May 23, 2013, 12:00 am
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Rhonda wrote:
Quote:Trajan wrote:I agree with Kenward. This is ridiculous. Shame on me for not checking into this closer before I purchased. I would not have upgraded to Search 8. X1 simply is not good enough to put up with this kind of intrusion. I won't be recommending X1, or renewing my license while this ridiculous policy is in place.


There is a 30 day refund policy.

Regards,

Rhonda

That is an excellent way to build a customer base and revenues. Perhaps your technical licensing people should take a business or marketing class.
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How does "activation" work?

May 23, 2013, 12:00 am
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We are gradually extracting from the X1 team details of how this process works. Sadly, the Help file is mute on the topic of "activation", so we have to guess what might happen in certain circumstances. (There is something on activating, but that only came up when I searched for "Internet", and that item makes no mention of needing regular Internet access after installation.)

How about this one?

I go away for two weeks holiday. What happens when I get home and fire up my PC?
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How does "activation" work?

May 23, 2013, 12:00 am
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Trajan wrote:Shame on me for not checking into this closer before I purchased.


I doubt if you could have discovered this before you purchased, making the manoeuvre even more suspect.
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How does "activation" work?

May 23, 2013, 12:00 am
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Trajan wrote:I agree with Kenward. This is ridiculous. Shame on me for not checking into this closer before I purchased. I would not have upgraded to Search 8. X1 simply is not good enough to put up with this kind of intrusion. I won't be recommending X1, or renewing my license while this ridiculous policy is in place.


There is a 30 day refund policy.

Regards,

Rhonda
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Search

How does "activation" work?

May 23, 2013, 12:00 am
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Kenward wrote:
Quote:Rhonda wrote:I have talked to our lead folks and the bottom line is, we have to manage our software.

So does Microsoft, so does Adobe, so does Nuance, and on and on and on. They seem to achieve this without constantly checking home.

Their option is to use a "fingerprint" regime. Change your PC, sometimes too subtly for many people to notice, like adding a USB drive, and the software thinks, "uh oh, a pirate". Then, and only then, it forces users to check in and reactivate their software.

I suspect that X1 has purchased this technology from a third party. Time to send them back to the drawing board?

I'm afraid I'm not likely to continue to recommend X1 to other people while this regime is in place.

I agree with Kenward. This is ridiculous. Shame on me for not checking into this closer before I purchased. I would not have upgraded to Search 8. X1 simply is not good enough to put up with this kind of intrusion. I won't be recommending X1, or renewing my license while this ridiculous policy is in place.
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How does "activation" work?

May 23, 2013, 12:00 am
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Kenward wrote:I'm afraid I'm not likely to continue to recommend X1 to other people while this regime is in place.


And once again thank you for your feedback.
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How does "activation" work?

May 23, 2013, 12:00 am
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Rhonda wrote:I have talked to our lead folks and the bottom line is, we have to manage our software.

So does Microsoft, so does Adobe, so does Nuance, and on and on and on. They seem to achieve this without constantly checking home.

Their option is to use a "fingerprint" regime. Change your PC, sometimes too subtly for many people to notice, like adding a USB drive, and the software thinks, "uh oh, a pirate". Then, and only then, it forces users to check in and reactivate their software.

I suspect that X1 has purchased this technology from a third party. Time to send them back to the drawing board?

I'm afraid I'm not likely to continue to recommend X1 to other people while this regime is in place.
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How does "activation" work?

May 23, 2013, 12:00 am
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I have talked to our lead folks and the bottom line is, we have to manage our software. The previous licensing system simply did not work.

We are working towards more robust methods to activate which may include modifying the phone home piece as I mentioned earlier. Prior to the May 7th release, we built in a system which we felt would work for the the majority of x1 users. We planned on building it out based on feedback. We also realize that a faction of our users never have ANY internet connectivity and need to deal with that aspect as well.

As the "phone home" system stands today, it allows for better monitoring, as well as provides users a simpler mechanism to "deactivate" machines they do not want to use anymore (i.e.-you have already downloaded X1 on your desktop and laptop, then trade out your laptop). With the phone home, you are connected to the internet to "turn off" the machine you no longer need. Another example is (for instance) if a person waits until the last minute to renew the license. Without some ability to phone home, we cannot update the license file to reflect the renewal. Additionally, if you want to double your licenses, from here we are able to manage that.

We realize this works for some and not all and have not found the correct balance as of yet but we do want to hear from you. This forum has gone a long way in informing our future decisions.

Thank you for your patience. We are working toward a new solution.
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How does "activation" work?

May 23, 2013, 12:00 am
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Hi,

I use X1 at work behind a proxy and a firewall. the proxy dont allow X1 to call home. So every 5 days i must disconnect my workstation, change my network/proxy settings and connect it to my iphone...

I save a lot of time with x1 by search and find emails. But please dont let me spend this time by this repetitive activation process...

Best Regards
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How does "activation" work?

May 23, 2013, 12:00 am
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Oh dear. This is a disaster waiting to happen.

Like Kahurangi, I travel. The Internet isn't always there.

Five days is a red herring. What if X1 checked home four days ago, and I set off for a day trip today?

I'm afraid this is unacceptable behaviour. I paid to use this software, not much, but I paid. I don't expect to have to jump through hoops to be able to travel with it. The licence conditions specifically allow installation on laptop. What is it about the concept of a laptop that puzzles X1? Don't the folks there realise that the whole idea is that you carry the thing from place to place, where the Internet may be a luxury?

Throw in the people behind firewalls, and the new regime is a case study in how to upset customers.

Does anyone know which other software checks in this often? This is not,as far as I know, the case with Nuance's software, previously my favourite case study in how not to protect your IPR.
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How does "activation" work?

May 23, 2013, 12:00 am
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Every five days!

Consider this - I go on a writing retreat without internet connection for up to a month each year (the next one is in August), I have all my notes and research with me that I need to search. And I can't use X1!

I paid for the "Use of X1" not the "Use of X1 as long as it can connect to the internet every five days"

Is that in the fine print? Enough to drive me to Copernic or whatever.
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Search

How does "activation" work?

May 23, 2013, 12:00 am
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Currently we do phone home every 5 days.

I have sent feedback re: this to the powers that be. We are revisiting this option and this may change in a future release.

I will keep you posted.
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How does "activation" work?

May 23, 2013, 12:00 am
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Kahurangi wrote:I now find that it throws me a message that it is has to be connected to the internet each time it starts in order to confirm activation! If it isn't then it just shuts down.

Surely Not? This means that I cannot use X1 without being connected -- and there are many times when I am not or choose not to be.


I do hope this is not the case. Who wants to have to keep a laptop permanently connected? What am I supposed to do if I am working on a train?

If so, this makes X1's new activation system even more egregious than Nuance's model of how not to do these things.

Have you fed in the activation details you received when you bought your copy? The answer is probably yes, because if not it might not even start.
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How does "activation" work?

May 23, 2013, 12:00 am
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I am a user of X1 since 2004. Have used the beta version until recently, now X1 Search 8, and had it delete my old X1 Pro Client.

Been working fine for a week or so. I now find that it throws me a message that it is has to be connected to the internet each time it starts in order to confirm activation! If it isn't then it just shuts down.

Surely Not? This means that I cannot use X1 without being connected -- and there are many times when I am not or choose not to be.

And no I don't want to tweak my firewall settings or whatever. I want to be able to use x1 as I purchased it (i.e. all the time) whether connected or not.

Please advise.
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How does "activation" work?

May 23, 2013, 12:00 am
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Well this is something that I can discuss with team members until we get our next release out which should hopefully solve these problems. In the meantime we are creating articles for uninstall and how to retrieve the older versions. ATM these two are up:

http://help.x1.com/entries/23739336-How ... -Search-8-
http://help.x1.com/entries/23380138-I-m ... ownloading

ETA: http://help.x1.com/entries/23780556-How ... r-machine-

Re: Customer response time -- We hold ourselves to a high standard for customer response times. Without question the last few days have been trying as we have received an unprecedented number of inbound inquiries due to massive interest in X1 Search 8. However, we are catching up and things should be back to normal soon. We sincerely appreciate everyone's continued patience! While we are happy to escalate things to conference calls and go to meetings, for now the fastest and most efficient way to handle the cases is to submit via our support portal: http://www.x1.com/support/x1_search.html#login.

If you have more suggestions, we're all ears.

Regards,

Rhonda
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How does "activation" work?

May 23, 2013, 12:00 am
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The arrival of a new way of registering and activating X1 Search raises questions that could bite users some day, if not already. So how about some answers to these questions?

  • What happens when the registration/activation fails. Is there a phone number to call? Or is it all down to email?
  • What happens if my PC crashes and I have to reinstall X2 Search 8?
  • How can I move X1 Search 8 from an old PC to a new one? Do I have to deactivate and then move it?
Some of these questions do appear in the Help file. But this may not be accessible to people who are locked out of X1. For some reason, X1 does not install a local link to the help file. So maybe this will help anyone who gets stranded and locked out:

http://help.x1s8.com/

An important consideration is the time it takes to sort out problems. Microsoft has a 24-hour phone support line to handle activation problems, either automatically or through human intervention. How quickly can we expect X1 to respond to messages?
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