Inventor 2010 reinstall, am I screwed?

[Anonymous]

Work computer got wiped after a ransom ware attack. I can't get Inventor 2010 to work

It looks like Autodesk just decided to invalidate my software. Am I screwed? I am having a hard time understanding how this is even legal. I get it that they want to force everyone onto the subscription service, but this strikes me as over the top strong arm tactics. My department has moved away from Autodesk anyways, but it would be nice to be able to work with the old files natively.

[leowarren34]

Hi @Anonymous,

In short, pretty much.

From August 31st Autodesk Discontinued Activation of 2010 products and older.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/learn-explore/caas/simplecontent/content/previous-version-support-change.html 

[pball]

It might not be enough, but you can download a trial of a current version and run the read only mode and be able to access any files you have.

[Anonymous]

"You can continue to use any previous version in your possession, as long as it doesn't violate the product's terms of use. "

I can't imagine the terms of use prohibit reinstallation.

Prohibiting my reinstall strikes me as illegal. The stupid thing is they still keep patch files active, but don't let you reinstall legally owned software.

[pendean]

You do whatever your pocketbook will allow with legal counsel against a commercial giant like Autodesk, in the meantime here is the statement from Autodesk that explains the changes:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/learn-explore/caas/simplecontent/content/previous-ver...

[Anonymous]

@pendean, that is what class action suits are all about. Everyone with an authentic product, 10 years and older has been impacted. I suspect that is a rather large class for the potential class action, and as these types of professional software are not cheap, so that would be a decent pay-out per class member.  I'll not bother filing suit, but I will sign up for a few grand on my company's behalf when some lawyer looking for an easy payout starts digging around.

But beyond all of the legal implications; is this really how Autodesk wants to run their business? 
It will certainly impact any software decision I have any say in over going forward, and I have another 2 decades or so in the field ahead of me.

and if you'll notice, I already quoted the major lie in that link.
'You can continue to use any previous version in your possession"

[RobDraw]

Yours is a common opinion and most likely a common mistake. There is a huge difference between perpetual and permanent. In order for something to be perpetual, there are certain conditions for perpetuity to happen. Something that is permanent will exist despite changing conditions. So, you can continue to use the software as long as the original conditions still exist. 

Also, from Autodesk's point of view, 10 years without a purchase pretty much means you aren't a customer anymore. Why should they continue to help you run your software when you are no longer capable of it?

[Anonymous]

If they had clearly indicated that the software would be cancelled in 10 years, in the beginning, there would be no complaint. That isn't they deal they sold us on back then. If they want people to upgrade, they need to make enough improvements to justify it. Their annual updates don't justify it on its own, so they decided to force people to upgrade and create a continuous income stream. That isn't a deal I was willing to push my company into making. That is a big part of why we moved away from Inventor. This just reinforces my opinion that stepping away was the right move.

ps. If they don't want to deal with old software, why the last service pack? It wasn't out a few years ago when I changed boxes.

[RobDraw]

What your saying has been said many times already. You conveniently ignored the finer details, though. The biggest one is that you can still be using the software if you met the conditions of perpetuity. If you were still running it on the OS it was designed for you might have a leg to stand on. Yeah, Autodesk was helping people out by supporting older versions on newer systems but never guaranteed that it would continue working. They officially stopped support a long time ago. The writing was on the wall that an upgrade was going to be necessary. Why didn't you start questioning it back then?

[Anonymous]

@RobDraw I never once complained it didn't work on Windows 10 or whatever. Any incompatibility issues on that end would be completely on me or the IT people to figure out. My complaint is I can't register this software period. They have decided to make it impossible activate the software on the same machine it was previously installed on. 

[pendean]

Knock yourself out my friend: I look forward to the findings and actions in 3-5-10-20 years from whenever that gets started.

In the meantime I would focus on finding an alternate, unless retirement is on the horizon.

[RobDraw]

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@Anonymous wrote:

@RobDraw I never once complained it didn't work on Windows 10 or whatever. Any incompatibility issues on that end would be completely on me or the IT people to figure out. My complaint is I can't register this software period. They have decided to make it impossible activate the software on the same machine it was previously installed on. 

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So, my point was that at any given update, you could be required to reactivate the software. Autodesk has stopped automatic generation of re-activation codes for older versions. I believe it is because the servers that were doing the automatic generation have been deactivated. So, anything that happens to your computer that requires reactivation will make you dead in the water. Like I said, if you were still on the same machine with the same OS, you might have a leg to stand on as far as perpetuity and legal aspects is concerned.

[Anonymous]

and my point is that I have a license to run the software. It didn't come with a time limit. They intentionally decided to invalidate that license. They could easily reroute their validation location of just eliminate it with patch #5 if that is the concern on their end. They could do email validation. There is plenty they could do, but what they chose to do was was give myself and others like me the middle finger.
Instead of just instinctively defending your preferred corporate overlord, think about it what it means with it becoming more and more common for software being required to run hardware and requiring all these hoops to be jumped through. Look at Tesla, and now BMW using software to enable options and charging for them. Tesla has already deactivated options that have been paid for, just because the car changed hands. Stuff like that is going to become common-place. What are actions like these going to mean going forward? How long before your dish washer manufacturer decides your should be required to upgrade every 5 years regardless of its condition with software updates? Is everything going to become a subscription service? It is really not hard at all to visualize just how slippery this slope is. I'm shocked people are defending these actions. Whatever. I got my answer. no more Inventor. 

[RobDraw]

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@Anonymous wrote:

and my point is that I have a license to run the software. It didn't come with a time limit.

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And if you had taken the necessary steps, you could still be running it. There was plenty of time to prepare.

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@Anonymous wrote:

They intentionally decided to invalidate that license.

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No, the changes to your system invalidated it.

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@Anonymous wrote:

They could easily reroute their validation location of just eliminate it with patch #5 if that is the concern on their end. They could do email validation. There is plenty they could do, but what they chose to do was was give myself and others like me the middle finger.

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Again, support ended a long time ago. You could have taken measures to prevent deactivation and they would have helped you out, if you took the time to prepare and ask questions. Hardly the middle finger.

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@Anonymous wrote:

Instead of just instinctively defending your preferred corporate overlord, 

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I'm not defending anything. I'm just stating the facts as I see them. I saw the writing on the wall a long time ago, bowed my head, and relinquished my version of 2000 for more state of the art software.

[Anonymous]

What steps could prevent losing access when a hard drive gets rewritten?

installing it on multiple machines would be against the license limitations.

a fresh install is not a system change

again, what could have been done to preserve access to the license?

I am guessing your 2000 copy of Autocad would still work. I know someone running 2004 on a Windows 10 machine.

[RobDraw]

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@Anonymous wrote:

What steps could prevent losing access when a hard drive gets rewritten?

installing it on multiple machines would be against the license limitations.

a fresh install is not a system change

again, what could have been done to preserve access to the license?

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Yes, those are the question you should have been asking to prevent losing access to the program.

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@Anonymous wrote:

I am guessing your 2000 copy of Autocad would still work. I know someone running 2004 on a Windows 10 machine.

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Yup, not perfectly but probably could. Not concerned about such old software at all.

[Anonymous]

"Yes, those are the question you should have been asking to prevent losing access to the program."

@RobDraw you are the one claiming there is something I could have done to prevent the loss of the license without warning. The only options I can think of would be illegal.  Are you suggesting to people that they make illegal copies of their software just in case the company disables your license?

[RobDraw]

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@Anonymous wrote:

@RobDraw you are the one claiming there is something I could have done to prevent the loss of the license without warning. 

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That's not important now but if it wasn't true then you could factually say that Autodesk discontinued your license despite the fact that you are still running it on a supported OS.

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@Anonymous wrote:

The only options I can think of would be illegal.  Are you suggesting to people that they make illegal copies of their software just in case the company disables your license?

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I said no such thing. I suggested that you should have prepared yourself and Autodesk would have helped you if you couldn't figure it out. Too late for that now though.

[pendean]

Jumping in for a quick note then you two can go back to it...

>>>...Work computer got wiped...<<<
Changes to an HD ( reformatting or new, or whatever you want to call wiping and starting over regardless of reason to do so) has always been considered a license re authorization trigger. Always. Still does. It's an old anti-piracy tool Autodesk and all other older software companies used and still use. HTH

... and back out.

[Anonymous]

and I suppose you contact every software vender each year to ask them if they are planning on invalidating your software license in the upcoming year.