Hello every body
I do not know if this is the correct place for this post. I do not find any sub forum for
qestions like this. I am just sharing my thoughts (rather worries) here.
Recently Autodesk has announced new pricing policy from the 1st of February 2013. From that
date any upgrade - even from the previous version- would be 70 percent of the cost of the
software. Autodesk is forcing to go for subscription. In India (where Autodesk products are
unimaginably expensive - even at the special Indian price), I do not know how many like me
- who runs a SOHO private practice with only 5 staff - and who is bent on using legal,
licensed softwares only - would continuously be able to afford the recurring expenditure on
subscriptions every year.
So many of us have made hue & cry regarding the prices of Autodesk products here in India -
only in vain.
If the Autodesk products became affordable enough to Indian conditions, even though the
money made by Autodesk would be smaller (than from other countries), but it will have a
great many number of buyers, thereby enormously bringing down the unauthorised use of
software. Or probably it would be making much more money in selling to great many numbers
at a much lower cost than selling a few at high prices.
This "take it or leave it - we command our prices" policy makes us (in India) to think
about aleternative CAD software. (Of course there are other lower priced alternatives like
Vectorworks, etc.) The trouble is, it has to be a sort of a clone to AutoCAD. Otherwise it
becomes impractical to get used to totally new software and it becomes literally impossible
to train each new staff with a totally different CAD software. Of course there are a number
of clones available which are quite affordable - but sadly none are as stable as AutoCAD -
even for 2D drafting one has to take quite some effort with these clones to finish a
project successfully. No AutoCAD clone can come even near to even AutoCAD LT. So the lowest
priced CAD here has to be inevitably AutoCAD LT.
I sort of overheard that in China, Autodesk is selling its products at a very, very, low
price. So why not in India also?
It is no secret that India has one of the highest unauthorized users of Autodesk products -
it is said.
So why is not Autodesk encouraging small users (SOHO) like me who are bent in using
Licensed Softwares by giving us their product at affordable prices which should be in
context with Indian affordability.
For instance, 3ds Max is about 3500 USD . A professional visualizer in U.S. charges about
3000 USD to 7000 USD per project. So he is able plough back the investment in almost one
project.
Here in India, this price means about Rupees 200000 (two hundred thousand rupees). A
professional visualizer here charges about Rupees 6000 per project. So it takes about 33
projects for him get back the cost of software itself.
So in what way even the special pricing for some Autodesk products really help us Indians
here? It is still unaffordable.
Will Autodesk really care for small people in India? If not is there an alternative? (It
seems only huge Multi National companies here can afford this - or very huge AEC firms can
afford this).
During a recent Autodesk Survey in which I participated, it is evident that Autodesk is on
its way not to sell licenses perpetually and instead start renting the software. Actually,
in India, this will have a chain reaction of expenses - like upgrading the OS every
frequently and also replacing computers frequently (because one will be forced to use the
latest version - which is not so in India. I still use AutoCAD LT 2009 4 copies plus one
copy LT 2013 Plus one BDS Premium 2013. I gave up upgrading 4 copies of LT 2009 because I
could not afford it)
So with these kind of situation, I wonder what would be the status of Indian Autodesk
users.
Again, even the existing situation has lead to this here. Even though Autodesk products
are very expensive and affordable only by the MNCs and the like or Giant AEC companies here
who reap in dollars, however, usage of the products by most of the others is not uncommon -
it is said they simply use unauthorized software. Now here comes the bitter part of it in
that for such of those small people who do pay for the licensed software, they stand to
lose lot of money because his /her competitor uses unauthorized software and the amount not
spent is a huge profit (because of the very huge price of the product - and of course
multiple copies have to be had to run an office - so savings from expensive software
amounts to extra earnings). So these people could quote lower fees than us legitimate
users. And we really stand to lose. The clients themselves are not bothered whether
somebody is using legitimate software or not. If they could get the services at a lower
price they only go for it. They wouldn't pay higher just because somebody is paying for the
software.
Whatever I have said here is not a sudden outbreak from something just happened. This has
come out from years of my observations here in India. Some people seem to even think and
claim that it is their birth right to use unauthorized software.
I do have some friends of mine who exactly have the same mindset and attitude that I have.
Always use legitimate software. But since recently we are pushed to a conclusion that we,
the legitimate users would wither away to dust and the illegitimate users would be shining,
thriving and would have high standards of life (instead of buying software, they simply buy
more hardware and increase staff and increase their turnover - and whereas we legitimate
people get forced to stick to older hardware and spend the money on software upgrading, and
then not have enough money to add computers & staff with additional licenses for software.
Unless Autodesk takes a lenient view on their prices in India, we, the legitimate users are
going to disappear from their respective fields!!
If this is not the forum to discuss this, then let the moderators please transfer this to
an appropriate sub-forum. My humble request is, make this known to others and to Autodesk.
With best regards
PRSS
