Hmmm.. even AB copy their own, I purchased 7 ADS client floating licences a year ago, when I installed them I ended up with 1, how you might ask... well it appears rockwell copied a single disk so all the same number activation so as I installed them on the server they overwrote the preveous one, well they did send me new disks & this time with different serial No's, as for copying I agree about vendors need to protect their investment but the cost of the software, hardware (how many of you have had to purchase the PCMCIA card for DH+ at £850 notes or £200 for MPI adapter it's a joke as there are other hardware thats almost as good, Mitsubishi have the right Idea, the simple gx developer is reasonably priced, not protected only by a number & the Q series now have USB connection or 232, a couple of quid for a usb printer lead & your up & running.
Well hands up to Mitsi, so far so good although a bit dissapointed in the cost of GX IEC, expensive & produces some raw code that works, but not exactly good practice, just uploaded a program done in IEC from an A2 into GX Developer, the code is in-correct but appears to work but will not compile in ladder, I have had to convert it based on what I know the logic should be.