Who is still holding onto their Perpetual Licenses?

[mserapiglia]

I am!  I haven't wavered from the position on my Current Ownership,  A Standalone Perpetual License w/ maintenance plan with the software that I have used now for 36 years.  But it's apparent that Autodesk does not want owners anymore:o(  And when did Subscription become Maintenance.  Subscription used to be our annual renewal fee, right?

Hmm, my guess I'm not alone in pondering my future maintenance with this software.

Signed, a sad old timer.. that's still wondering why did Subscription become Maintenance?

[AllenJessup]

I was only going by the links on their website. I've never tried any of the stuff.

[igee]

The debate is not about whether Autodesk (or Mercedes Benz) is a good product or the best product. The debate is about whether it is fair of Autodesk (like Mercedes Benz) to sell me a product for permanent use and then, after conclusion of the sale, implement measures to prevent me from continuing the use of my purchased product. Any reasonable person out there will understand our case. With "our" I refer to keepers of perpetual licenses - those who did not fall for the "offer" (more like trickery) to trade-in perpetual rights for temporary rights.

[pendean]

@igee Their software, their rules, their rules to change, their software to change, their legal advice that they can get away with it, we as end users have never had any control. Ever. Nada. Zip. Not sure why we expect it to change all of a sudden and/or now. We are in an economy and lifestyle that allows it, even encourages it. Know what I mean?

Life is unfair. Running a business is tough. But we live in a time/era/country where we can pivot to best suit our own personal, business and financial needs, and unless retirement is next week it is what we all have to just do when things become impossible.

Good luck.

[mserapiglia]

Let's look at this from another point of view.. 

Let's say you worked hard for some number of years and paid cash for a brand new car from local "Dealer A".. plus each year you paid cash for their extended warranty or "Subscription".  
You loved this new car and drove it every chance you had.  You told all of your colleagues and friends about it, you drove this new car to new projects with your friends and held meetings about how it handles and how we can customize it.   Then out of the blue your local "Dealer A"  emails you that the title to your car will be transferred back to the manufacturer in three years time and you will need to then lease your car from the manufacturer if you want all of the new upgrades and still drive around with your friends. Plus too add insult to injury, over those three years they will be increasing your extended warranty by 5% the 1st year, 10% the 2nd year, and 20% on the 3rd year. 

By now most of us new car buyers have had to deal with this change in our beloved "Perpetual License w/ maintenance plan"  But the question remains. "Is it ethical to do what Autodesk has done?"

Tomorrow is not guaranteed and we know that life does not come cheap, but a contract should still be a contract?  Ownership is still ownership, or do we just simply lay down to the giant before us?

[pendean]

@Anonymous that's the problem, you cannot look at it another way, and Autodesk software as you licensed it was never open-source.

Weird, huh.

Here is an interesting read that affects North America and software companies that reside within that jurisdiction for example https://www.revenera.com/blog/software-monetization/ownership-of-the-software-license-what-does-it-m...
Help yourself to other articles out there on the web (just make sure you understand the source providing them).

[AllenJessup]

Not exactly Apples to Apples. Autodesk has always, long before the current license scheme, maintained that the "License" was more akin to a "Lease". IOW They didn't sell you the software itself but the right to use it.

In their view you still have the right to use it as long as you can keep it operating on your current licensed computer. They never asked for it to returned. They just no longer provide support or Auth Codes for out of date versions that are off the Maintenance plan, out of "warranty".

Autodesk operates on the "Carrot or the Stick" mode. I was lucky to long ago be advised by a very savvy reseller to always go for the Carrot. It's worked out quite well for us.

[AllenJessup]

@pendean I didn't see your post before I posted mine. But I believe what I said is inline with what is being said in the article. I would hope that people would search out a knowledgeable reseller to help them through issues like this.

[pendean]

@AllenJessup Great advice as always. Yes, timing responses around here can be a challenge.

[rkmcswain]

@Anonymous.....or do we just simply lay down to the giant before us?

Autodesk has said Yes, do this.

Don't like it? Switch vendors or challenge them in the legal system. This is not unique to Autodesk either.

[Deiopei]

The link is now broken.

[Deiopei]

I, too, am holding on to AutoCad Revit Suite 2011 and Adobe CS4. I use them vary sparingly, so it's not worth the money for a subscription. It doesn't really make sense to have a subscription, if it not your part-time or full-time job.

So, my computer is still running Win 7 because Autodesk does not guarantee Autocad working on Win 10 if it's earlier than Autocad 2016. I heard a lot of people are running Win 7 in a virtual machine for their older software. Is any one doing this? I am planning to do a dual boot or Win 7 / Win 10 to keep it. 

Thanks!

[pendean]

---

@Deiopei wrote:

The link is now broken.

---

Still works here in North America https://www.revenera.com/blog/software-monetization/ownership-of-the-software-license-what-does-it-m...

[Deiopei]

not that one. This one that is marked as "Solution". https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/learn-explore/caas/simplecontent/content/previous-ver...

[pendean]

@Deiopei First three links are current https://www.google.com/search?q=autodesk+previous+version+support+change

HTH

[lowell]

Yes, I am holding onto mine. I made sure we purchased a perpetual license to avoid the yearly subscription fee. Unfortunately, I went to transfer the license from 1 pc to another via the license manager and I keep getting an error saying my serial number is invalid. 

Ugh, looking into AutoCAD electrical in the meantime. Does AutoDesk offer a perpetual license for ACad Electrical?

Regards - Lowell

[mserapiglia]

I do not believe a Perpetual License is available anymore from any Autodesk
products. All the best, Mike

[igee]

Surprisingly my perpetual license transferred from an old pc to a new one without any hastle (Civil3D 2021). I got a scare when the old PC seized to work and don't know if Autodesk would have helped me regain the license had I not managed to regain access to the broken PC and got the license transferred. Let's trust they would have assisted one of their early investors. I still cannot believe how Autodesk tricked their loyal investors out of their perpetual rights.

[geremy.grote]

You cannot purchase perpetual licenses anymore. I asked Autodesk for help with moving our perpetual licenses to another account, but they would not help since we do not have active subscriptions. My products work and have been moved to different pc's ok, though.

Your problem being with the serial numbers and the product not working, I would like to think that you could send them an email and they would help. I had to include the license number, order number and account name the product was under. Hopefully they can sort you out.

Things to try: (looks like you might have already though)

-double checking product key

-double checking license transfer utility has correct #'s

-both pc's have same version of Acad

Best of luck!

[lowell]

Excellent idea, Thank You for the response.

[rkmcswain]

@igee wrote:

I still cannot believe how Autodesk tricked their loyal investors out of their perpetual rights.

There was no trick. They told us way up front what was coming. You are free to challenge them in court and/or find a different vendor. In fact, Autodesk themselves has said "If you don't see value in subscription, you should probably find another software solution"