That is simply incorrect. I do not "know" Ilfak. I just emailed him, discussed the cost of a student license, provided proof of being a student, and filed an order form for IDA Pro Standard 6.0. The only thing that at all fits with your story is that a bank transfer was required, instead of paying by credit card, but I believe that is only for students.

Even so, Hex-Rays does sell to individuals. It's not even necessary to ask Ilfak: if copies are being sold to individuals, then they sell to individuals. And those copies are being sold. Here's a picture of my CD, purchased this year, as an individual: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3177211/idaomg.png

That is incorrect. I purchased IDA Pro as an individual this year, and I am a simply a student interested in reverse engineering. (I believe what you are saying may be true for the "advanced" version, but from what I can tell anyone can purchase IDA Pro Standard.)

Assuming that the deleted parent is about the difficulty of purchasing IDA, as you know, it's only somewhat incorrect. I have wanted to buy IDA for almost a year now, but Hex-Rays is very picky about how they receive their money; I could probably arrange for it somehow but it is an completely inordinate amount of hassle. (And no, bank transfers are not only required with a student discount; I was willing to pay twice as much to avoid the requirement but it wasn't possible.)

I think bank transfer is a requirement only for first-time private users, probably because credit cards are too easy to steal/fake and chargeback.

It's not true of "Advanced" either (all "Advanced" does is give you x86-64 and a bunch of exotic architectures; "Advanced" is a price segregation scheme, not a community safeguard).

No, it is true for Advanced; they will only sell it to entities they've dealt with before.

I mean you would know, I know, and we've been customers for awhile so maybe they just don't bat an eye, but I just assumed everyone bought Advanced now. How do you not have x64?

You really think this is because they want to safeguard the public or something?