No grey area here.
I was an Autodesk reseller since version 1.4 in 1984, for 30 years. Now recently retired, but
still do a little remote consulting to keep my hand in.
I have direct personal experience selling Autodesk perpetual licenses with Autodesk approval. I have attached screenshots of many of the pieces of documentation required by Autodesk for them to approve.
I do not advocate or approve of software piracy or using cracked software. Everything was by the book, with full knowledge and approval of Autodesk.
I still must keep a low profile, since Autodesk unilaterally changed their policy on transferred after 2016. They tend to attack, threaten lawsuits, and attempt to discredit anyone who questions their new policies, even if you have a valid perpetual license that permitted transfers at the time of sale. Lawyers can debate whether a contract changed by only one party after execution without agreement of the other party and compensation is still valid. Now that I am retired, I can afford to be a little more open in expressing my disagreement to help others.
I have blurred out some identifying information for privacy, but there should be enough details to be convincing.
The Autodesk perpetual licenses were acquired at auction. They were part of the assets of a bankrupt company, and were approved by the bankruptcy court before submission to Autodesk, which approved the sale with no problems.
TL:DR;
The pictures and the end of this very long post are the Autodesk documents and forms related to the transfer, and pertinent emails with Autodesk including the transfer approval notice.
These were Building Design Suite Premium 2016 perpetual network licenses under maintenance subscription. Because maintenance was paid yearly through 2020, the client ended up with Building Design Suite Premium 2020 perpetual floating network licenses. This is the only way anyone could obtain a perpetual license after 2016. Companies go bankrupt and change hands all of the time, so it’s still possible to do something like this today. You have to know where to look, and there are a few catches and caveats that I will details in another post.
Even though these are perpetual floating network Suite licenses, individual applications such as AutoCAD and Revit they can still be installed on standalone Windows 10 Pro computers, and a server is not required. A consultant devised a way to store the activated network licenses in a virtual machine, so that they would continue to work if a machine's hardware configuration changes or the software is reinstalled on another computer.
Recently Autodesk has been refusing to reactivation or reissue new network license files for perpetual licenses for previous versions. Virtualizing the license means that the software will continue to work regardless of what Autodesk might do in the future.
My consultant tells me he has just worked out how to encapsulate the license server in a Windows Container, so the overhead will be even less than a VM. I have help several other companies with the same process since 2016. Aside from my consultant and I, I’m only aware of a few others who have worked out the kinks in virtualizing the license.
Autodesk could delete this post anytime. Make no mistake – Autodesk considers this dangerous information bordering on illegal. And they are notorious form using the threat of software audits and lawsuits to silence dissent.
Accordingly, I am leaving out key implementation details and information on how find perpetual licenses today, so the lawyers will not have anything actionable to base a lawsuit on. Maybe a cease and desist or demand letter, so just to be safe:
THIS IS A WORK OF HISTORICAL FICTION. CHARACTERS ARE PLAYED BY SPECIALLY TRAINED STUNT IT PERSONNAL USING SPECIAL EQUIPMENT NOT AVAILABLE TO AN INDIVIDUAL. DO NOT ATTEMP THIS ON YOUR OWN COMPUTER. DEATH OR INJURY MAY OR MAY NOT OCCUR. SEVERE TIRE DAMAGE OR INCONTINANCE MAY RESULT. JUST DON’T DO IT.
If anyone else is determined enough to try this today, Additional steps are required. I will repond any PM requesting help as time permits and may need to refer to another consultant for ongoing support.
Any information provided is only general. I do not advise any particular couse of action, will not be liable for any outcomes.
The secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions.
This post will self-destruct in …
Sorry, got a little carried away. Back in my hole before they notice.
again that' all good .. but they have loop holes too. System requirements. Licensing requirements as well. Sure if you're on system requirement met machine you can get them to give you a license. Say a 2006 on W11, won't work, so it's mute on that point. As W10 continues to update their c++/net's those that could get the older versions to work aren't seeing that as an option
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Mike Davis
