The following section describes how commercial vendors can distribute proprietary indicators and strategies to customers by using user-based licensing.

In the past, when a vendor gave a customer a license to use their product, customers had to verify their product license by providing their machine ID (a long string of characters that identifies their computer). However, machine IDs take more time to verify, can change because of updates, and don’t account for Virtual Machines (VMs). Verifying licenses with machine IDs takes time and requires maintenance.

With user-based licensing, vendors assign licenses and free trials to user accounts. Now that machine IDs do not have to be verified, vendors and users save time and licenses are distributed faster.

If you are new to commercial licensing, please see Commercial Distribution.