Rare errors #1: "Root element is missing"

Our license files are sent out as XML text files. Under very rare circumstances, you may get the following error message when attempting to apply your license file:

System.Xml.XmlException: Root element is missing.
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Throw(Exception e)
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ParseDocumentContent()
at System.Xml.XmlLoader.Load(XmlDocument doc, XmlReader reader, Boolean preserveWhitespace)
at System.Xml.XmlDocument.Load(XmlReader reader)
at System.Xml.XmlDocument.Load(Stream inStream)
at roxority.SharePoint.ProductPage.In(IDictionary value)

Cause:

Some email clients and/or web browsers or browser versions do not properly deal with either the attached XML file and/or the embedded XML download link and "mess" with the text file's encoding so that the XML content can no longer be properly parsed by our software.

Step 1:

Our license emails always contain both (A) an attachment and (B) a download link to the license file. Always try both---chances are, even if your email client and/or your web browser cannot properly handle one option, it might handle the other one just fine.

Step 2:

If the issue persists despite having completed Step 1 above, send us an quick email quoting this issue. We will then shortly send you a ZIP package containing only the same XML license file. You then:

1. log in to Windows on your primary SharePoint server
2. copy the ZIP package in its original state to this server
3. extract it right there on the server to some temporary location
4. open the Central Administration / Site Settings / <Product>Zen Studio / Licensing page using a web browser "locally" ie. still on said server
5. upload the extracted XML ".rox" license file extracted in #3 above.

This issue does not affect approximately 99.9% of our users, but every once in a while it recurs. Future releases may adopt a new licensing file format if feasible to pre-empt this.