Mark Wilcox's Forum Nokia Blog http://blogs.forum.nokia.com/blog/mark-wilcoxs-forum-nokia-blog <p>Random musings on mobile software development...</p> Sorcery-ltd 2009-11-23T15:06:01Z Open License Manager? http://blogs.forum.nokia.com/blog/mark-wilcoxs-forum-nokia-blog/2008/08/02/open-license-manager <p> Another thing that is made possible by the <a href="http://www.symbianfoundation.org">Symbian Foundation</a>, is for any member to submit source code and potentially get it released in millions of devices. </p> <p> What do you think would be a good feature or component to add to Symbian devices? </p> <p> I think an open license manager could be useful.&nbsp; The <a href="http://www.n-gage.com" target="_blank">N-Gage</a> application acts as a license (&amp; DRM) manager for N-Gage games but there isn't a similar solution for the rest of the developer community.&nbsp; Securing your application can be costly and time consuming.&nbsp; Would it be a good idea to get a license manager that supported trial functionality and various activation schemes (type in code, SMS activation, connect to license server etc.) as part of the core OS.&nbsp; An advantage of this is that it could store all the relevant details in its private directory and these would then be protected by platform security and never removed, even if the application is uninstalled. </p> <p> Obviously there would need to be some mechanisms to prevent spoofing of the server too!&nbsp; An open source project could potentially provide a license manager server, code samples for developers wanting to use it and guidelines for use to prevent your application from being easily hacked to remove the license checks.&nbsp; A server application you could host yourself on the internet and connect to via the license manager in the device could also also be part of the project. </p> <p> Anyone interested?&nbsp; The first cut could make an excellent masters project for a good university student studying Symbian OS... </p> <p> Just a thought.&nbsp; Comments and suggestions for features welcome. </p> <p> Anything else you'd like to see included in the Symbian Foundation releases? </p> <p> Mark </p> <p> &nbsp; </p> Browsing 2008-08-02T15:52:06Z Sorcery-ltd