What users say:

      ...a dongle is a hardware copy protection. You plug it into your parallel port (some newer dongles go to USB port) and the protected software looks for this dongle. If it is not there the software assumes that you have not paid for it. Dongles are stupid things. They are only an annoyance to people who obtain the software legally. All others use cracks which are more comfortable. I know some people who use a crack although they own a dongle because it is simpler. Personally and professionally, I think that dongles are awful. Here's why.
 Professionally: Dongles intercept and change electrical signals that get sent over a port. Most of the time, maybe even 99.99% of the time, this doesn't affect anything. But as sure as the Pope is Catholic, there will be some hardware manufacturer that uses the changed signals and their stuff won't work. I remember once having to use a dongle that hardly changed anything--except that it would only let signals travel through the port one-way! Most modern printers "talk" to the computer to inform it of paper out or low ink/toner situations; this stuff simply didn't work. And, of course, a parallel port removable hard drive was useless. That's an extreme example, but I have had several serious troubleshooting sessions with malfunctioning hardware that ended upon dongle removal. I once had to set up a special workstation at a company solely for a scanner because the dongle that came with the software screwed up the signals. It was a 20-person outfit, and the owner was *not* happy at having to have a dedicated machine to such a menial task.
 Personally: When I drop a few hundred or thousand or ??? bucks on a piece of software, I am buying a license to use that software any way I legally damn well please. If I want to delete it off one machine and install it on another machine every day, I shouldn't be punished for the nature of my technological needs. If I want to make a thousand copies and keep them in a thousand different banks' safety deposits boxes in case 999 banks burn down, that should be my prerogative.

   ...anyway, it has been proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that companies are NOT 'deprived' of their income by pirated software, as 99% of pirated software is used by someone who would not have bought it in the first place, also a good number of them, if they are using the software regularly, eventually do buy it. It's the best marketing tool the software industry has to offer.