To Whom It May Concern: I recently purchased Poser 5. After receiving notification that my copy had been shipping, I was told about the new security features that are a part of the program. I visited the Curious Labs website and found some information that I find disturbing. While I understand Curious Labs desire to protect their software from piracy, I do feel that many of the features are restrictive to the legitimate consumer. "How does the Poser 5 protection system work? Poser 5 is protected by a lock and key system that prevents unauthorized use of the software and your serial number." In truth, what this is intended for is to prevent or attempt to prevent unauthorized copying and use of the program. More importantly it is to prevent loss of revenue from sales of Poser 5. In reading about the lock and key system of Poser 5, several things came to my attention also. For example: "How many times can I contact Curious Labs for a new Response Code? We currently permit three unique Response Code keys to be generated for your serial number of Poser 5. In most normal circumstances our service department will allow additional keys to be generated. You will need to contact our service department for additional keys." "What happens if I need more than the "allowed" number of registrations? If you applying for a fourth or greater new Response Code key, you will be informed that you have exceeded the maximum number of allowed installations. If you need additional Response Code keys you should send your request to our service department via email or fax. It will be helpful for you to describe your reasons for requesting additional Response Code keys. It is Curious Labs' policy to permit our legitimate customers to use our products to their full potential. You may be asked to confirm your registration information to confirm your identity." As stated in the above paragraphs, should you need more that three unique response codes, if the situation that you experience falls within what Curious Labs service department deems, "most normal circumstances", they will create additional keys. What is considered "normal"? At the price that I paid for the program, any additional keys I need should be created with no problem, regardless of the circumstances. As far my having "describe" my reasons for requesting additional Response Code keys, I paid for the program. Whether I need to reinstall it 4 times or 100 times, the only thing I should have to explain is that I have to reinstall Poser 5 and need a new code. "Can I install Poser on more than one computer at a time? Yes. Your Poser 5 End User License Agreement (EULA) specifically allows you to install your copy of Poser 5 on more than one computer provided you never run that copy on more than one computer at a time. For example if you have a desktop and a laptop computer, you may install Poser 5 on both computers but cannot run the application on both computers simultaneously. You will need to register on both systems as they will create unique Challenge and Response codes for each system." As this is not clearly explained, does this then mean that I must pay an additional $329.00 to run the program on both of my systems? "Can I run the same copy of Poser 5 on more than one computer at a time? No. Running your copy of Poser 5 on multiple machines is a violation of the Poser 5 license agreement. Poser automatically checks your local network (if any) for other running versions using the same serial number. Please Note- Poser 5 does not report back any information to Curious Labs, or any other party when it is checking across your local network." The above two statements seem to contradict one another. For example, I travel. I would like to have the program installed on both my laptop and my desktop. If I am away from my desktop and decide to work in Poser 5 and while I am away, my daughter decides that she would like to work with the program also, what happens then? Do one of the programs shut down or just not load? Since the program was purchased by me and is on my computers, I am not allowed to run the program without coordinating use times with other computer users in my household? This is asinine. Clearly Curious Labs feels that these safeguards are necessary to prevent theft. However in doing so, they have created a situation wherein the legitimate consumer feels that they are the ones who have to jump through technical hoops to use the program. Had I been aware of these restrictions before I purchased Poser 5, I may have reconsidered.

if you've got the machines connected via a Lan then only one copy will load at a time, but if they're not connected then poser can't see it & can't do anything about it.

ps poser4 has done the same thing for over 3 yrs now

It checks your LAN at a hardware level...this does not mean that it sends info back to CL via the internet.

Yep, it's a totally queer feature of Poser that has annoyed me for some time. Like for instance I have a scene open in Poser upstairs which I'm presently working on. I might end up opening a new purchase or something downstairs where I download it just to check it out. "Opps, Sorry Jabroni, Poser has detected another copy on your network using this serial number" The irony is that if I were a Warezer, I could run cracked serial copies on as many pc's as I care'd to with no bother at all. THAT IS WHAT PISSES ME OFF! It's the paying customer that gets it in the ass with crap like this. I'll tell you right now, I'm planning on installing p5 on 4 pc's when it arrives. My upstairs pc, the downstairs pc, my laptop and my pc at work. And they better, by God, not give me any shit over the 4th unlock key!

This sounds disturbing. I've had to reload other programs many times just to clear out old glitches, or when changing drives. What happens if the company goes out of business?

It is a pain in the ass. I just finished installing on my desktop and laptop computers. The installation takes forever (I think because its about 500MB). The key code thing worked without any problems, but I advise everyone to save the text strings of both codes to a text file or a PDF because they are long. I wonder whose dumb idea that was with the long string of words. I do frequently hard drive formats on my desktop to clear away the junk. Am I going to be prevented from reinstalling Poser5 with the codes I received if I reformat the hard drive, or will I need new codes?

No, supposedly you can use the same number repeatedly on the same HD even after a format. But, where you usually save the #? In a txt file, which goes where if you don't print it before a format? This whole damn deal just stinks! F**k, just put a damn serial on the damn box like everyone else!