DeadWare

Re: Newton packages no longer supported but users need license codes ....in response to Paul Jerry's post:

As for the "deadware" issue, it's a witches brew to be sure.

....... To put this all in context, I would have to say that the case now exists whereby an application which, having been created, developed, and marketed, by an Apple "partner", e.g. a small-business vendor, in good faith, then suddenly faced with the reality of Newton's demise, may have:

1. . gone out of business and been irreparably harmed in the the process
2. . cut their losses and run, shifting to another platform
3. . continued marketing their existing Newton Software

.... etc., etc., and the litany of havoc leaving only a faint trail of dust for the consumer to track down in good faith.

Remember, in the overall scheme of things, for whatever reason(s) the entire Newton initiative was rather abruptly cut short in August of 1998 when Apple formally announced it's end of production. Lots of balls were still up in the air and to this day have still not landed.

So, there exist numerous Newton packages in a state of limbo which have lost support by their developers for one reason or another. The applications run the gamut from junkware to geniusware and from freeware to full version commmercialware. The sad thing is, one of the ramifications of the abrupt termination of Apple's support and production for the Newton is that there exist some very high quality, usable Newton packages which were developed during the late 1990's in good faith by vendors heavily investing in the process to build outstanding best-of-breed software, in various states of versioning, but must quit fine-tuned over the few years they were rolled out. Being high- end or commercial in nature the developers of these apps needed to protect their property by all of the normal licensing routines, and here's the crux of the issue, some of which entailed interaction between the vendor and the consumer at point of sale to generate and then use the unlocking codes which seem normally to be based on the "owner's" name or the motherboard serial number, or some such method whereby the vendor could at least exert "some" degree of control over pirating.

So if you are in a situation where you either already own, or want to purchase a license for such a Newton application from a vendor who has long since vanished and moved on, how do you activate the application? You still are going to need some kind of unlocking code. Try as you may to legitimately track down the few remaining online Newton software vendors to fulfill this requirement, in some cases the vendors no longer exist.

Fortunately for me, in the case of TimeTrax, by Config Informationstechnik eG in Rottenbach, Germany, this group of software engineers at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-N=FCrnberg has been active since May 1995 and remains active today.

So, with TimeTrax for example, the procedure to install this application on your Newton is as follows. You first download their free demo. Try it use it, and if you want then to register and license it you click the about TimeTrax item on your Newton which brings up a screen which displays a "seed" number. This number presumably is either plucked directly out of the motherboard somewhere, or further manipulated based on some physical link to your Newton's identity, i.e. it's motherboard. The, you go back to TimeTrax's online registration page, enter the "seed" number, your name, billing info etc. and click on finish. The info gets sent to Germany. Someone there reviewed the incoming orders manually each day, sends you back the activation code via email which you then enter into the Newton TimeTrax about dialog and your demo version becomes the full commercial version. All fine and dandy as long as the kind folks in Germany continue to support this scheme.

But when they, and others no longer do, there are at least two very unpleasant ramifications to end-users.

The first is that new users of, again just as one example, say TimeTrax will be able to download the demo version expires after 30 days, then have no chance to register and unlock it into the commercial version for perpetual use.

The second is the case of an existing user who, for whatever reason, chooses or is forced to move from Newton A to Newton B, and in so doing is plunged into the inextricable quagmire of having no way to unlock the application on the new Newton because the new Newton has a different ID so the application rejects the licensing and will not function as a commercial full version.

Hence the trap.

Funny you mention this. I had searched for and found an expense reporting Newton application called !ExpensePlus (which BTW is EXCELLENT) for entering line item costs to manage and manipulate them on my Newton and after having run the demo version for about 10 minutes I knew I wanted to register and pay for the commercial full version so I went back to the !WalletWare Web page to order which instructed me to CALL by PHONE

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