For over 15 years, hardware dongles have protected Chaos Group products from unlicensed usage. In 2015, we introduced Online Licensing (OLS) as an alternative way to license Chaos Group products. This cut out the need to ship hardware dongles and manually reprogram them with subsequent purchases.
We maintained dongle licensing and OLS for a couple of years. However, to improve the way we deliver, update and support licenses, we have transitioned away from dongles.
Timeline and milestones
August - September 2018: We’ve informed all channel partners and will personally inform clients via email
September 30, 2018: The price of dongles delivered by Chaos Group will double
February 28, 2019 : The price of dongles delivered by Chaos Group will double again
November 1, 2019: End of service for hardware dongles. All existing licenses on dongles will continue to work indefinitely. However, Chaos Group will not make any changes to licenses (activate upgrades, extensions, etc.) or activate new licenses on dongles. All licensing operations beyond November 1, 2019 will be made only in OLS.
Options and recommendations for clients
Moving forward, we recommend clients to migrate any existing dongle licenses to OLS at their convenience. This can be done by following the instructions here — note that certain limitations apply.
Only licenses on version 3 or higher can be migrated to OLS.
Licenses on version 2 or lower will remain on dongles. Older licenses (version 2 or older) can be used on dongles, and newer licenses (version 3 or higher) on OLS with the same license server.