Message from AutoCAD Reseller

"Excuse us, but can you bend over a little farther?"

SaaS

Along with the end of XP, this is a heavy financial blow to many relying on old technology and an operating system about to loose all support.

Compare CAD to an automobile.

Every year or two a new model comes out and most if not all the controls to operate it change completely. How long do you think Henry Ford would have lasted with a business model like that?

And oh by the way your old model will cease to operate in 3-5 years and we will not fix it.

He lasted a hell of a long time making spare parts for the old ones... Making sure that his customers were happy... Not all that bad a business model!

:pinch: what? :pinch: I hope you aren't thinking Ford's business model is anything like Autodesk's.

My pops owns a professional accounting firm and is tax software has been on a system like this for over 10 years...no upgrades...only subscription. His subscription is around 12k a year per license. Subscription is an annoyance but just about every major software developer is going that way, AutoDesk, Bentley, Microsoft (Office 360), Adobe, ESRI, Quickbooks (they are going to stop the desktop software soon enough and go 100% online) and many more. Just one more thing to factor into your overhead multiplier. It's not going away anytime soon and we'll only see it more and more from software developers.

Also it's important to note that you do not "own" software. It's all based on license agreements that can be revoked at basically anytime. The money you give them is not to buy the software, it's for a license to use it.

And finally...thank goodness windows XP is being phased out. It's old, bloated, slow, unable to keep up with todays computers/applications, and full of security holes. Good riddance. Windows 8.1 when properly configured is incredibly fast and no you don't have to use the tiles. You can boot directly into desktop.

Tom

they are now in phase 3

Why do you need to upgrade autocad every year?
I have been using both Microstation J and Autocad ld2004 for the past 10 years and had not had
the urge to upgrade. I have a 2007 version of Civil 3d for aligment cx sheet creation that i
use once in a while.
I just use the LD for cintour creation and the Civil 3d for road projects.
My microstation J bought when i was still working in UK is still working fine in windows 7
and is my main drafting software.

I am satisfied with my softwares and i have noticed that as hardware becomes faster
old software also perform faster because software size is small compared to
the new releases that increases in size.
i am not sure if my setup would work in windows 8 . if not then i will
squeeze a few more years or decade from them using windows 7.

Continuing on with old operating systems and old software can be indefinite IF AND ONLY IF you disconnect THAT computer from the internet !!!!!

Otherwise, viruses will eat your old computer alive and eventually nothing will work.

Keep a separate computer on the internet and use current anti-virus software to scan anything you transfer to your old computer via thumb drive, CD, or DVD.

Some industrial plants still use PDP-11 computers for their machinery and legacy systems. It can be done if you're careful to NOT connect to the internet.

>.....
> Keep a separate computer on the internet and use current anti-virus software to scan anything you transfer to your old computer via thumb drive, CD, or DVD.
>
> Some industrial plants still use PDP-11 computers for their machinery and legacy systems. It can be done if you're careful to NOT connect to the internet.

Man that could be the ticket right there. Enough of this constant upgrading and subscription nonsense. Buy 2 or 3 rehab'd computers and just mothball them with the software you know you won't change for 10 to 15 years. Then, when one dies you pull one out and crank it up! Keep them off the internet and use another computer that is fully secured to make transfers. Seems like a much more fiscally sound idea to me.

Don't forget the on-board lithium battery for your CPU. Mothballing works only if you don't lose your BIOS. Note that some CPU Printed Circuit boards have the battery soldered onto the board. You have to pay attention to those details.

Autodesk = Mafia

Even if you are on a subscription they #%?! you over. Last year AutoDesk had a program to transfer your Civil 3D license to Infrastructure Design Suite Premium at no charge. When I reformatted my workstation last year I chose to load IDSP instead of C3D for which AutoDesk gratefully gave me an activation code under my subscription.

Fast forward to the present when I go to renew my subscription. AutoDesk now tells me that I'm not eligible to renew as IDSP since I did not opt-in last year. I go scrounging through my spam folder only to find an email stating that to either opt-in or opt-out of the IDSP offer I needed to take action. I repeat action was required for either option way. Since this message made it to my spam folder I took no action other than specifically asking to activate IDSP. With out a fight my options are to give them another $1500 to convert to IDSP or pay an extra $250 per year for individual subscription for C3D and Raster Design. My re-seller says they have been playing this hard ball all year. Not a way to treat someone who has paid you around 50k in subscription fees over the last 16 years. At least Bentley sends important documents by mail. If it was not for client requirements I would bail on them.

Just my rant for the day.

John Putnam

Last year Autodesk tried to automatically upgrade every seat of Map 3D and Civil 3D to a higher subscription fee without consent from the consumer. Free software that most would never be able to use in their business.

This year they announced that you must stay on those higher subscription fees or pay full boat for an upgrade.

This is NOT a coincidence!

I knew the trap they were setting last year. We had experienced it with Map 3D. Free upgrade, but if you don't like the upgrade, they charge you to down grade to a cheaper version.

I raised a stink last year that they were operating outside of our license agreement by automatically upgrading every seat of AutoCAD map (free now - pay more forever) without consent from the end user.

It took 3 months and a lot of back and forth, but in the end they flip flopped and decided it was in their best interest to operate within our legal contract.

The end solution was that they would offer a free upgrade, the consumer would either accept the upgrade (and additional future subscription fees), or do nothing (contract would not change).

Because of their contradicting information, you may have some leverage if you pursue it long enough.

For years I have had both Civil 3D and Raster Design. The funny thing is that the subscription fee for the new suite, which contains both plus a couple of others, is less than I was paying for both software's individually.

I'll keep everyone posted on how this is resolved.

All my laptops are connected to the internet. No problem so far. I have always had a bias towards Microstation because this was what was used in the UK design company that I worked for in the 1990s.
I felt it was faster that Autocad of the same release. Problem with Microstation J that I am using is the 32MB file limit. Fortunately, I rarely surpass this limit. I think the newer versions have eliminated this 32MB file limit.

If you'd like to get some of your money back, Autodesk is trading at about $54 a share under ticker symbol ADSK. Or, form an investor's club and let's buy it out, take it back private and fire the CEO.