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10.5 License Conflicts


MikeN

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Katie, and to whom ever wants to read this,

While I understand that software piracy is a major issue in the world today, I also understand that the businesses such as my own just want a product that will work and work correctly without of these problems. When we need to call technical support all the time because of things like this it not only cuts into our production time, but we loss money as a business.

On a number of occasions we have talked with technical support a number of times about similar issues, and they are no help. For one, they do the same troubleshooting steps that we has the users of the software have all ready done and clearly documented those steps on the forums and in other means, but they still come to the same conclusion as we do and don't provide a solution to the problem, but rather just reply, we?ll work on that. If Nemacheck, or NNA cannot keep the programming staff on board that can manage the software package it shouldn?t be in business to start with. There are thousands of out of work programmers out there, so why not hire them and make a more stable package. I?m sure the market place wouldn?t mind paying more for a product providing that it worked and worked out of the box.

Half the time, when we call we end up spend one to two hours on the telephone with a support rep, and still don't get any where. As an IT manager, who is responsible for allot of other computers aside from those that run Vectorworks I do not have time to sit on the phone for these lengthy calls because we're suppose to be doing other things. Applications should work out of the box, and shouldn't have problems like these. If a product comes out with an upgrade like version 10.5 did where it locks down on licensing and would cause these types of problems they should warn the end users who will be applying these updates.

I've gone over every single computer that has Vectorworks installed on it personally and confirmed that they are all on version 10.5.

In addition to all this, it was found that with this upgrade it doesn't save customized pallets and everyone knows upgrades should save users settings where in the past three upgrades it has not saved any such settings, and my users are really getting up set with VW because of this fact. Our company uses customized settings globally for all workstations so they can all work on the same layout and design within Vectorworks. If that keeps being destroyed each time a user upgrades the version we are less likely to want to upgrade when they become available. This also lowers our ROI because VW keeps causing problems and we end up losing and spending more money to try to get around those problems so our users can get their jobs done.

Michael T. Cronin

301-229-9380 ext 271

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quote:

Originally posted by Katie:

You should be able to add multiple serial numbers for VW 10 under XP.

Yes, multiple serial numbers worked on VW 10 under XP but NOT with VW 10.5. Am I talking/typing in circles? ALL our workstations on 10.5 and XP Pro. As a matter of fact, another license conflict just happend again not a minute ago! We made the jump to 10.5 over a month ago, is NNA now suggesting we revert to 10?

quote:

Originally posted by Katie:

I believe Mike Swilley, the Tech Support Manager, responded to your inquiry via phone or email and on here.

Neither Mike Swilley nor anyone else at NNA has provided a concrete solution to this problem since I first reported it over the phone and online over 1 month ago. Sure NNA tech support asked us to turn off all of of our background programs and wait and see what happens, but I'm not about to turn off our anti-virus for weeks on end to troubleshoot your software for you. Would you turn off anti-virus if you were running a Microsoft OS?

Would anyone at NNA care to call me to discuss this matter? Feel free at 604-926-7501.

Thanks

Mike

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Michael,

I've sent a link to this conversation to the Tech Support Manager.

It sounds like you are frustrated and you may want to talk to Mike himself. You can email tech@nemetschek.net and put it to his attention or ask for him when calling in.

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I've read through this thread and only seen two people that have actually clicked the "User information..." button. Both people have confirmed that the information was correct and that someone else was using the same serial number on the network.

What is everyone else's experience? What does the "In Use Serial Number Information" dialog display? Is the person in fact using your serial number?

To see what serial number your machine is using, select the About VectorWorks menu item. Does it match? Please be assured that we are looking into the problem, but any additional information would help enormously.

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Lyndsey,

I am the only user on my home office system, with only one installation of VW and one serial number. I have crashed in the middle of a session at least a half dozen times with a message indicating that someone else is using my number, which is not only erroneous, it is impossible. I use Symantec Internet Security, which may or may not have something to do with the problem. Note that this never occurred with version 10.0. Often, the crash occurs when shifting focus back to VW from another program. I was able once to get out of the crash by clicking the "recheck" button, but soon after crashed again and got a message that I can only "recheck" 3 times.

VWA 10.5

Win2K

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Thank you for your patience. First I would like to ask Runtime Error what IP address does the in-use serial number dialog display? Is it:

Your IP Address or 127.0.0.1 ?

Also, are you as well running an Internet Security program?

P Retondo, what IP address do you get? Perhaps the internet security program is hiding the IP address of your computer from VectorWorks? Also, it sounds like you are not getting "Crashes" in the true essense of the word. Rather, VectorWorks will shut itself down if someone is found to be using your serial number on the network. I admit, that in your case, it should not be doing this!

Please, continue to report information. Both of you P Retondo and Runtime Error seem to be seeing the same problem and you're both on Windows machines.

We thank you greatly for your patience as we are trying to solve this problem.

Sincerely,

Lyndsey Ferguson

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On other queston to Runtime Error and P Retondo: If you are an upgraded user of VectorWorks 10.5, when you run VectorWorks 10, do you get the same message that your serial numbers are in use?

Thanks,

Lyndsey

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quote:

Originally posted by Lyndsey Darryl Ferguson:

On other queston to
Runtime Error
and
P Retondo
: If you are an upgraded user of VectorWorks 10.5, when you run VectorWorks 10, do you get the same message that your serial numbers are in use?

Thanks,

Lyndsey

No, we do not get these messages about serial number on VW 10, only on 10.5.

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quote:

Originally posted by Lyndsey Darryl Ferguson:

what IP address does the in-use serial number dialog display? Is it:

Your IP Address or 127.0.0.1 ?

Also, are you as well running an Internet Security program?

IP Address of the in-use serial is 192.168.1.XXX. And no, we don't have an internect security program on this workstation, only anti-virus.

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I must stress here that the license conflict will now not let us open one this particular copy of of VW. We are now down from 6 to 5 working versions of Vectorworks and we basically have one person stranded becuase they don't have a working serial number. We have work that needs to get done.

Please, help!

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quote:

Originally posted by Runtime Error:

quote:

Originally posted by Lyndsey Darryl Ferguson:

what IP address does the in-use serial number dialog display? Is it:

Your IP Address or 127.0.0.1 ?

Also, are you as well running an Internet Security program?

IP Address of the in-use serial is 192.168.1.XXX. And no, we don't have an internect security program on this workstation, only anti-virus.

Thank you for the quick response. Do you know if that IP address that you gave is the same IP address that the computer you are running VectorWorks has? You can find out your local IP address quickly if you run the DOS prompt and type ipconfig.

Also, do you have more than one network adapter card?

Thanks in advance,

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Lyndsey,

I don't know how to open the "in-use serial number dialog display."

My security program is set to allow any communication from VectorWorks. I do have two NIC cards on this machine, one interfacing with my LAN and the other with my DSL service.

I know that everytime I open VW it reports a "port scan" alert, pointing to an IP address from my own computer - specifically, originating from the address associated with the DSL card. According to the manual, when these alerts are issued the program shuts down all communication to my computer from the "offending" IP address. However, I continue to be able to get information from online after receiving the alert, so that's confusing. I haven't been able to designate my DSL card as a "trusted source" because it has a dynamically-assigned IP address.

Pete

[ 10-27-2003, 11:05 PM: Message edited by: P Retondo ]

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quote:

Originally posted by P Retondo:

Lyndsey,

I don't know how to open the "in-use serial number dialog display."


You wrote that you are getting a message that someone else is using your serial number. That is the dialog I am writing about. There is a "User Information..." button in that dialog. Click it and another dialog will appear telling you who is using your serial number. If you can do that and tell me what IP address it reports and what IP address you are using, that may help me substantially.

quote:

My security program is set to allow any communication from VectorWorks. I do have two NIC cards on this machine, one interfacing with my LAN and the other with my DSL service.

I know that everytime I open VW it reports a "port scan" alert, pointing to an IP address from my own computer - specifically, originating from the address associated with the DSL card. According to the manual, when these alerts are issued the program shuts down all communication to my computer from the "offending" IP address. However, I continue to be able to get information from online after receiving the alert, so that's confusing. I haven't been able to designate my DSL card as a "trusted source" because it has a dynamically-assigned IP address.

Pete

You are probably able to get online because the ports that VectorWorks is using is probably getting blocked. But if they are getting blocked you should not be getting alerts. In any case, it is unacceptable that you cannot use VectorWorks without these false serial number violations. We are looking into these problems and working towards a solution. Stay in touch.

Thanks for your patience,

Lyndsey Ferguson

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Mr. Retondo,

Do you receive the message about a serial number being in use the first moments you start up VectorWorks or substantially later after you have been working for a while?

Thanks!

Lyndsey

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Lyndsey, I will check the IP address for the license conflict the next time I experience this error.

In the meantime, a couple bits of info, one a correction. According to my security software, the IP address from which the portscan originates is actually a third "adapter," a virtual device associated with my DSL modem, not the NIC card that serves the modem. This device is a PPPoE adapter created by my DSL service software. The alert is generated everytime VW boots, while the program is loading. I also get the same alert on other occasions, but I haven't noted the pattern.

ipconfig offers the following info:

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 64.164.3.40

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 64.164.3.40

Again, this IP address is dynamically assigned and is different everytime I connect to the internet.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Lyndsey, I have confirmed that the "user" using my serial number and causing the program to crash is myself, via the "virtual" PPPoE adapter associated with my DSL modem. Perhaps this is unanticipated behavior on the part of your SN lockout module?

Since my "System Info" utility, as well as the ipconfig program, can correctly identify all the adapters and IP addresses that belong to my computer, it would seem possible to construct your serial number scan module in such a way as to avoid this error.

[ 11-09-2003, 12:42 AM: Message edited by: P Retondo ]

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quote:

Originally posted by P Retondo:

Lyndsey, I have confirmed that the "user" using my serial number and causing the program to crash is myself, via the "virtual" PPPoE adapter associated with my DSL modem. Perhaps this is unanticipated behavior on the part of your SN lockout module?

Since my "System Info" utility, as well as the ipconfig program, can correctly identify all the adapters and IP addresses that belong to my computer, it would seem possible to construct your serial number scan module in such a way as to avoid this error.

You are correct, I should be able to determine this programmatically and will endeavour to do so. Thank you so much for your patience and help.

Just to update others: We have identified the problem that other users have experienced on a multi-computer multi-license site and are working on a fix.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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