Not sure if I've chimed in on this thread previously or not but I can't remember so I'll just say whatever cuz it's late and I'm not tired yet. The "warning" stuff about iLok is def tiring and in a lot of cases ill-informed (not always). Personally I've used iLok since around 2005 on both Apple and WIndows. I also manage multi-seat licenses for around 200+ users. Unquestionably in my time doing this the cloud implementation of iLok causes TONS of issues on both platforms as it's just so unforgiving when it fails and for the end user, depending on skill level and familiarity with accessing things like our VPN to retrieve licenses, it's clunky in addition to being pretty unreliable. There's a lot of points of failure and failure has been, in multiple institutions, pretty common. To a lesser extend but still more than I'd like to see, there have been numerous machine authorized devices that have had frustrating failures than have been, at times, difficult or timely to resolve. It's a drag and I don't recommend to anyone, those authorization methods if they have critical work and an income based around it. That being said, I have never once had a physical dongle failure on Windows or Apple. This is spanning all generations of iLok and of course several OS on both platforms. I think that's a strong testament to it's reliability and overall rate of success as compared to other methods.
I have a ton of students who initially don't prefer a dongle, or a USB hub but in the end, after using alternatives... if they wan't an iLok licensed product, there's a reliable way and other methods with significantly higher rates of failure. Most of them end up preferring the reliable way because their livelihoods depend on it... OR circumvent the issue by using tons of other products that don't need those methods.
That being said, for those of us making a living off of this stuff, you often use the tools that specific jobs require. Sometimes you HAVE to work on certain platforms and sometimes you have to use specific plugins because you are picking up something started by someone else or they just prefer to have some kind of in-house consistency. It just is what it is. What I personally prefer isn't often what I get to do.
So it just seems all of the declaratives muddle the conversation, end up yielding inflamed responses, and solve nothing but I suppose that's the internet for you. My only point is that needs vary for users, having some empathy around that isn't the worst thing and that iLok, like any tool, when used in the the most optimum way possible, works as well as any other tool... on Apple and WIndows.
In terms of cost, iLok isn't that much in the whole scheme of things if you are doing this for work but for more creative endeavors, there's most nothing iLok licensed that isn't imminently replaceable by something else (always a few exceptions) but if it's for creative fun just skip the entirety of it if it doesn't work for ya'. No harm no foul. No point in making false statements though for people interested in using it. If this is your job though? Eat the cost and move on.
Happy Halloween y'all!
I have a ton of students who initially don't prefer a dongle, or a USB hub but in the end, after using alternatives... if they wan't an iLok licensed product, there's a reliable way and other methods with significantly higher rates of failure. Most of them end up preferring the reliable way because their livelihoods depend on it... OR circumvent the issue by using tons of other products that don't need those methods.
That being said, for those of us making a living off of this stuff, you often use the tools that specific jobs require. Sometimes you HAVE to work on certain platforms and sometimes you have to use specific plugins because you are picking up something started by someone else or they just prefer to have some kind of in-house consistency. It just is what it is. What I personally prefer isn't often what I get to do.
So it just seems all of the declaratives muddle the conversation, end up yielding inflamed responses, and solve nothing but I suppose that's the internet for you. My only point is that needs vary for users, having some empathy around that isn't the worst thing and that iLok, like any tool, when used in the the most optimum way possible, works as well as any other tool... on Apple and WIndows.
In terms of cost, iLok isn't that much in the whole scheme of things if you are doing this for work but for more creative endeavors, there's most nothing iLok licensed that isn't imminently replaceable by something else (always a few exceptions) but if it's for creative fun just skip the entirety of it if it doesn't work for ya'. No harm no foul. No point in making false statements though for people interested in using it. If this is your job though? Eat the cost and move on.
Happy Halloween y'all!
Statistics: Posted by t.o.t.s. — Fri Nov 01, 2024 5:20 am