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Important Change to Requesting Physical Shipments of Autodesk Software?

7 REPLIES 7
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Message 1 of 8
jeanchile
259 Views, 7 Replies

Important Change to Requesting Physical Shipments of Autodesk Software?

So.... I got this email from Autodesk the other day and I'm curious if I am the only one who has taken issue with it.

 

It says:

 

"Software Download was introduced to Autodesk customers in 2010 and has become the most effective and environmentally-friendly way to access Autodesk software. As a result of the decline in requests for physical shipments, Autodesk will no longer ship physical software—free of charge—to Maintenance Subscription customers in US and Canada. Effective September 29, 2014, physical shipments will be available for purchase for $30 US each (costs include standard shipping)."

 

I have several issues with this and I'm wondering if I am alone:

1.) The cost of getting something that I used to get included with my subscription is now $30.00. A fairly insignificant amount but again, Autodesk is now charging me "extra" for something that was included before. They haven't dropped the subscription amount the $30.00. Sure, they dropped the amount when they removed other features from the suite but not this.

2.) We are located in an area with notoriously crappy internet service.

3.) When I downloaded CS6 from Adobe (over 16 hours over two days) I had even more issues with internet service than before. When I called them they told me my account had been "throttled" because I used too much band width in too little time. I don't know exactly what "throttled" means but I do know I had to go through some serious steps, and upgrade my account to the highest they offered in my area because of it (which I believe is still a blazing 7 Mbps).

 

Does everyone else who uses this software work in SF or something where this is not an issue? Does anyone else agree with me here or am I just up in the night? 30 bucks is nothing to me ("I lose more than that running for the bus" - Mickey O'Neil, Snatch) but it's the whole principle of screwing the minority to make more money.

Inventor Professional
7 REPLIES 7
Message 3 of 8
jeanchile
in reply to: drp281

Thanks drp281. I see that I am not alone in this.

 

I'd still like to know how AD can just come to some conclusion that, at it's fundamental level, just isn't fair. All the usual defenses are quite simply immaterial. I don't care that "it's only $30", or that "this is just the way it works now", or "quit complaining and welcome to the future". I honestly just want to know how someone at AD can sit in a room and say "ya' know, we used to include this in the cost of our software... if we just stop offering a service that was once included, we'll get to keep all that money".

 

I'm going to pay the $30 because my company doesn't have the choice and AD knows that. What I don't understand is why everyone isn't asking for their 30 dollars (or more) back. They took it from everyone, not just me. I just get to pay for it twice now. Thanks Autodesk.

 

Perhaps the financial portion of my next business plan will have steps to remove services I provide for my clients and start charging them extra and see how it goes. It seems to work for bigger companies.

Inventor Professional
Message 4 of 8
jeanchile
in reply to: jeanchile

And, I'm sure my re-seller with gladly get me a copy we can use. Again, that's not the point. My point is that they removed a service. That service being that they provided media for those of us in an area challenged by internet speeds. They have removed that service from the list of things they provided but did not issue a credit. They're keeping all the money.

 

I responded in kind over here.

Inventor Professional
Message 5 of 8
DarrenP
in reply to: jeanchile

your probably not going to like this either: http://www.studiodaily.com/2014/10/autodesk-plans-to-go-subscription-only-over-next-one-to-two-years...

DarrenP
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Message 6 of 8
jeanchile
in reply to: DarrenP

It's funny you would bring that up. I already have an appointment with our local SolidWorks reseller next Tuesday. I'm currently writing next year's business plan and I'm including provisions for that. SolidWorks has announced that they have no plans to move their offering to the cloud and I want to see what our long-term options are.

 

If AD goes to a cloud-only option we are out. If we still have a license installed on local machines that only "check-in" with AD every thirty days or so (like some Adobe software) than we can still make that work I think. Kind of a bummer that we made the switch to IV four years ago and now may be looking at something else already. I really like the software we're using but if it becomes unusable for us then we don't really have a choice.

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Message 7 of 8
DarrenP
in reply to: jeanchile

its not cloud only yet

they would be getting rid of perputual licensing

and offer desktop subscriptions only which is you pay monthly, quarterly, annually

if you don't renew the license you can't use it anymore

there will be no permanent licenses anymore

DarrenP
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Message 8 of 8
jeanchile
in reply to: DarrenP

I think we can make that work as long as they don't force us to upgrade to the current version. I won't stand for using software that hasn't been fully vetted for a while. We have to skip 2014 all together because of it's problems and we won't upgrade to 2015 until later. I won't be forced to use an inferior product. I'm happy to pay to be current on our subscription as long as I can still use two releases back with no hitches.

 

I write the business plans each year but they're forecasted for five. Hopefully AD won't mandate policy without us getting time to fully adapt or move to something else. I am going to see if my clients will let me go the whole Autodesk and Healthcare route though. I think in this next plan I'm writing I'm just going to remove a bunch of services and still charge them the same and see if they go for it. I have a hunch they won't.

Inventor Professional

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