How to offer software downloads or Electronic Software Delivery (ESD)

When using the SoftwareKey System, you have flexibility on how you provide software downloads to your prospects and customers.

You could use any hosting service you want and simply add a link to your website, or if you want more functionality and control over who can access the download, our Electronic Software Delivery (ESD) features have multiple benefits, including authenticated and logged downloads through our very powerful Customer License Portal:

The benefits of using the integrated Downloads feature of the Customer License Portal are:

1. Limit download access to only licensed users, and log which software version is being downloaded.
2. In addition to tracking End User License Agreement acceptance before allowing file downloads, limit software download access to a software maintenance subscription so that only paying customers enjoy continued access to new software versions.
3. Expired maintenance customers can instantly purchase renewals to once again gain immediate access to the software updates.

There is currently a 300MB per file limit.

Using SOLO Server

You can upload files directly to your SOLO Server account, and then each Product Option can be linked to one file. When a customer has a certain license (which is generated from a Product Option), they would able to download this file through the Customer License Portal if their license "Download Until" date is not expired. This date field can be multi-purpose, including:

• Download expiration date
• License expiration date
• Software maintenance expiration date

Hosting Files Through Another Service

You can upload files to another service, such as Amazon S3, and you can still link to this download through the Customer License Portal. 

To link directly to an externally hosted file, simply enter the URL into the Product Option  D/L Page field. When the customer clicks the download button in the Customer License Portal, it will link them directly to the specified URL.

If you still want the authenticate features of the Customer License Portal while using another service, please contact us for your options on a custom download page:

Communicating Where or How to Download

Now that you have a file download for your licensed software, you need to make sure prospects and customers know how to access that download.

SOLO Server's Integrated eCommerce

If a customer does not already have a trial version of your software that they can activate, it is important to put a download link on the order confirmation page and email when using SOLO Server's integrated e-Commerce. To do this, go to the Product or Product Option page in SOLO Server (Configure / Products), and edit the Order Confirm HTML field to include a link using a tag that has the full URL to download your software. The Order Confirm HTML field(s) are added to the invoice table in the order confirmation page and email.

Update Notifications Within Your Software

After a customer is already using your software, you can prompt an update notification and automatically download the latest version.

With Instant Protection PLUS 3, you can also authenticate and automate the download process through the Update Notification feature (Automatic Download via HTTP).

With Protection PLUS 5 SDK, you can similarly make a periodic UpdateCheck which can provide the customer with an option to download the updated software.