For people looking for the link and future reference
https://supportforms.embarcadero.com/
The page says
If you are current on Maintenance & Support and have to reinstall your software or are transferring to a new machine you can request a registration limit increase.
Got a response back from Embarcadero.
Because I have not paid them Maintenance money (for zero actual benefit) Embarcadero refuse to increase the registration limit.
Last time I buy any Embarcadero products.
Paul
That is totally putrid. Wonder what the ACCC would have to say about it.
I have a vague recollection of Malcolm Groves intervening for someone else in a similar situation.
IANAL, but I don’t think that Embacardero would have a leg to stand on if you found “other” means of activating the product that you paid good money for.
I run Delphi in a virtual machine (VirtualBox/Win11) and keep several backups of the whole VM. I’ve done that Since Win7 days and it has saved me heartache a couple of times.
The following is probably worth a look at.
https://forums.adug.org.au/t/delphi-registration-failing/59259
Found this interesting.
https://blog.dummzeuch.de/2019/06/10/on-re-installing-delphi-without-active-maintenance/
We believe we are getting a perpetual license but they change the rules after the fact.
According to the ACCC we are entering into a contract by purchasing the product and according to upcounsel.com :-
If only one party modifies the contract without the agreement of the other, then it is unlikely the changes will be enforceable.
Admittedly this is a US website but then Embarcardero is a US company.
Now just need to form a superpac and raise lots of money to mount a legal defense similar to Trumps.
Regards
Paul
Writing this reply is conflicting because the impacted party (code-partners) is ran by the only remaining light shinning in the Embarcadero world for me.
However, as your license most likely came from the Australian distributor, they do need to comply with Australian law and they have the influence to persuade the anti-customer attitude of Embarcadero (that leaves a sick feeling in your mouth) and get good outcomes sometimes for their customers.
If you bought your license from the local distributor then start your conversation there.
Unfortunately the distributor it was bought from has been stripped of their right to sell Delphi so I don’t think they will be too interested.
I will however ask them
Regards
Paul
If you don’t have any luck, I’d still recommend talking to @Malcolm as he’ll probably still be willing to help you even if you didn’t purchase it through him.
The official line that we’ve always been told is that depending on whether or not you have a support contract (which is part of the Subscription), there is a different process to get the Registration Increases done.
If you have a support contract (because your Subscription is active) then you go to Support and ask (as @Geoff mentioned in his post above). This will be the fastest way to get it resolved.
If you don’t have support (because your subscription is no longer active) then you need to go back to sales and request it. It may take longer than support, but we’ve always been able to get it done.
Not sure if this started from someone in Aus, but if so, give us a yell on sales@code-partners.com and we’ll sort it out.
I’ll also add that this is why more and more of our customers are buying Network Licenses so they aren’t dependent on Embarcadero. We even host the License Server for some of them, if they don’t want to do it themselves. I realise it doesn’t help solve this current situation, but I’d really recommend you check this out before you make any future purchase/renewal. Network Licensing in RAD Studio – Code Partners
Cheers
Malcolm
Definitely worth considering.
I’m curious as to whether the License Server has to “Phone Home” on a regular basis, or will it continue to work if Embacadero implodes one day?
Are there any difficulties with switching when renewing - i.e. additional cost as compared to just purchasing a new license that goes straight to that type of license?
I’m assuming from your wording that you can’t switch to that type except when renewing?
It does phone home occasionally to get the updated product catalog, etc but I remember we deployed it years ago for a government department who had no external access. We had to muck about a little when we first set it up and added the licenses to it (there’s a phone home then too) but once they were hosted it was fine. It couldn’t do its phone home’s and still kept working fine.
Just my crappy wording. If you are active on Subscription we can switch you from Named to Network Named no problem and no cost. You don’t have to wait for a renewal.
Thanks @Malcolm for giving correct information about increasing registration limit. I was just wanting to provide info for people in the future when searching the forum to resolve the problem.
Maybe we have a way of pinning this somewhere ?
Or starting an FAQ category or similar ?
Thanks for your answers @Malcolm
Several more questions:
Does the license server only run on Windows, or is there an option to run it under Linux?
I’m assuming that we can run the license server on a virtual machine, so that we’re able to back it up/restore it/move it to a different physical machine without having to involve Embarcadero?
If we install it on a Windows 10 VM and want to move it to a Windows 11 VM later, I’m assuming that we would need to do something to deactivate the license server and reactivate it on the new VM and that would require at least a phone home, if not a manual request like a registration bump?
With the Network Named License, is it possible for a single user to have Delphi/RAD Studio installed on multiple systems as in your example for a regular Named User License, or is that one of the downsides to a Network Named License that you can’t do that?
I’m assuming that the License Server needs to be available all the time for Network Concurrent Licenses unless you check out a license for up to 30 days - does that also apply to Network Named Licenses? i.e. does Delphi/Rad Studio only need to contact the server when returning a license for use on a different system or when a license is renewed/upgraded?
Assuming that a Network Named License doesn’t need to regularly check in with the license server to keep working and you need to relinquish the license back to the server before you can issue it to a different system, what do you do if that system becomes lost/destroyed - e.g. the laptop that it was on is stolen? Does that then require action from Embarcadero before being able to reissue the license to a new system?
If we move from a Named License to a Network Named License, are we then stuck there, or can we move back to a regular Named User License if we want to?
I buy this type of license, along with buying 3 year license terms, and I find the biggest issue is when the three years expires you have to “do something” to be able to run the new versions (the old versions keep running just fine).
I say “do something” there because I can’t actually remember what it is!
I last did it three 3 years ago and the only thing I remember about the process was that I couldn’t remember what it was then either.
@malcolm any chance of a quick post here or perhaps even a blog article explaining exactly what you need to do to your ELC server after you pay for the renewal as a network user?
This is a public thank you to Malcolm and crew for getting my registration limit increased.
Regards
Paul
Windows and Linux
I’ve never tried, but I don’t see why not. The key thing is the name you access ti under. As long as that stays constant, the underlying IP or even machine can change.
Nope, same deal. As long as it’s the same person, you’re good.
With concurrent you need to explicitly check them out if you are going offline. With named, they auto-checkout. If i look in the admin for our license server, I can see each of the guys and how long they have until their IDE pings the license server again. You can do it manually as well of course.
You can revoke a license from someone anytime you like. I haven’t tested it, but I assume the IDE would keep working until the next time the IDE pings the server (as in the previous answer). YOu don’t need to talk to Embarcadero for any of that.
Support need to do the change, so as long as you have support (ie. your subscription is current) we can change it back and forth everyday (but please don’t)
Cheers
Malcolm
Hmmm, this is weird. I don’t do anything to ours when I renew, and we have access to new versions. Let me dig into this with Embarcadero and see if I’m missing something.
Re: blog post, yeah, I have a few License Server posts in the planning, so I’ll add this. Our license server hosting offering has been kinda in beta with a few customers, so as we make it public I want to post a few things.