Inventor Maintenance Subscription or Cloud License Instead of Ownership Plan

[MikeKovacik4928]

Hi all

Autodesk is currently offering you two options to renew your Maintenance Subscription.  As the final plan after 2019 will be to move all licenses to the Cloud, Autodesk have opted to phase out the Maintenance Subscription that you currently own in line of the Subscription model which will be easier to convert in 2019.

I am having to make a decision to move to the cloud now or in 2019.

My internet connection speed is around 2MP/s. Is that good enough.

I am really nervous about

1. No more ownership

2. This cloud thing

Who is working with this new cloud subscription thing.

There is a major price difference between getting the software pack (ownership- 17 500 Rand)

and working from the cloud (non ownership - 12500 Rand (1 US Dollar   = 12.7 South African Rand)

Advice needed from those who deal with this (cad managers I suppose)

Who is operating from the cloud with no ownership.

How does it work?

Michael Kovacik
2d & 3d Autocad and Inventor designer/draughtsman
.
Draughting/Designing (Manufacturing) (31 yrs)
-Drawing Board (3 yrs)
--Cad (28 yrs)
---Cadkey (4 yrs)
---AutoCAD 2d & 3d (16 yrs)
---Inventor (4 yrs)
---Autocad and Inventor Simultaneously (4 years)
---(and recently Autocad/Inventor Customisation)
.
Higher Diploma Mech Eng
Member SAIMechE
Technician Member ECSA
Collaborator (Rank 9) on Autocad & Inventor Forum
.
Autodesk Product Design Suite Ultimate 2018
Autocad 2018, Inventor Pro 2018
(personal licensed copy)
.
Johannesburg, South Africa
.
(Impossible only means you haven't
found the solution yet)

kelly.young has edited your subject line for clarity: Subscription or cloud

[CCarreiras]

Hi!

If you plan to be always updated, so move now and save some money.

If you dont want to go to subscription, then stop now upgrading and in a few years, when OS change and softwares dont install anymore.... start to buy subscriptions.

1 - The software is yours now, and is yours later wth subscription. Even now with maintenance, you do not owner the program, you own the right to use it (read the contract terms.)

2 - Autodesk Cloud as the same security level as the world banks and governamental servers, so it's top class.

Saying that.... i preffer to go now to subscription and save some money.

[mcgyvr]

I think you are misinterpreting this "cloud" thing..

Or I'm just not aware of it yet (certainly possible)..

There is "maintenance subscription"  which is old/outdating and being phased out where you would pay yearly and get Inventor and each year if you continued to pay you would get the latest version..

If you stopped paying the version you are using is yours to continue to use forever..

That is whats they want you to go away from..

Then now there is just "subscription".. which gets you all the lastest software to download and install and run on your local computer.. Once you stop paying.. The program stops working..

I didn't think they had a "cloud only" solution where you pay and must access Inventor on the Autodesk servers.. Other software like Fusion.. yes but not Inventor..

Maybe they do now.. I surely don't see anything on the site about such offerings though..

And from what I've been told.. Once you switch to "subscription" you must stop using your "maintenance subscription" software and can never use it again.. You basically void the ability to use it forever.. 

[MikeKovacik4928]

Here is what my reseller sent me.

 *************

I have attached the quotation for your Maintenance renewal as well as a quotation to switch from Maintenance to Subscription based on the current Rand/Dollar exchange rate, together with a high-level reminder of the changes implemented by Autodesk.

• Autodesk is currently offering you two options to renew your Maintenance Subscription.  As the final plan after 2019 will be to move all licenses to the Cloud, Autodesk have opted to phase out the Maintenance Subscription that you currently own in line of the Subscription model which will be easier to convert in 2019. 
• You will have the option to remain on your current Maintenance Subscription until 2019 but the pricing will increase as follows:

-        2017 - 5% increase

-        2018 – 10% increase

-        2019 – 20% increase

• You have the option to switch to the Subscription model at a fraction of the cost at present.  You can convert your current Maintenance licenses to Subscription licenses at the Maintenance license cost.  You will have to pay for a full year.
• The Dollar price will be fixed for the next three years – the only differentiating factor will be the Rand/Dollar exchange rate.

******************

I have these two questions

Can anybody, (hello there Autodesk), confirm, whether I am correct in my following 2 assumptions

1. The existing packages I have got on Stick or CD, from previous years

     confirm they will always be valid to use, under their respective product codes,

     and will always remain my property.

2. In future, if I don’t pay, the current year and previous years, still remain valid to use, 

    Only the version not paid for gets rendered unusable.

And from what I've been told.. Once you switch to "subscription" you must stop using your "maintenance subscription" software and can never use it again.. You basically void the ability to use it forever.. 

I believe that choice, according to my resellers letter, ends in 2019 anyway, where you will no longer be allowed "maintenance subscriptions"

Also one last question,

Is the software loaded on to my computer,

or is it accessed from the "autodesk cloud"

If accessed from the cloud, I am on ASDL not Fibre Optic and my

speed is about 2MB per second.

Is that fast enough. Would I have to convert to Fibre Optic

Mike

[PaulMunford]

Hi Mike,

1. The existing packages I have got on Stick or CD, from previous years

     confirm they will always be valid to use, under their respective product codes,

     and will always remain my property.

The stick or CD may be your property - but the software is not. The licence terms grant you the right to use the software 'In perpetuity', as long as you can find a computor capable of running it.

2. In future, if I don’t pay, the current year and previous years, still remain valid to use, 

    Only the version not paid for gets rendered unusable.

Under maintenance subscription, you have the right to use the software in perpetuity. You paid for the software upfront, and that's it. The maintenance subscription just got you an update to the next release. If you didn't pay the maintenance, you didn't get an upgrade.

Your maintenance subscription licence terms grant you the use of the current version, and the previous three versions (Autodesk only support the last three versions). I'm not sure about this next bit, but I think that, when you stop paying subscription, you are 'frozen' on the current version and you loose the right to use old versions.

Is the software loaded on to my computer,

or is it accessed from the "autodesk cloud"

The software is loaded on your computor. When you install the software, instead of looking on your local disc for a licence file, your software will 'ping' the Autodesk licence server to check your entitlement. As long as you are paying your rent, your software will work.

Your software will attempt to ping the licence server every two weeks. If it can't get an internet connection it will keep trying for a period of two weeks before it stops working.

This means that you need to be able to connect to a reliable internet source every four weeks for your software to keep working.

One side benefit of this is that the software is no longer 'locked' to your computor. You can install it on as many computers as you like. The licence is tied to your login. When you login, your entitlement is checked. You can log out and login in to another computor when you like. 

Does that help?

Paul

[mcgyvr]

yeah thats basically what I was talking about but their use of the word "cloud" just created unneeded confusion..

To me "cloud" would imply that the software is running on Autodesk (or Amazon) or whatever servers and that it is not local to my machine..

That also might imply that my files are in the "cloud" also..

That is simply not what is happening..

My understanding of your questions is as follows.

Everyone is going to be forced out of the current "maintenance subscription" program so just get out now and move to the "subscription" program..

but

IF you stop paying Autodesk today and don't do "subscription" you can use your 2018 Inventor version (and 2 back from that I believe) for as long as you like (or until it stops working due to Windows updates or whatever)

However if you choose to move forward with the "subscription" program that you forfeit the rights to use 2018 anymore and MUST cease usage of it and move to software covered under this new subscription program and when you stop paying for that you also loose the ability to use that and are left with nothing..

So in essence once you move to "subscription" your perpetual licenses (that maintenance subscription has been giving you) are done/forfeited and you must continue to pay Autodesk forever.. There is no stopping payment if you intend to keep using Inventor..

Once you stop paying..so does your ability to use Inventor... 

[mcgyvr]

The only thing different that I have heard from what Paul just wrote is that like I said once I move to subscription the contract there says I must forfeit my perpetual license.. 

[MikeKovacik4928]

Paul

Thanks a million for that reply

One side benefit of this is that the software is no longer 'locked' to your computor. You can install it on as many computers as you like. The licence is tied to your login. When you login, your entitlement is checked. You can log out and login in to another computor when you like.

I now have my software loaded on 2 computers, my desktop & my laptop.

I can use both at the same time, the one does not have to have the software closed for me to use the other.

I assume I will no longer be able to do that

It doesn't really matter, anything I want to do, I can just do on one computer,

and only one person (me) is using the software at any one time

Mike

[Anonymous]

There is a 3rd option, which is not do anything at all.

Keep what you have and decide if it is worth paying for subscription. If not, quit paying for it.

Eventually Autodesk will stop supporting the version you have and probably newer OS versions will be made to not work with the old version of Inventor you have. At that time you can set up a Virtual Machine guest with the OS version that still works with your Inventor version.

The OS manufacturer can send you updates, but your VM will continue to work and be portable to a new host.

There are many benefits to have an application like Inventor operate in a VM guest, and system admins will like those capabilities.

I am currently on Inventor 2010 and I have learned over the years that new version rarely give significant productivity improvements (in my use case). What they do give you is a new set of bugs. For me it was better to deal with existing bugs than with an unending stream of new ones.

Interestingly, my version still has bugs that have not been fixed when it was still supported by Autodesk for 6 years or so. Don't assume that all bugs will be fixed.

Moving to the cloud is a one way street. It is made and will continue to be made virtually impossible to go back.

Judging by the veracity of the Autodesk resellers in their attempts to convert to the cloud, I can only conclude the uptake is not as good as they want it. Maybe Autodesk will be forced to backtrack?

I have a rather unusual use case, so what I tell you may not be applicable to you.

[MikeKovacik4928]

mcgyvr

So in essence once you move to "subscription" your perpetual licenses (that maintenance subscription has been giving you) are done/forfeited and you must continue to pay Autodesk forever.. There is no stopping payment if you intend to keep using Inventor..

Once you stop paying..so does your ability to use Inventor... 

You've got to be kidding! Are you serious?

What a pity Inventor is not backward compatible like AutoCAD.

If it was, I would just stick with my Inventor 2018.

I am going to pass this one on to my reseller to confirm its veracity

Mike

[MikeKovacik4928]

master

thank you for your story.

It sounds like in the end we are going to be forced that way or stick with our old software like you have done.

What worries about that is the non backward compatibility of Inventor.

Any  work or files that need to be swapped with somebody who is up to date will be a problem.

How do you get around that problem, or do you not swop work with other users?

Mike

[Anonymous]

---

@MikeKovacik4928 wrote:

master

thank you for your story.

It sounds like in the end we are going to be forced that way or stick with our old software like you have done.

What worries about that is the non backward compatibility of Inventor.

Any  work or files that need to be swapped with somebody who is up to date will be a problem.

How do you get around that problem, or do you not swop work with other users?

Mike

---

I hardly ever need to exchange work with others.  In the few instances that there was a need, they were using Solidworks.

Import / Export through .sat/.iges works just fine for that.

By not being on subscription I have probably saved US$ 10,000, if I add all the upgrades I passed on there is probably another 10-15K there.

For 25K I can live with some inconveniences.

[Anonymous]

Wanted to add something to the discussion here.

You could move your data to the cloud, or more precisely use the cloud  as a data storage by running Vault Server in a VM on Azure.

For years I made an effort maintaining my own server to run Vault Server. It was a gigantic pain in the behind.

Now it sits in a VM on Azure, and I start the VM when I need it. The VM starts in less than 5 minutes. I only get charged when the VM is running.

You can get a inexpensive VM for as little as US$12 per month. That will do the job.

[Curtis_Waguespack]

Hi @MikeKovacik4928,

In addition to the previous replies, you can find more information and discussions on this topic at the Moving to Subscription forum:

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/moving-to-subscription/bd-p/2017

I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com

[rhasell]

Mike

I am trying really hard not to get on my soapbox with this issue. I am unimpressed with Autodesk and their hold you over a barrel attitude.

And don't spin me the rubbish that everyone else is doing it, ie Microsoft.

If Autodesk does not change something, I will probably also be one of those users running the software on VM. My attitude is that I will continue to pay subs until our small company cannot afford to pay it anymore.

In a nutshell, if you don't pay forever, your intellectual data is lost.

(That's just one toe on the soapbox)

[MikeKovacik4928]

I'm also trying hard not to get on my soap-box.

But here are a few facts of my situation.

1. I use my own software paid by myself to do company work at home after hours

2. I get absolutely no recognition for the fact

3. I am no longer able to afford it unless I get extra freelancer work

    to cover it, and that type of work seems to be impossible to get.

    I have tried freelance websites such as freelancer, peopleperhour

    they are so spammed up and difficult to use you get no meaningful results.

I am going to have to make a major decision one way or the other.

If I decide to stop, the company work at home stops, but unfortunately

also I am stuck with 2018 forever, which is not a major train smash,

it just means I can't open drawings from 2019 and above, which if I

do get freelance work, might prevent co-working on any projects using

that software.

Mike

[CCarreiras]

HI!

You can use the company work license at your home, if your company has maintenance (or subscrition) active (its a previledge that Autodesk give you due to have active contract with them).

You dont need to by one, unless you are working freelance for your own  projects.

[MikeKovacik4928]

Carlos

Yes I am well aware of that.

The Drawing Office Manager knew I had my own software at home, therefore they bought me a desktop and not a laptop.

I take work home on a stick.

They are taking advantage of the fact that I have my own software.

Any way the work at  home is going to stop.

If they want me to do work at home I guess they will have to get me a laptop,

or allow me to load it at home, and do the license transfer thing.

But I do want to keep my  software.

Any freelance work I get will help pay for it.

I have had it since Autocad 2000 way back when I was in Zimbabwe and

had my own business, doing cad draughting services and Autocad Training.

I have kept it upgraded since and even done a stint here in South Africa

(I have been here since 2003) as a contractor using it.

Mike

[CCarreiras]

Again.... you dont have to transfer any license.

If the company license is in maintenance, you can just install the same software with the same serial number  in a second machine an activate the license (it's called the "Home license" ) this is legal while the license are in maintenence (active).

If your company's license is subscription (rental), you can install the software in three diferent machines, you just have to log in with your Autodesk User to use. Dont use more then one machine at the same time. That is not legal: When you go to use another machine, disconet the previous, or turn off the software.

[MikeKovacik4928]

Carlos

Thanks

I didn't realise that you no longer have to transfer licenses

One other question pops to mind.

Remember previously you had to keep up your subscription,

every year. If you missed a year then wanted to upgrade,

you then paid the full price of the software (ie started from scratch)

I presume that has fallen away, now that  there is no ownership,

you either pay your annual subs or else you lose the use.

Mike