KEYnote 32 English - Fall 2016 | Page 6

INFORMATION Individual Customizations I like to compare CodeMeter to a steering wheel. Software developers choose suppliers and integrate their copy protection or licensing resources into their software, just like the car makers fit the steering wheel in the car. Thirteen years ago, steering wheels were quite a simple affair. Today, they have turned into intelligent on-board computers. CodeMeter has experienced a quite similar evolution in that period as well. When CodeMeter was born in November 2003, it was simply a dongle, albeit a dongle with much more space for many more licenses than its predecessor, the trusted old WibuBox. It was a dongle equipped with the latest in cryptographic algorithms. Usually, software developers integrated the CodeMeter API or CmCrypt, a forerunner of AxProtector, in their products, automated the programming of the CmDongles with a batch file, and delivered their software with the required protections. Consultation and support services were rarely needed. Typical services at that time would simply include tougher protections against illicit copying or reverse engineering. The Expectations Are Changing Today, 13 years later, the picture has changed dramatically. Software protection continues to be an important concern, but most software developers now care m