At 25 Cents Per License, AnchorSoft Prevents Theft and Boosts Sales
NEW YORK, PC EXPO, June 26 /PRNewswire/ -- AnchorSoft, a Silicon Valley
start-up, announced it is making its corporate debut this week at the PC Expo
show. AnchorSoft offers a next-generation software licensing system designed
to help publishers of consumer, entertainment and business software increase
sales. Software costing as little as $15 at retail level can now add
protection against unauthorized duplication at a cost as low as 25 cents per
license sold.
Software licensing, especially for low-cost applications, has not been
practical until now for a number of reasons, including customer privacy
concerns, the high cost of licensing systems such as dongles, and time and
resource-consuming administrative overhead required for managing a large
volume of end-user licenses.
"AnchorSoft has developed a breakthrough registration system that
effectively addresses all the reasons why many publishers have shied away from
protecting their software," said Steven Schoch, co-founder and Chief Executive
Officer of AnchorSoft. "Rather than sending the authorities after customers
for using more than the purchased number of copies of their product, as we are
seeing more and more lately, AnchorSoft lets the publisher control the number
of installations at a nominal fee per sold product."
More than preventing misuse by individuals and business users, the
AnchorSoft licensing system was designed to help publishers increase sales.
AnchorSoft lets publishers encourage customers to distribute the unlicensed
version of their software to friends, family and colleagues. The AnchorSoft
system also allows software programs to be downloaded in an evaluation mode or
inserted into magazines and trade journals. "In software, there is no better
sales tool than putting your product into the hands of potential customers.
AnchorSoft licensing helps generate pass-along sales when satisfied customers
pass the unlicensed version to others. And publishers can vastly extend the
reach of their product by making a downloadable evaluation unit available from
their Web site, distribute CDs as magazine inserts, or give them away at trade
shows. Those who like what they see simply click a link to the publisher's
online store to obtain a license key," said Paul Swart, AnchorSoft co-founder
and vice president of Sales and Marketing.
Patent-Pending Process
The AnchorSoft licensing system is based on a patent-pending process that
combines a license verification library that is added to the publisher's
application with an online license registration database. Customers only need
to enter a simple 6-to-10 digit Validation Number (VN) in the program's
registration window. Computers with Internet access can automatically complete
the registration process in as little as three seconds. Manual and telephone
registration options are also available.
"Publishers today are looking for new and effective ways to protect their
product from misuse that can cost even small publishers millions of dollars
per year in lost revenue. Even Microsoft, which has lost billions of dollars
to misuse, is adding license control to new products such as the Office XP
suite. AnchorSoft provides publishers a cost-effective solution to protect
against theft and broaden the reach of their products in the marketplace. At a
cost of less than $1 this opens software licensing to virtually the entire
software industry," commented Jon Clem, Chief Financial Officer of AnchorSoft.
Publishers who adopt the AnchorSoft licensing system pay an initial set-up
fee. AnchorSoft bills publishers monthly based on the number of licenses
registered online by their customers. Rates vary from 25 cents to $1 based on
the annual sales volume of a given product.
KEY ADVANTAGES OF THE ANCHORSOFT SYSTEM
Software publishers have shied away from license enforcement for a variety
of reasons, including:
-- Customers, especially consumers, do not like to have their privacy
compromised as a condition of using a software product. The AnchorSoft system
is as anonymous as purchasing a software program that uses no licensing at all
from a local retail outlet.
-- Licensing systems are not economical. Dongles add $15-35 to the cost of
a program. Other software-based systems range from $3 to $15 per license. The
AnchorSoft system costs from 25 cents to $1 per used license and generally
costs 1 percent or less of the product's list price.
-- Many license registration systems can be cumbersome and time-consuming.
AnchorSoft licenses are registered in seconds without any intervention from
the user.
-- Retail software that comes with a license key usually does not protect
the publisher from customers distributing the media and license key to others.
The AnchorSoft system gives the publisher direct control over the number of
installations allowed, including back-up licenses for use on the customer's
future hardware upgrades.
About AnchorSoft (http://www.AnchorSoft.com)
AnchorSoft, founded in 2000, provides next-generation software license
protection services to publishers of consumer, small business, productivity,
entertainment and other software. The proprietary, patent-pending AnchorSoft
Licensing System offers a low-cost process for controlling the use of licensed
software, while at the same time allowing publishers to increase sales by
distributing the unlicensed version of the product to potential buyers.
SOURCE AnchorSoft
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Related links:
http://www.AnchorSoft.com
CONTACT:
Paul Swart, VP, Marketing & Sales of
AnchorSoft, 408-739-9541, or fax, 408-739-0936, or
Paul.Swart@AnchorSoft.com
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