My comment was perhaps somewhat misleading. It referred to this
“I wonder if this is a first step in the direction of customer-managed licensing in which we can activate or deactivate computers”, by platypus.
That I can authorize and deauthorize myself without having to contact support every time. Which is just annoying.
FYI: For Windows users, the location of the “key file mentioned in the originating post” is at {UserName}\AppData\Local\DxO\Licenses
Hey @DxOStaffPO
With the release of the official current Version 7.7 the licencing model changed:
“Zur Nutzung der Software und insbesondere für ihre Aktivierung ist eine Internetverbindung erforderlich. Nach der Online-Aktivierung
kann DxO PhotoLab 37 Tage lang offline verwendet werden, bevor eine erneute Verbindung zu den DxO-Servern erforderlich ist. Benachrichtigungen, die darauf hinweisen, dass eine Verbindung erforderlich ist, werden nach 30 Tagen angezeigt.”
My recommendation for future releases:
- Remove this in future versions
- Sometimes people are away from internet for a longer time
- DxO is moving towards an “Adobe-Style”. Offering different models than Adobe is the main reason for me to stay with Photolab (up to now …)
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seem that every software are moving towards annual/monthly subscription fees. I don’t mind because many of them still charge the same price as if you were to buy the new version every year except they release update more frequently. PM comes up at 211.84$/year and C1 at 165$/year, luminar 99$/year and Ps/Lr 12,99$/month or 155$/year. those are just pricing example CDN currency while EU and US will be different.
the only thing creepy in this thread is the fact you are tracked to make sure you login once a month or your version won’t be able to start even though you have perpetual license.
i think we should have the option to reset our license, like luminar does, it tell you how many computer (up to 3) your license is register and if you hit “reset” you’re back at zero.
DxO still does this with photolab now, and before. And those release are often very buggy. So this wouldn’t change anything I think on this point.
Yes, perpetual licence becomes a joke.
And no way to refuse theft of private datas.
Not an option for me.
Only way to avoid theft of private datas is to use the software but not buy it.
A bon entendeur, salut !
Funny how topics get linked, just today:
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I spotted mention of the ‘must phone home’ when looking up my licensing terms as was hoping to install it on a laptop purely for travel.
I too am now on v7.6 and I usually download the Release Notes for each update but it seems I omitted to do so…so I sincerely hope that v7.6 is immune from this “new term”.
Furthermore it seemed to have been “snuck in” under the radar 
and IMO, as mentioned by others, that it is a pre-cursor of going subscription which IMO is a retrograde step .
If I wanted a subscription model I could simply stuck with LR all those years ago!
The fact that they have changed the licensing in a ‘dot release’ is for me quite concerning as I don’t recall seeing an email of other announcement of this significant change ???
PS the thread(s) of folk having server connection error message on 7.7.1 (upwards?) suggests teething trouble with the new system?
Let’s wait and see what v8 policy reserves for us in terms of licensing and privacy, and whether the functions required for photolab will belong to photolab, without being tricked into selling (the) niche programs that gravitate around it.
I think lot of users will make their choice then.
I hope DxO follows what users are thinking about all that and why lot have choosen photolab.
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I can understand that a company needs a reliable monthly income to be able to plan and manage their ressources in an efficient way.
Nowadays businesses are much more complex and volatile. Okay.
I could pay monthly to support the effort of such a company.
But in exchange, the minimum I want is to be able to use the latest version with all it’s functionalities if I stop my subscription.
(here I understand that paying only one month to get a full software do not make sense, so one must pay lets say at least one year or something like this before pretending to keep its software).
And the license management must be flexible and suits the users use cases.
If there is no win-win I will quit too.
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I can too.
But a real perpetual licence should remain.
Without upgrade after the next major annual release. This DxO specificity is something I never understood. (If they don’t let of course a not major bug free version to users who bought it).
Obligation to let them collect user private datas make them put a feet in adobe world and this is not why lot have choosen photolab.
Interesting - worst case a perpetual Photolab license is valid for 37 days 
Like the “inventor” said when the invention didn´t work: “Oh, shit I didn´t think of that”.
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Thinking back, the reason I changed from Lightroom to PhotoLab was because of Adobe going subscription only.
If everything you guys are speculating on is likely to happen, am I safe to assume that anyone with an older version of PhotoLab is immune to this situation?
I have PL6, bought and paid for. If DxO really does go “subscription only”, I will most likely stop upgrading, and continue with DarkTable, which is Open Source.
I’ve only read bits and pieces of this discussion, but I find it very scary. Adobe did it, so I stopped using Lightroom. Nothing more for me to say here, I’ll just continue to read.
“Speculating” is the operative word here … Actually, there’s no indication that DxO are doing anything other than improving protection against PL being used without a legitimate license.
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same here, Lr6 was last adobe software i had used.
even if DxO goes subscription only, the perpetual license for your PL should be good until not supported by your computer, mostly affecting mac users as apple release a new OS every year and dxo support only the latest 3.
i’m still waiting to see the output of that guy going after adobe naming his software abode suite… maybe he lost the battle =/
https://petapixel.com/2023/07/26/after-raising-235k-abode-remains-committed-to-taking-on-adobe/
and here
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/culturehustle/abode-a-suite-of-world-class-design-and-photography-tools
maybe if he had named it something else there could had been a nice suite to edit with by now 
However, we are almost certain that an internet connection will be mandatory.
This poses at least three problems which are not speculative :
- How can we know with transparency and certainty what data will be transferred to DxO ?
- What happens to the perpetual license if DxO goes bankrupt?
The aggressive change in their communications strategy this year, the fact that they no longer have any staff to monitor the forum, the fact that the latest version of photolab took several months to become functional after its release and other indicators can only make us wary of this possibility. - What about people who, for various reasons, cannot or refuse to have their machines connected to the Internet (OSes - among others - have now become pirates of personal data used for unverifiable purposes, which some people - probably more and more - refuse and are right to do so).
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For good or for ill, today most people are connected most of the time. I and my family, and most people I’m close with, are connected 100% of the time on all our devices unless there is a temporary service interruption.
For those who deliberately avoid connection for whatever personal reason, this is a new reality they will need to deal with. The biggest issue for active photographers is if they are in a location for more than 37 days without an active connection which is problematic. I suspect that most people who are purposely living off the grid for a significant amount of time are not PhotoLab users and would not have downloaded it from the internet in the first place.
Having said that, it is somewhat troubling to me that DXO is doing this only because their ultimate goal is unclear.
Mark
I already found it worrying that starting with some update in PL5, it has not been possible anymore to opt-out of the user data collection anymore (before it always asked you that question during the installation). I wonder if this is even compatible with the GDPR in Europe. Theoretically, we could all make a request to DxO to ask them which data they are collecting from us, and they are obliged to respond.
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…we can do this in real life too. Check out chapter 14 of the EULA.
Specifically:
14.7 You have the rights to access, rectify, erase, limit and object the processing of your data by contacting our customer service at https://support.dxo.com. You also have the right to define post-mortem guidelines on the use of your data as well as the right to lodge a complaint with the CNIL. If you choose not to provide the required data that allows us to offer you the trial version and / or the License, you will not be able to use the Software.
I shun, for example, anything google-related (some company I work with have to deal with that - but they like my work so they do), I am off any social network AND I know lot of people like me. (IRL connection still exist).
Don’t always take yourself as an example.
This is not a new situation. This have begun with social networks at least.
To each his own morality.
Even then, one question remains :
How can we check that what is said is true ?
What control can there be over data flows that are probably encrypted and sent over the net ?
What is said in the EULA is mandatory, so it is said. How to control it is right and that we really have access to sent datas ?