User:Louis/Datacolor Spyder activation retirement

Datacolor announced that activation services for its Spyder2, Spyder3, Spyder4, and Spyder5 monitor calibration devices would retire effective July 19, 2026, and stated on the same page that the product would no longer be supported.^[1] The company set that same date as the end of new online activation of Spyder5 software, so by Datacolor's own schedule Spyder5 software cannot be activated on a new computer unless an activated installation survives elsewhere to copy from, while installations already activated on an existing computer keep running.^[2] Datacolor attributed the decision to "significant technological advancements and critical security concerns" and pointed to the software's reliance on Transport Layer Security version 1.2.^[1]

Datacolor placed the notice in a panel the promotions page opens under its own "Why are we sunsetting older Spyders?" control, below the upgrade offer that heads the page, listing Spyder2, Spyder3, Spyder4, and Spyder5 as the devices whose activation would stop.^[1] The operative sentence reads:

However, due to significant technological advancements and critical security concerns, Spyder2/Spyder3/Spyder4/Spyder5 activation services will retire effective July 19, 2026, and the product will no longer be supported.

^[1]

The same page carried an "EXCLUSIVE LOYALTY DISCOUNT" of 50 percent off a Spyder or SpyderPro, available June 16 through June 29, 2026, above the line "Your current device will sunset soon" followed by the four affected model names.^[1] The discount window closed on June 29, 2026, before the announced July 19, 2026 activation cutoff.^[1] The offer sold a replacement device.^[1]

Datacolor's support documentation describes registration as the step that combines two serial numbers into a license code, & activation as the separate per-computer act that the code then permits without a further registration:

Once you register your Spyder / SpyderPRO software, the combination of Serial Number and Hardware Serial results in a license code. You can then activate your Spyder / SpyderPRO on different computers, a registration is no longer needed.

^[3]

Two Spyder5 releases determine what an owner can still do. Version 6.2, dated May 26, 2025, added the line: "A Internet connection is required during the activation process."^[4] The 6.3 release notes, dated September 15, 2025, state that the build "Adds support for MacOS 26 Tahoe and later" and that "You MUST install this version for Spyder5 Elite to work with Tahoe."^[4] A Spyder5 Elite owner on macOS 26 therefore needs the 6.3 build.^[4]

Datacolor documented one path around the announced activation cutoff in a knowledge-base article updated July 13, 2026.^[2] The article opens by stating the cutoff and the condition attached to the workaround:

As of July 19, 2026, new online activation of Spyder5 software will no longer be available. However, if your Spyder5 software is already installed and activated on an existing computer, you may be able to transfer your existing license information to another compatible computer using the manual legacy license-transfer process below.

^[2]

The procedure is a file copy. On the machine that already runs an activated installation, the owner copies the folder named Common out of ~/Library/Preferences/Datacolor/ on macOS or C:\users\YOUR USERNAME\AppData\Local\Datacolor\ on Windows, installs the same Spyder5 6.2 edition on the new computer, cancels the activation prompt when it appears, then drops the copied folder into the matching Datacolor directory.^[2] The first listed requirement is "Access to the computer where Spyder5 is currently installed and activated."^[2]

Datacolor's knowledge-base article sets out the limits of the procedure:

This process is intended for customers who already have a working, activated Spyder5 installation. It is not a new online activation method and does not provide new software updates, operating-system compatibility updates, bug fixes, or standard technical support for Spyder5.

^[2]

The workaround therefore reaches only owners who still have access to the old computer & the activated install on it.^[2] It also routes them to the 6.2 build,^[2] while Datacolor's own release notes make 6.3 mandatory for Spyder5 Elite on macOS 26 Tahoe.^[4]

Section 4 of the Datacolor Software License, reproduced on the same support page that explains the license code, reads:

With respect to any monitor calibration software, Datacolor grants to you, and you accept, a personal, nonexclusive, nontransferable license to install and use the Software in object code format on one or more computers at a single physical location, and on five additional laptop, notebook or other portable computers.

^[5][3]

The grant carries no expiry date in its own text.^[3] It permits installation at that single physical location and on the five portable computers;^[3] a new installation that goes through activation has to reach Datacolor's legacy activation service;^[2] & Datacolor scheduled that service to retire on July 19, 2026.^[1] Once activation ends, the end user license agreement keeps granting a permission that an owner without access to an activated installation has no means of exercising.^[2][5] The manual transfer procedure does not close that gap, because it starts from an installation that was activated while the service still ran.^[2]

Section 2 of the same license cuts against the owner: Datacolor does not warrant that "the operation of the Software will be uninterrupted or error-free".^[5] Section 4 states that the owner may terminate the license by "destroying the Software and all copies of the Software in your possession", & that the license "will terminate automatically upon any violation of the terms of this License".^[5] The same section states that the license "does not entitle you to any support, maintenance or upgrade from Datacolor".^[5] The section reserves Datacolor no right to end the grant for convenience or to withdraw it.^[5]

Datacolor's obsolescence notice gives one paragraph of technical justification:

Spyder5 and older models utilize software technology reliant on Transport Layer Security (TLS) v1.2, first introduced in 2008. This version of TLS contains known security vulnerabilities that have been publicly documented by major cybersecurity resources, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and various cybersecurity advisory groups. Modern operating systems (Windows/Mac) and web services have already phased out support for TLS v1.2, deeming it obsolete and insecure.

^[1]

RFC 8996, published by the IETF in March 2021 as part of BCP 195, "formally deprecates Transport Layer Security (TLS) versions 1.0 (RFC 2246) and 1.1 (RFC 4346)".^[6]

One stated aim of the deprecation is to move implementers up to TLS 1.2: it is written to help developers "migrate to a minimum of (D)TLS 1.2."^[6]

NIST is the body Datacolor named.^[1] NIST Special Publication 800-52 Revision 2, issued August 2019, requires TLS 1.2 rather than retiring it. Its abstract states the requirement:

It requires that TLS 1.2 configured with FIPS-based cipher suites be supported by all government TLS servers and clients and requires support for TLS 1.3 by January 1, 2024.

^[7]

A footnote in the executive summary records that "TLS 1.2 is approved for the protection of Federal information when properly configured."^[7] Section 3.1 tells servers supporting government-only applications that they "shall be configured to use TLS 1.2" and recommends TLS 1.3 as well.^[7]

One sentence in the same document does pair TLS 1.2 with the phrase Datacolor used, describing some extensions defined to mitigate some of the "known security vulnerabilities in implementations using TLS versions 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2".^[7]

That sentence groups TLS 1.2 with TLS 1.0 and 1.1, which RFC 8996 deprecated.^[7][6] It attaches the vulnerabilities to implementations rather than to the protocol version, & describes extensions written to mitigate them.^[7] It is not a finding that TLS 1.2 is obsolete, & it appears in the publication that requires TLS 1.2 support of government TLS servers and clients.^[7]

Microsoft's own protocol documentation contradicts the claim that current operating systems have phased TLS 1.2 out. The Schannel support table lists TLS 1.2 Client and TLS 1.2 Server as Enabled on Windows 11 version 24H2 and on Windows Server 2025, while the same page states that starting with Windows 11 Insider Preview releases in 2024, "TLS versions 1.0 and 1.1 will be disabled by default."^[8] The versions Microsoft is disabling by default in those Insider Preview releases are 1.0 and 1.1, the two TLS versions that RFC 8996 deprecated.^[8][6]

Apple's developer notice records that "TLS 1.0 and 1.1 has been deprecated on Apple platforms" as of iOS 15, iPadOS 15, macOS 12, watchOS 8, and tvOS 15, & tells developers whose apps still use TLS 1.0 or 1.1 to "transition to TLS 1.2 or later".^[9] The Apple Platform Security guide states that under App Transport Security "Servers must support TLS 1.2 and forward secrecy".^[10]

The Spyder3 was launched in 2007 and the Spyder3Express, Spyder3Pro, and Spyder3Elite are no longer supported.^[11] The Spyder4 was launched in 2012.^[12] The Spyder5 was released in Spring 2015.^[13] At launch the Spyder5EXPRESS, Spyder5PRO, and Spyder5ELITE sold for $129, $189, and $279.^[14]

Software development stopped first. Datacolor announced in May 2023 that it would not develop software updates for Spyder5 after September 2023, and moved the downloads to an archive.^[13] Activation was scheduled to follow on July 19, 2026.^[1]

X-Rite released ColorMunki Photo v1.2.3 on April 24, 2017, & the v1.2.3 release page records, under Known Issues, that "Hardware activation was removed from the ColorMunki Photo application", though not from the ColorPicker or Digital Pouch.^[15]

The FTC's May 2021 report to Congress on repair restrictions, Nixing the Fix, places software locks in the same category as DRM and technological protection measures:

Software locks, digital rights management ("DRM") tools or technological protection measures ("TPMs") are access control technologies implemented by OEMs. While manufacturers argue that these measures are necessary to protect proprietary hardware and copyrighted technologies, repair advocates argue such tactics lock ISOs and consumers out of basic repairs.

^[16]

Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 of June 13, 2024 names software-driven premature obsolescence in Article 5(2), the article that sets out what ecodesign requirements must do:

Ecodesign requirements shall, where relevant, ensure based on the product parameters referred to in Annex I that products do not become prematurely obsolete, for reasons that include design choices by manufacturers, the use of components which are significantly less robust than other components, the impeded disassembly of key components, unavailable repair information or spare parts, software that no longer works once an operating system is updated or software updates that are not provided.

^[17]

Retiring an activation service is a third software mechanism, besides the two Article 5(2) names, & one the provision does not spell out:^[17] by Datacolor's own schedule the software still runs where it was activated, & cannot be activated on a new computer except by copying license information from an activated installation.^[2]