Lifetime license

[ArtisticMusician]

You know what is a bit sad to me is that I was a supporter of Sanboxie before. In fact, I had purchased a lifetime license. At the time I had no idea that someone else had picked up the project but I did a wipe on my machine and downloaded a new version and my license wasn't working on it. So I emailed support and was informed of the change and that they weren't required to honor my lifetime license. And while I understand that is true, a couple facts are also true.

1. I supported the development of the software up to the point these guys took over. My financial contribution played some part in them having something to take over.
2. Honoring my lifetime license wouldn't have cost them a thing.

I'm not here to debate what's right or wrong here, as I'm sure that discussion could go on for eons, but I sure as hell wouldn't buy a new license after I already paid for a lifetime license.

[isaak654]

Even if the current Sandboxie developer wanted to, it would still be difficult to obtain, since he would have to submit an official request to @sophos in order to access the license data. I would not be against this, also because I would be entitled to an extra lifetime license, however, we must take into account the following statement from the previous developers:

Note

According to Important Information Regarding Sandboxie Open Source Release

What will happen to the existing license server?

The open source release has no code to check the license server. We have removed any checks against the license server since the 5.31.1 release. For this reason we will be shutting down the license server on June 1st 2020.

For what it's worth, you can still get a lifetime license, but under certain conditions: CONTRIBUTING.md#non-monetary-contributions

[DavidXanatos]

I'll add that you always have the option to compile your very own sandboxie from source, having someone else do this for you and signing the driver with MSFT is luxury.
And if you cant sign the driver with MSFT as for being a person and not a corporation, you could always eider enable test signing or if you want to not compromise on security use https://github.com/valinet/ssde to set up an own driver signing infrastructure with secure boot for your home brew drivers on your own hardware.

[DavidXanatos]

@ArtisticMusician you can use the last official sophos release without the need to activate it, I think its this one: https://github.com/sandboxie-plus/sandboxie-old/blob/main/5.x/Sandboxie-5-33-6.exe
Just keep in mind that if you've upgraded your OS, compatibility may be an issue.

That said, think about what happened: Sandboxie sold a lot of lifetime licenses, then the company owning it decided to give it away and fire all the employees working on it. Sure, that was likely collateral damage from the merger, but if the tool had been profitable, they wouldn’t have done that.

Maintaining Sandboxie is a Sisyphean task—Microsoft is always changing something, breaking something, and so are others. It’s an endless battle, and the work never gets any easier.

So, expecting developers to work forever for a one-time payment isn’t really fair, is it?

If you don’t care about updates, there’s an option: a Personal Supporter Certificate. It gives you a perpetual license for the current build plus one year of updates. Once it expires, you can keep using the last version it was valid for, as long as Microsoft allows—or indefinitely if you disable Windows updates.

Unlike the old Sandboxie licenses, this one has no DRM, no activation servers that could go down. You can hunker down in your bunker after the world blows up, install the last working Sandboxie-Plus build on every PC you scavenge from the ruins, and keep running it.

But if you radio me in my bunker asking for an update (after the 1 year), I’ll ask for some fresh currency—or whatever passes for money in the wasteland.

Also on a serious note I would like to add that as it looks (sales vs. GitHub downloads) only about 1% of the users is actively supporting the development and maintenance of Sandboxie-Plus, this is really really low, IMHO something around 10% would be fair.

[bastik-1001]

Is #2929 an option to get a bit more support? This issue is open for some time and if that isn't an option, I am fine with just closing it.

[DavidXanatos]

To be honest I don't know I'm not a sales person, may be we could discuss this on slack...

[bastik-1001]

I am neither, so I'm uncertain about the outcome.

[ArtisticMusician]

@DavidXanatos You said "So, expecting developers to work forever for a one-time payment isn’t really fair, is it?"

1. How can you say it's unfair when that is an option that you offer?
2. When you say it's not fair it's as though you feel like I created that product option and forced it on the developers. when the reality is that it is something they created and accepted, and something you are offering as well.

Sorry that only 1% of users are supporting the dev. but I already supported when I paid a large sum for a lifetime license.

[githubusername2024]

I have mixed feelings about this. The developer is right that it can be difficult to validate previous license purchases. I appreciate the fact that he decided to take over the project, spend time to release updates and maintain it. It can't be an easy task, so I'm not complaining about hotfix release times. I report problems as I find them.

On the other hand, with a broken Patreon system and unknown priorities, I am not sure where Sandboxie development is going. I suggest saving installers and switching to LTSC IoT if it turns out that Sandboxie becomes abandonware one day.