DSP Robotics Support

I have been thinking about demo modes , I dont really like the silence after 5 min , nor the noise burst method.
In fact I think its best to have a fully functional demo for a certain amount of time , lets say 10 days.

That way a user is more inclined to actually use it in projects , then it might become essential to a track and therefore more likely the user will buy , apart from the other methods are annoying.

So... My question is .. Is it possible to implement a timed demo that can count from the time it was installed and then flip a bool when the trial period is reached ? I guess it would have to create some sort of file somewhere that designates the start time and then refer to that file ? Which means it can be messed with ...but , just thinking out loud.

Any suggestions or thoughts ?

Use Windows API (DLL) calls to create/read a registry entry?

Not super secure but certainly better than a file.

Games are usually using a web service for this. First time use will be saved on the server. Server clock used to determine the real time that passed.

On an other forum there was a poll on what people prefer for a demo mode, and most people hate timed demos. Many people dont have time to fully evaluate a product and then they cant use it when the time runs out. I think the best one is they can use it indefinitely but there is silence every minute or so.

I am doing an informal survey on an Audio Engineer forum and there it seems like most people really dont like intermittent silence demos. Most seem to prefer 15-30 day trial period.

So far , lets see when the survey is finished.

adamszabo wrote:On an other forum there was a poll on what people prefer for a demo mode, and most people hate timed demos. Many people dont have time to fully evaluate a product and then they cant use it when the time runs out.

Perhaps a middle ground is to use a run-time value, like N loads or X hours of accumulated run-time, rather than "days after installation".

(Personally, I'd have no issue with a 10-day trial, as long as I could space those days over a month or so.)

Yes, But how to implement .
Its pretty easy to implement a silent section that then is disabled when a serial is entered, but keeping track of runtime is trickier. I am open to suggestions on how to achieve that .

I've always thought that demo versions with one or two distinguishing features "turned off" was relatively fair- unless those features are very much a factor in ability to test properly, having demo audio/video of the full version available, while not having noise bursts or silence gaps, tends to make me more inclined to try it long enough to like it, and therefore buy it.