Use software license tracking when your software is the product you sell, or lose money
Software can either be downloaded off the internet or taken off a CD or DVD nothing could be easier. That's just the problem: your software, the money maker you've invested so much in, can simply be copied. You can put all the warnings, all the copyright claims, all the pleading on the package, it wont matter. There are pirates on those seas, and they're not offering harbor for any piece of software. It's not that they wouldn't buy it if they really needed it. That's why you created the software to begin with, to answer a need. They just can't resist the temptation to get something for free. Well, there's a way to make this kind of theft useless, and that's with software license tracking.
Most software providers have turned to software license tracking to prevent theft. The strategy is simple enough: create software that requires a valid license in order for the software to run. Hard code into your startup routine a check for a license key before the program will load up the other modules. A license tracking system requires that each copy of the software be initiated with a software license key. This key might come on the package, but this option isn't very smart. To get a valid copy running, all you need to do is enter the key right there on the package. Sure, somebody had to buy the original copy, but after that, everyone that body knows can get a copy free. It's very impressive to give a copy of software to a potential friend and let them use the key, but that's another potential paying customer gone. The key is to track the key.
A more sophisticated license tracking system does exactly that, tracks software licenses. This requires that when the software is installed, the purchaser obtains a software license key from you, the vendor. It requires internet access, but who doesn't have that? When installing the software, the user is directed to your software license tracking server. There, you will require customer information and another key that identifies the copy of the software and that the customer has access to. Your license tracking system will use this identification to call up any record on the item. Some systems load up these product identifications when they are produced, but others will add them when it is used for the first time. The former alternative is better. How will your system know the identification is a valid one unless it has something to check against?
The record found or added for that item, your software license tracking system will now generate a software license key that will be transmitted back to the customer. That key may already be in the installation package of the customers copy. The installation copy will verify that the transmitted key matches the key in the software and allow completion of installation. This assures that only that copy is the original copy and not a copy of a copy. Your records will show how many times it has been installed. More sophisticated software license tracking systems will actually take some machine identification, such as CPU id, to determine if the machine it is being installed on is the same machine the original was installed on. These require the software to have been removed on one machine before it can be installed on another, unless the license is for a certain number of machines.
You've paid those software engineers a handsome sum for your software. Don't lose customers who have no qualms about pirating your software. Use a software tracking system and don't be surprise if you see your sales go up. It's all about protecting sales, after all.