Purchase of Perpetual Licence in United Kingdom

[info]

Hello,

I currently have a subscription for Autocad Lt for my freelance work which is costly given the small amount of work I undertake. I have an opportunity to purchase a Perpetual licence version of Autocad 2018 Lt from a site claiming this is legal following a ruling of the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union in C-128/11 UsedSoft GmbH v Oracle International Corp.

Can anyone confirm that this is true?

Thanks

Mark

[pendean]

Which website is that exactly?
Did you research/ask about what is their return/refund policy on non-activation of purchased Autodesk software?
Will your credit card/bank protect you/give you a refund if you purchase from them?

OR... a quick online review of the website and its offerings would answer your question otherwise if it is a secret may help you get comfortable (or run away) from it all.

BUT... remember the golden rule of online shopping: if it looks to be too good to be true, it likely is a fake.
Buyer Beware.

Running a business is tough and expensive for sure: perhaps you'd benefit from free software instead, lots of 'dwg capable' offerings out there that are 100% legit for us on a budget.

[mdavis22569]

You want to want someone elses' perpetual LT 

Siting: 

the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union in C-128/11 UsedSoft GmbH v Oracle International Corp.

Can anyone confirm that this is true?

Issue:

2018 isn't supported any more. So any issues / security issues say due to Windows won't be resolved.

Then the OS version won't be valid much longer. 2018 won't work on W11, so you'll need to keep a W10 PC.

How would you go about transferring it to you and having it put into your Autodesk account for activation? 

Likely you can't keep going back to them for it as needed. 

  Honestly, while it might be a good deal, overall / long run is it really? 

[mdavis22569 · Accepted solution]

You want to want someone elses' perpetual LT 

Siting: 

the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union in C-128/11 UsedSoft GmbH v Oracle International Corp.

Can anyone confirm that this is true?

Issue:

2018 isn't supported any more. So any issues / security issues say due to Windows won't be resolved.

Then the OS version won't be valid much longer. 2018 won't work on W11, so you'll need to keep a W10 PC.

How would you go about transferring it to you and having it put into your Autodesk account for activation? 

Likely you can't keep going back to them for it as needed. 

  Honestly, while it might be a good deal, overall / long run is it really? 

[info]

There are a number of sites offering the same, both offer refunds and support, see below 

https://procadis.com/info/legal/ 

https://www.surplusmarket.co.uk/activation-2018/ 

[mdavis22569]

Your 2nd link shows entering a serial number ...

Autodesk has been moving to named users .. so not sure if this would be valid for your purchase.

Also, again it's a what if.

Curious what's the price? 

[pendean]

@info Good to know: share with use your full experience after you dive in, I have yet to see legit non-biased (not-a-sales-pitch) reviews of purchases from sites like those.

In the meantime, these are free and totally legit 100% of the time right now/today for us business owners on tight budgets without the need to ask permissions to use them from anyone at all, try many before you commit to one
https://www.geckoandfly.com/27558/free-autocad-alternatives/

Good luck.

[mdavis22569]

They are listing a serial number here too 

https://www.surplusmarket.co.uk/activation-2018/

Not a good sign in my opinion. They also want you to install a 3rd party activation software.  WHY? 

[pendean]

@info Good to know: share with us your full experience after you dive in,  purchase/license/authorize/install 45-days from now (30-day trials are the default, so you need to get passed that point).

I have yet to see honest legit non-biased (not-a-sales-pitch) reviews of purchases from sites like those. Hoping you're the first.

In the meantime, these are free and totally legit 100% of the time right now/today for us business owners on tight budgets without the need to ask permissions to use them from anyone at all, try many before you commit to one
https://www.geckoandfly.com/27558/free-autocad-alternatives/

Good luck.

[info]

I think that's an example serial number on the surplus market site?

What did you think about the Procadis site?

[info]

Yes, I think that was for a 2018 Lt version which I believe may have been the last release which had a perpetual licence available. I think it was £449  

[pendean · Accepted solution]

[info]

Thanks, for the avoidance of doubt I'll maybe just stick with the subscription for now.

[info]

What do you make of what you've highlighted?

[mdavis22569]

@info 

that highlight and needing a "3rd Party" addin is what I was saying should be alarming. 

[info · Accepted solution]

Understood, avoid and stick with the subscription

[hunter_maste]

Also perpetualcad.com shows perpetual licenses for 2020

I've emailed them to ask how this works.

[mdavis22569]

@hunter_maste 
2020 wasn’t  available for perpetual licensing 

[hunter_maste]

Customers with perpetual licenses on maintenance plan received upgrades to the current version as long as the plan was active

Google: autocad Letting maintenance expire

for details

If the maintenance plan was allowed to elapse, the customer would still have perpetual access to the version that was current at the time of the lapse.

[mdavis22569]

You didn't state it like that. You stated:

Also perpetualcad.com shows perpetual licenses for 2020

I've emailed them to ask how this works.

I don't believe 2020 was avail for Perpetuals ... Maint maybe.

But good luck ... not sure why everyone wants the short cuts.    It's all fun till they get audit'd / educational stamps or other issues on their files.    For trying to save a few $$$.