For accuracy's sake, Poser Game Dev was the first version that SM released that had the "phone home" activation in place. It carried over into Poser 11 (both standard and pro), which also used the same activation scheme. Moho uses it as well. Activation was either accomplished behind the scenes online, or by obtaining an activation/deactivation certificate on a machine that was connected, and then transferring that certificate to an offline computer. In the five plus years since Game Dev, and approaching four years for Poser 11, I don't think I ever had any issues with it.

Poser 11.2 was Rendo's first release. They probably had a limited amount of time to figure out a solution, seeing as SM owned the activation server and were planning on taking it offline. So the "phone home" feature isn't new to the Rendo version, the only change that I am aware of is that it no longer phones in to the SM server seeing as it no longer exists.