Why is the database machine bound?

[mantrasong]

Originally Posted by rob

There is absolutely nothing here motivated by DRM or control over how you access stuff, and it's personally very frustrating when that's the reaction many consumers have had to this architecture. In reality, it's all dictated by the desire to let users have MAXIMUM FLEXIBILITY in how and when they access their content, but we have to also guarantee that all that flexibility NEVER yields a conflict that will CORRUPT their data. It's a very difficult task that we could have simply solved by requiring users to always be online. But that wasn't our objective, and I'm very confident that allowing users to work offline is a huge benefit offered by Realm Works. The problem is that the flexibility has a trivial (IMO) cost, which is that we have to lock the client databases to specific machines in order to ensure everything works correctly.

I hope this all makes sense and helps alleviate the concerns over DRM and control.

It does. I'm afraid you're dealing with an entire generation of people who grew up with things like SecuROM destroying CD Drives, and are seeing new and clever solutions like SimCity, and...it makes us paranoid. I'm sorry, both for the situation and that I fell victim to it.

I almost think it would be worthwhile to put an FAQ entry for just this purpose (some assumptions made for artistic license):

Q: I think Feature X is really just DRM in disguise/a way to push me into your cloud service. Is it?

A: Nope. Really, nope. Realm Works is designed to be a first-class cloud oriented program, and, as such, we made some design decisions that are a bit awkward offline. We have made every effort to make it possible to use Realm Works offline, but some features, like multi-user/multi-computer control, just aren't reasonably possible without some sort of centralized management. We've provided workarounds where we can, but it isn't always possible, or at the top of our priority list.

We aren't trying to force you online; we are hoping that our cloud service will provide enough extra value to you, the end user, to be worth it on it's own merits. Got specific issues you want addressed? Come talk to us in our forums!

(Feel free to use some, all, or exactly none of that. It does seem like something worth addressing, though)

Originally Posted by rob

From our perspective, though, we're only going to advertise the ways that are GUARANTEED to safeguard data for user. The last thing we want a user to do is take a shortcut without realize the risks and end up with lost data as a result.

While I'm suggesting updates to your FAQ, that's something you might wish to address. The way the answer is written now, it almost sounds like you're holding my data hostage to the computer, unless I'm willing to pay for the cloud. Obviously, that isn't the case. In fact, from what I can gather, it is only "tied to my computer" insofar as the database has a machine ID to identify it to the cloud. Something that may work better is:

Can I put the Realm Works database on a LAN or shared drive and use it from multiple computers?

No! The Realm Works database must be installed on a local drive and must only be accessed from one computer. Properly managing a centralized database so that it doesn't get corrupted requires management software that we have on our servers. We aren't supporting that for all of the reasons laid out in "Can I setup my own server instead of using the Realm Works cloud?"

The proper solution is to install Realm Works on all the various computers that you wish to use and then use cloud syncing to keep them all up-to-date with the latest content. You can also backup and restore your content without cloud service. Both options are outlined in the "Can I move my database to another machine?" FAQ question.

That removes the scary sounding "tied to your computer" bit, but still addresses the core issue of "don't DO that!"

(Again, feel free to use all, some, or none of that. I'm sure that help from a random, unknown third party is exactly what you want here That's just my $0.02, and my inner editor jumping out to be "helpful")

Originally Posted by rob

Here's the best way to put it that I can come up with...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyaLZHiJJnE

[Viking2054]

Out of curiosity, what are you using to uniquely identify a computer? MAC Address of one or more network cards in a computer is easy, but are you also using a CPU ID Number, Computer Name, Network Name, or some other list of identifiers. I'd like to know what changes force a re-registration of the computer and possible sync up to the cloud service.

Thanks.