Whenever the subject of iLok comes up, a wide range of opinions will follow, ranging from “Hate it” to “Tolerate it”.
Truth is, the majority of users have never had a problem with it. Pace wouldn’t still be in business if that weren’t the case. They have, however, come close to destroying themselves in the past with driver bugs that brought down every user who updated.
For most users, that meant an annoying inconvenience for a few days. But that’s only because most users don’t rely on any particular plugin to do their day-to-day jobs.
For the minority who face deadlines, though, it was a major headache. And there is no deadline more unmovable than “you start playing tonight at 9:00”.
Of course, it’s not that hard to protect your dongle from damage and to avoid software updates until they’ve been vetted by others. But why bother, when it simply isn’t necessary? There isn’t any iLok-encumbered synth or effect out there that doesn’t have a suitable non-iLok replacement.