I'll second janusz.

Since I have to work on two different workstations almost every other day it would be more than an inconvenience to loose the dongle as an option.

Seriously, whilst some people may like the the new activation process, for others it would be a huge disadvantage.

If it really is to save cost, then why not give new clients that want to purchase an Avid the choice of activation or dongle and charge for the latter?

Pretty please, with sugar on top ... think this one through Avid!

  

Got to get behind everyone else on this one - sorry BLKDOG. Dropping the dongle is not the correct way to go.. as the saying goes, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". This leads down a horrible line of new issues - as clearly pointed out - 24x7 dongle activate/deactive for free? Manual deactivate if your system HDD crashes? A great equal would be Windows XP - you can only install XP a few times on the same system (if you have system issues) before you MUST call tech support for a new activation code... Microsoft no longer support Windows 98 - 10 year old software I admit - but imagine 10 years on (there are those folks still using legacy systems) when Avid no longer support the activate/deactive of the new systems. Where does that leave the user?

I have already dropped my words in the CHAT WITH AVID thread for Kirk... if it ever comes to the user...
"Vote for Dongle" - Future proof you can believe in.

I'm with the majority here, they should keep the dongle!!

 I've had a few avids go belly up when we've had hardware failers, and have had to reinstall avid on a new pc, moved the dongle over reconnected to unitiy and were off editing again with a minimum of disturbance, if you have to "de-register" then "re-register" on a new pc for it to work i would think that would be really diffucalt if the old computers poked!!! What on earth are they thinking?

Also I'm finding logging on avid support and changing my information harder and harder, we have 15 avids allrunning 3.1.2 and one symphony with avid assurance runing via fiber and lan to unity, I'll be interested to see how many we have by 2011, I'm guessing were not getting any more...

on the flipside hackers would probably find a freetrial version much easyer to hack over a dongle enabled version.

andrew

I too will stay with the dongle. I use "Final Draft" scripting software that work on the activation method and have had serious problems over time with crashing hard drives and getting the authorization moved. Its a nightmare.

I would like the option to buy a dongle and make it my responsibility to safeguard it. None of my workstations are connected to the internet and its a huge hastle to get it done on another machine. Besides, my ProTools work fine with the iLok system that is managed on the internet. My authorizations are kept on the web and all I need to do is plug in the iLok, update it, and I can use it on any of my workstations.

PLEASE, SAVE THE DONGLE!

Sorenson Squeeze and MacDrive have the same online activation policy, while it's easy to do, if You have a computer failure and need to reinstall You have to contact them via email and wait for their OK to reactivate, which could be kind of a problem when having to meet a tight deadline (and You're always in a hurry when You have to recover from an informatic disaster).

BLKDOG:

dongles are a material cost that is not being recouped. Eliminating them cuts a certain amount of overhead for Avid.

BLKDOG, I still have to make my mind up about the new activation process, but I have to disagree with Your statement: dongles are very cheap to manufacture/buy while mantaining an online and phone activation department should be more expensive than that; multiply that for several countries (Avid does not expect me to call the USA from Italy, or from any other country, and does not expect all of its customers to be english fluent, correct?) and You are wasting more money than in a dongle environment.

luca.mg:

Avid does not expect me to call the USA from Italy, or from any other country

They have two phone numbers for this. One in the US (for the Americas) and one in Europe (Amsterdam, looking at the numbers) for the rest of the world. At least, that's what I read in the FAQ at www.avid.com/go

Who do I call if I’m having difficulty with the software but I don’t have an Avid Support Contract? Do I need to buy a per-incident?

For software licensing help – including missing serial numbers or system IDs, unsuccessful activations, deactivation issues (forgetting to deactivate, unsuccessful deactivations, etc.), questions regarding the upgrade or activation process, or any other question regarding software licensing – you do not need to purchase Avid Support. Avid Support is available to you via the same phone numbers used to activate your software over the phone.

If you are calling from within the Americas - Dial 1-800-800-AVID (2843)
If you are calling outside of the Americas - Dial +31 20 654 5530

Hi Job, I understand that You'll feel confortable with a dutch phone operator and with the phone call cost, and dutch people do speak quite a good english as well, but how about european customers not english fluent calling from other european countries at international phone calls rates?

My point was that managing software licences via internet/phone 24/7 has to be more expensive than providing a dongle anyway.

luca.mg:

Sorenson Squeeze and MacDrive have the same online activation policy,

This happened to me a few weeks ago with Squeeze. Fresh install, activation wouldn't work. An e-mail to support had it fixed within a day, but what if Sorenson got sold to some thrid party who longer did that level of support? The software you paid for is no good. This is why my order of preference is serial number > dongle > something else > activation. If talking about keeping it to authorized users, crackers crack activation just as they do serial numbers, so the focus should be on making it nice for the customer.

luca.mg:

My point was that managing software licences via internet/phone 24/7 has to be more expensive than providing a dongle anyway.

Nice idea but it doesn't work that way. The phone support is not a variable cost. Avid must maintain phone support personnel so calling in for Dongle Activation or a system that won't start, it's the same cost to the company. Dongles are a material cost that is variable and can, therefore, be subtracted from the bottom line.

...like I said though. I don't know this to be the case I was just hypothesising.

Blkdog,

       I hope the people at avid are paying attention to this.  While I tend to joke about how my dongle is what really cost $2500, not the software, I like being able to unplug and be able to use my laptop within a couple of minutes of using my desktop.  We're not saying cease making dongles, we're saying that avid needs to let it's current customer base continue to use the ones it has thru all of the next releases.  They are out there and it won't cost avid a dime.  I'm not buying the cost cutting measure reason either.  Avid already releases most of it's major upgrades as downloads, saving manufacturing costs of dvds.  Anyone who has to change system more than twice a day, and there are a lot of us, are going to find this to be a massive headache.  This is one of the times that Avid's "New Thinking" is wrong.

 

RT

Well don't worry, we are sending this feedback up the line so it is being read. I'm not anxious to give up my dongles either but the activation, so far, has been painless for me.

I vote to KEEP the Dongle.

same here: KEEP dongle alive, even in 4.0 please.
I get sentimental just thinking about giving it up in the future...

Don't write off the beating heart of my Avid system.

 

wim