Hardware lock?

[Kasracer]

So all software vendor's including Microsoft and pretty much every other 'market leader' play by the rules and they place their license keys in the correct places in plain view where every one can see them.[...]MS make rules which developers are supposed to follow - but if you think that everyone, including MS, play by those rules then I'm afraid you're wrong.

Most large companies do not play by the rules. MS Office and Visual Studio are some of the largest offenders and the guidelines Microsoft publishes are not always followed by them.

I see nothing wrong with saving license keys in easy to access places. Why wouldn't you? Don't you want your customers to be able to copy them easily? Otherwise someone will just run a tool to see where all of the files your application uses are located and can pick it up; doing that just makes it harder for the legit folks trying to make backups, etc.

I don't think MS makes the rules in the development industry, though they do recommend most of what I have posted; they just don't follow it in most of their products. You shouldn't blindly follow a company's development procedures regardless of who they are. Figure out what works best for you, your customers and try to stick to good development practicies.

I'm not looking for a shouting match.

I'm not either. The internet is an awesome place to share your thoughts and to learn from others. You can learn the most from people you disagree with and practically every social jaunting allows both sides to learn something.