Electronics 1992
Rainbow Technologies
Why do they call it a dongle?
FROM THE PRINTED PAGEOriginal ad copy
OCR transcription from the archived page. Scanning and reading-order errors may remain.
Why do they call it a dongle? He wasn't famous. He didn't drive a fancy car, but dressed in his favorite Comdex T-shirt and faded blue jeans, he set out to change the course of the computer software industry. Quite a task for a lonely software developer. Sitting in front of his computer, drinking pots of coffee and smoking cartons of cigarettes, he'd write pages of code. It took time. Years in fact. But he did it. He wrote the most powerful computer program in the world. Now came the hard part. Selling it. The Most Powerful Program in the World Determined to make those long years pay off, he called on every distributor, VAR and dealer in the world. He drove from Beantown to San Diego. Flew from Dublin to Borneo. Everyone loved the program. So he sold a few. Only a few. Back in Boston he waited. After a long year with only 13 orders he set out to see what happened. As he drove across the country and flew around the world he discovered everyone knew about his program. Everyone had it too. The Global Marketplace From Paris to Prague, his program was everywhere in Europe. When he got off the plane in Hong Kong he found his program stacked to the ceiling in every computer store. Amazed in disbelief, he bought a hundred cartons of cigarettes and a hundred pounds of Indonesian coffee and flew back to Boston. Beaten, battered and bruised he went back to the drawing board. This time he would really change the face of the software industry. He would develop a device that would prevent unauthorized distribution of software programs. Call It What You Like He developed a hardware key. His peers applauded his efforts. Finally, a solid solution for revenue protection. But he didn't know what to call it. He thought of naming it after an exotic place he visited in his travels. Madagascar was a bit too long, though. “Name it after you, Don!”, urged his peers. So he did. Soon everyone was calling the key a dongle, after Don Gall—the lonely software developer who did what he had to do. You've Come A Long Way, Baby Today, dongles are different. Fact is, they've come a long way. Leading the industry with security solutions, Rainbow Technologies has changed the face of hardware keys. They work with multiple applications, are programmable and network versions control concurrent usage. And they're always transparent to the end-user. Sentinel Family from Rainbow Truth is, more and more developers are using keys. And the Sentinel Family is the most widely used in the world. In fact, over 6,000 developers use Sentinel from Rainbow. Why? They are simply the most effective, reliable and easy to implement keys on the market. Learn more about securing your software and how keys provide developers with extra value. Call for a free copy of “The Sentinel Guide to Securing Software.” And see just how easy it is to install a hardware key into your application in just minutes. Try it with our low cost Sentinel Evaluation Kit. Order one for your DOS, OS/2, Windows, Macintosh or UNIX based application. And remember, when you need a dongle, you need Sentinel—the only dongle Don Gall would use. CALL 800/852-8569 FOR YOUR FREE GUIDE TO SECURING SOFTWARE SENTINEL Securing the future of software Some call it a dongle. Those who know, call it Sentinel. RAINBOW TECHNOLOGIES 9292 JERONIMO ROAD, IRVINE, CALIFORNIA 92718 · 714/454-2100 · fax 714/454-8557 International offices are located in the United Kingdom, Germany and France.
Commentary
I followed the four columns expecting an explanation of the connector pictured at the top. Instead I met a programmer in a Comdex T-shirt, sustained by coffee and cigarettes, who creates a wonderful program and receives thirteen orders. His software is everywhere; his revenue is not. Rainbow turns a hardware accessory into the answer to a small commercial tragedy.
The eventual explanation of “dongle” depends on the name Don Gall. I read that reveal as the ad’s comic origin story, not documented etymology. The exaggerated itinerary, impossible quantities of coffee and solemn introduction of the hero all prepare the pun. The distinction matters because the story’s real job is emotional: a developer should recognize the fear of unpaid distribution before encountering the product’s licensing functions.
The drawings soften an accusatory subject. A solitary coder, an aeroplane and floppy disks give the narrative motion; the large photographed key anchors it in something purchasable. Only after the story does the copy discuss multiple applications, programmability and concurrent network use. Its audience is the software vendor, not the person who will have to attach the key. That explains why revenue protection receives a dramatic plot while the end-user experience is compressed into a reassurance about transparency.
The smoking, the trade-show shirt and the worldwide dealer tour preserve an unusually specific picture of software work. The coder must also become a travelling distributor. Today’s downloadable products and online licensing can shorten that physical journey, but the conflict between wide circulation and paid use remains recognizable. This is an interpretation of the ad’s route to market, not evidence that its fictional itinerary describes a real founder.
For young copywriters, watch the delayed name. “So he sold a few. Only a few” uses a short repeated phrase to puncture the preceding grand tour. Much later, “Don Gall” rewards the headline’s question with a sound-based joke. The closing distinction between what “some” call it and what informed buyers call it converts a generic word into a brand preference. A story can teach a category and sell a name, provided the reveal leads into a clear product explanation.
Rainbow Technologies presents Sentinel here as its family of software-protection hardware keys. Today Thales’s Sentinel documentation describes hardware, software and cloud licensing methods, showing how the Sentinel offering now extends beyond the physical device pictured.
Protecting the value of software is the continuing need. This connector, mailed guide and operating-system list date the particular solution. The useful advertising lesson is how a technical purchase becomes intelligible when the seller first dramatizes the buyer’s business problem.