Autodesk Inventor

[#1]

Hi Travis,

I'm afraid that Sam's interpretation is more accurate.  The preceeding statement implies that ALL items in the list will be implemented.  Also since each point is bulleted and a complete thought in it's own right, bullet 1 can not influence any of the other bullet points unless it does so explicitly.  Additionally, bullet one is qualified by the term "support" which actually limits the scope of that bullet point.

For a definition of support, you would have to look at the "Subscription Terms and definitions" document.  Support is defined at the beginning of the document and throughout section 2.2.    There's not a good Single sentence definition that I found, but the type of support being referred to is the type of support you would get if you needed to call Autodesk for assistance with an installation.  "Support" in this context is entirely separate from software availablitlity and licensing which arre delt with very clearly in the other points.

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...  To protect this data, Autodesk is taking the following actions:  

• In accordance with section 2.2.3 of the Subscription Terms and Conditions, Autodesk Support will continue to provide product support for Subscription customers for a period of no less than three years after the removal of Mechanical Desktop from the Inventor product line.
•  Autodesk will continue to make Mechanical Desktop 2009 available for download with future releases of Inventor.
•  Autodesk will continue to support the DWG Import wizard for Mechanical Desktop parts, assemblies and drawings.
• Despite anything to the contrary in our Subscription terms and conditions or our license agreement(s), Autodesk will allow customers the right to continue using earlier versions of Mechanical Desktop with Inventor releases.

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[#2]

If Sam's *interpretation* was more accurate then this would not be an issue. Generally speaking, when it comes to legal speak, the items predicating a statement of time are dependent upon the statement preceding it. Thus the way Subscription works and has worked is that the support would continue for three versions back. The fact that 2009 is four versions back means that the bullet items no longer apply. I'm afraid that you're trying to ascertain a conclusion that better meets your needs rather than the reality of the statement. Unfortunately, MDT support has been laid to rest. However, as the statement suggests, there is nothing that would keep you from using the software beyond the scope of the Subscription. Therefore, you are apparently allowed to continue to use MDT 2009 with the 2012 release indefinitely. So I suppose there is a silver lining. The only drawback is that a Subscription network license would not carry the support for 2009. Those users would have to stay on 2012 until they have completely migrated. Thus, in theory, they could maintain thru 2015 Subscription when 2012 would then run out at the 2016 release. At that point, they would no longer receive license or activation support for 2012.

[#3]

Here's another angle.... I have 2 seats of Autodesk Inventor 2013. I have never owned (or even worked in) MDT. Therefore I clearly don't or never did have a MDT license or subscription. 

What I do have is,... a lot of customers that have legacy MDT data that now needs to be incorporated into upgrades / new designs.

The customers are either unable, or unwilling to provide anything other than MDT files (after all why should they, especially if the original design process was done by a subcontractor and that subcontractor no longer exists).

The customer's stance from this point of view is that "if you want the work, this is the data we have, so find a way to use it!"

Although that statement was never made, the point is clear, there is a lot of legacy MDT data out there that needs to be either referenced or changed for new  projects.

Surely there must be a way of bringing this information into Inventor 2013 (In my case I don't need the parametric data, just a dumb solid will do), but this is not possible as far as I can see.

Surely Autodesk must have some form of (at least moral) obligation to provide for this. Just my opinion and maybe I have missed the boat and there is a way to get the data into inventor, but I have not found it yet.

By the way, I did try the MDT 2009 download and install when I was still on AI 2012, but the installation process corrupted the entire inventor installation and I needed (essentially) to reformat the entire machine again and start fresh (needless to say I never tried the 2009 MDT installation again).

[#4]

Autodesk generated a network licence file for Product Design Suite Ultimate 2013 that included MDT2009.  You have to request it though.

[#5]

What is the process to make this request (i.e. to whom, or more specifically what e-mail address must this request be made)?

My seats running AI are all windows machines, but the server is a linux box. If this license is a network license, does the fact that I have a linux box affect this option?

Thanks

Rob

[#6]

I got online and logged into their site and went to the Activation & Registration site and selected the Chat option and chatted with a rep who took my Product Design Suite Premium 2013 S/N info and generated me a license file with the MDT2009 info and emailed it to me!  All is well!

[#7]

Out of a hope to try and raise awareness of a need for long-term MDT data accessability I created an idea wish request:

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Inventor-IdeaStation/Incorporate-MDT-import-within-Inventor/idi-p/3757...

add support and hopefully something might happen - not going to hold my breath or anything tho.