Your concern appears to be a scenario where Macrium as an entire company suddenly vanishes, leaving you with no way to complete the activation process.

It is a one-time activation that can be done either online or offline with the assistance of any other browser-equipped online device. In terms of “Ease up on DRM otherwise people will pirate it,” that argument is valid for cases where DRM becomes so overbearing that even legitimate users are prevented from using the software in legitimate ways - but Reflect’s DRM does not fit that description. Mintmag, what specific VMware product are you talking about, and what is their DRM workflow? Once your trial ends, you will have the ability to restore previously created backup files, You will have full access to our customer service team for the duration of your trial. You will never be asked to input payment details. Whether people perceive that in the future, time will only tell.

Paramount should not underestimate why many people choose Reflect - they are seen as a company who cares and could be trusted unlike their main competitor (I certainly fell 100% into that category). I know many bought a paid licence as they were so impressed with free version, and wanted to support an excellent product. For clarity I have 9 paid licences, so I am not personally affected by stopping the free version, but I can state categorically, it was use of the free version and total respect and admiration for the product that led me to buy 9 licences. I have read similar sentiments on other sites. I was always happy to recommend free version, and point out benefits of paid version. I am not prepared to be become an unpaid salesman for a paid Reflect version. Personally, with a heavy heart reading statement below, I will now be advising people to use AOMEI Backupper as their introduction to imaging.

I understand in these more difficult times why it has been decided to stop free versions, but hope it does not backfire. It states unequivocally one trial ends, you will be able to recover backups but nothing else. This paragraph (italics below) is now on the Reflect download page.

Macrium reflect 8 download