• Number of email responses to my Product Activation blog-post in 24 hours (first contact only) 21
• ...agreeing with me: 17
• ...suggesting activation was necessary to prevent piracy: 4
• ...flaming me: 0
• ...describing bad experiences with the same vendor: 9
• ...who had the same problem with Newsfire's product activation: 3
• ...recommending Google Reader: 2
• ...that were marked as spam by Mail.app (approx.): 10

David Watanabe emailed me, and offered me the choice between re-registering NewsFire against a "non-public email address" (something of an oxymoron), or forgoing my licence in exchange for a refund. The latter was the preferred option for both of us.

(I offered to let him keep the money as I had used the product happily for two years, but David insisted on the refund to "tie up loose ends")

In regards to network-mediated activation being necessary to prevent piracy, I vehemently disagree. To get people to pay for your software, you need to put some barrier in place that impresses on them that they are expected to pay for the product, and then forces them to consciously choose between honesty and dishonesty. The honest people will buy your software. The dishonest people will find a way to steal it regardless.

Having your product "phone home" is not a necessary part of this equation. Using a phenomenally easily guessable registration key just adds insult to injury.

I know some people that registered NewsFire by visiting blogs of people who posted that they bought NewsFire and looking for their email addresses. -- Digg comment

(David responds here.)

Normally when I post something in my blog targeting some particular individual, I regret it the next day. If it weren't for the broader point I was making about product activation, which I see creeping into more and more consumer software, I'd not have posted it in the first place.

Given the number of people coming out of the woodwork in email and the Digg thread, however, I'm glad I made the effort. It's certainly taught me a lesson about how much a good product can be undermined by bad service.

I'm reminded of something JWZ said when it was suggested he switch to qmail:

Were I a qmail user, I might someday have to exchange mail with [Dan Bernstein] again, and I've reached a point in my life where I'm just no longer willing to subject myself to that sort of thing.