Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Jean Yoon clarifies:

The problem it seems is that OSX records how many times you validate the program and will stop the program from being installed more than twice. If you encounter a hardware problem, and your HD is replaced, and/or other accidents ensue, then OSX will record those installations, and will shut down further attempts to get FD back up. In my case, my HD was replaced, the program needed to be re-activated, then when there appeared to be corruption problems and I deactivated the old program, and tried to install the latest version, that's when the problem arose. This activation problem has nothing to do with Final Draft's records - as far as FD is concerned, I have two credits to my account - this is a problem with software incompatibility. Both OSX and Final Draft have security features, which overlap and ultimately conflict.

Well, you can always go back to FD 6, I guess, if this happens.

10:10 AM

4 Comments:

This has happened to me a couple of times, too. But the thing isn't quite so draconian. It mainly just affects your "automatic online activation."

I've called Final Draft a couple of times when this happened, and explained what went down -- that there was a hard drive crash and I lost an authorization. So long as you give your customer number and aren't calling, say, every month, they will get you back up and running. It means an extra step, and maybe a long distance call, but you can get it back.

I mean, come on...it's software and hardware. Both things fail.

By  DMc, at 10:25 AM  

Yeah, I'm confused by what the problem is. It sounds like the poster is saying it's not a Final Draft problem with authorizations, but an OS X problem with installations. Which, I have to say, doesn't compute with me. I've never heard of a feature within OS X that only allows a certain amount of validations of a program. Or of OS X creating a separate blanket of security for any given program, outside of that program's own security. Have you contacted Apple about this?

By  Unknown, at 11:54 AM  

I switched from PC to MAC, and didn't want to buy another FD.

So, I'm using Celtx at the moment and am quite thrilled with it. And it's free.

I actually prefer it now to my old FD 6, but different strokes for different folks.

By  Anonymous, at 3:08 PM  

This is an FD issue, not an OS issue. There's no validation or restriction by the OS. Now if FD doesn't install correctly their own installer may refuse to replace a copy on it's own until you uninstall.

By  Scott Squires, at 2:21 AM  

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