Licensing Options

A physical dongle is a small device that plugs into a USB port on your computer. If you purchase the dongle licensing option, the dongle will be mailed to you.

The USB dongle that is used with an FCS Express is a USB-A device.  For use on workstations with USB-C ports, a USB-A to C hub can be used.

With the USB dongle licensing option, FCS Express will run on any computer for 45 days after purchase. After that time, you will be required to insert a dongle into the USB port. During regular use of FCS Express, the dongle must be plugged in the entire time that FCS Express is running. The first time that you use the dongle, it must be on a computer that is connected to the internet. FCS Express will validate that the purchase was approved and then activate the dongle.

After activation, FCS Express can be used with the dongle on any computer, whether or not that computer is connected to the internet. However, with each use of FCS Express with a dongle, FCS Express will authenticate the dongle by trying to connect to De Novo Software servers to determine if the dongle is still valid and has not been deactivated.

If the workstation is disconnected from the internet, the user can still use FCS Express with the dongle. FCS Express will keep track of the attempts in which FCS Express is launched and cannot connect to our servers. After reaching a pre-determined number of failed attempts to connect to our servers, you will not be able to use FCS Express, even if the dongle is plugged into the USB port. At this point, the dongle must be plugged into a USB port and FCS Express must be launched on a computer that is connected to the internet.

If a dongle is lost, we can deactivate the lost dongle and send the user a new dongle. The cost for a replacement dongle is $100, which also includes shipping. If the lost dongle is later found, the lost dongle can be returned to De Novo Software and the user can receive a $35 credit to their De Novo Software account. Please note that this only applies to FCS Express 5, 6, and 7 dongles.

If a dongle for FCS Express Version 4 or earlier is lost, there is no way to replace it. As a result, you must buy an FCS Express 7 license to replace it.

There is no charge for the replacement of a damaged dongle, provided that the damaged dongle is returned to De Novo Software.

The chief advantage of the dongle licensing option is flexibility.  Your copy of FCS Express can be installed onto multiple computers but will only run if the dongle is plugged into the computer.  If you have a laptop at home and in the office, you can use the same copy of the software in either location as long as you remember to bring the dongle with you. The dongle licensing option is only available for purchases of the standalone license.

The site license is only available to core facilities, either in an academic or company setting. Each site license requires a site license administrator. The site license administrator is responsible for maintaining a list of users that can log into FCS Express.  Once the administrator has added a user, they can log in from any computer in the world, as long as that computer is connected to the internet. It is not specific to a hardware address i.e. if a user has two computers, one at work and one at home, they only have to purchase a single license. Just like the internet dongle, a user can only be logged in on a single computer at a time.

More information and frequently asked questions about the site license can be found in our Site License page.

You are allowed to create as many users as you have purchased on your site license. To have a site license, you must pay a a yearly fee per user. The yearly fee decreases as the number of users increased. Please see our site license prices page for more information.

The network license is a concurrent licensing model. The software is installed on a shared folder on the network. Each client computer just gets a shortcut to the executable on the network. The number of people that can use the software at the same time is limited to the number of licenses that you have purchased. 

For example, if you have purchased a 5-user license, you can install the software to a single network location. Then, you can have shortcuts on the desktop of an unlimited number of computers. However, only 5 users will be able to be logged in at any time.

There are several chief advantages.

1. The software is not actually executed on the network computer on which it is installed. The software is executed on the user's local machine. The computer that the program is installed on is simply acting as a file server to the clients. Thus, FCS Express does not impose a bandwidth or processing burden on the network or computer on which it is installed.
2. Multiple people can use the software without a hardware dongle and without logging in.
3. A shortcut to the executable on the server can be easily added to the desktop of the user's local machine. There is no further installation, and, if you upgrade the server, everyone is automatically upgraded.

There are 2 main disadvantages of the network licensing option:

1. You must be connected to the network in order to use FCS Express, either internally or through a VPN.
2. The network license is only available for the Windows platform.  The network architecture of FCS Express is not compatible with macOS.

The Network License uses a Countercode to lock FCS Express to the network computer on which the executable file is installed. A countercode is needed only to lock FCS Express to the network computer on which it is installed. It is NOT needed for the user's local machines which are mapped to the executable file that resides in the network folder. Once the countercode has been obtained for the network computer, if the location of the shared network folder that contains the executable file changes, a new countercode will be needed.

Also, a network license of FCS Express is not compatible with a Distributed File System (DFS).  DFS will need to be disabled for FCS Express to function properly.

For customers interested in our Security and Logging add-on for GxP environments, a Network license will be necessary to support these features.

A countercode is a machine specific code that locks your copy of FCS Express to a particular computer. Once its on that computer, anyone can use it.

If you choose countercode mode, then forty five days after you purchase the software, FCS Express will require that you enter a countercode in order to continue using the software. After that time, FCS Express will immediately launch the Countercode Configuration Wizard to help you obtain a countercode.

Countercodes are machine-specific. Once you have obtained a countercode for one machine, you will not be able to use it to install FCS Express onto another one.

If you choose countercode mode, and you later want to switch computers where FCS Express is running, then you will require a new countercode.  There is a $25 administrative fee for issuing a new countercode.