School Version Compatibility

Anonymous · ‎07-30-2018

I am from a school in Australia and like a lot of other schools this issue of updates and version compatibility is a big issue in schools. As it means students are often left unable to work and partake in class if Fusion 360 had a recent update. As teacher’s, we often don’t have administrative access to update the software. Fusion 360 is an excellent cloud-based CAD, CAM and generative design program. It may still be in the early stages, but it has a lot of potential, as new improvements and increased tools are constantly added. However, this problem within a school environment is a deal breaker for many schools.

Autodesk’s initiative and investment in schools have been a clear goal for many years. This has been a great benefit for students and Autodesk alike. I have searched through the forums for a solution and I found others having this issue all the way back to 2016. I couldn’t find a direct solution to this problem and would be very appreciative if there was one.

If there isn’t one I thought of a few possible ideas:

1) Student accounts do not automatically update, rather, they are synced to the Fusion 360 Lab Installation (school computers). Therefore, when the students’ login to Fusion 360 on the school computers and there is a new version, the next time they log in to their individual laptop or computer with Fusion 360 it updates to the school’s version.

2) Versions are backwards compatible for at least 3 months

3) Similar to the first suggestion, students accounts are linked to the school. This link happens at the very beginning while students are signing up and answer which school they are from. Then each time the school completes a lab installation update the students' accounts are asked to update their version to match the schools.

I am happy to work through this and give feedback, so all parties can find a solution.

I believe @dan.banach might have a solution from one forum talking about Version updates under DEEPFREEZE.

Thank you,
Matthew Sherwen

dan.banach · ‎07-30-2018

Hi Matthew,

Thanks for the post. I'll let our Fusion team respond to your suggestions.

For your Faronics Deep Freeze question, Faronics Software Updater Service is an add-on component available to Deep Freeze Enterprise and Deep Freeze Cloud customers. Software Updater Service automatically downloads, installs, and updates selected software applications (includes Fusion 360) on computers managed by Deep Freeze Cloud or Deep Freeze Enterprise (through Deep Freeze Cloud Connector).

Here is how to contact Faronics:

Web: www.faronics.com
Email: sales@faronics.com
Phone: 800-943-6422

Hope this helps.

-Dan

Anonymous · ‎07-31-2018

Thanks for the comment Dan, I will have a look into faronics, and pass it on to our IT department.

I will wait for a response from the fusion team regarding the compatibility issue.

randyT9V9C · ‎08-09-2018

@Anonymous,

We are a mac environment and are using jamf to push out updates to the lab. This has greatly improved the the speed at which we can keep current. The biggest issue we find with updates is the fact they are often released at the end of the week and often followed by another shortly thereafter. This can create real issues at the start the the week.

I really like the idea of allowing student accounts to hold off on updates until labs are updated. Nothing worse than having a student lose time because they did some changes at home that can't readily be opened at school.

A work around is to export the files using the A360 web interface and re-import them. Messy but works in a pinch.

Anonymous · ‎08-13-2018

@randyT9V9C
Nice tip about using Mac computers, we are currently running a PC environment. However, it would still have the issue of the students updating the software at home like you said. Yes, I agree, quite a pain when the students are diligently improving their design at home then it can't be opened at school.

Thanks, I will try looking into exporting via A360 in a pinch.

I went through the forums and found some other educators and students looking for a solution to the compatibility issue too.

@oliver.young
@ed.casey
@cpatterson
@landenbc
@loosus456
@gwhHW84N
@PaulBraun
@dzulkiewski
@Binga
@spurlcon000
@Michael_3Dtech
@22mobreza
@noel.fabro
@cleland.westley

@sokunAE76J
@love2fish
@steve.corson

Anonymous · ‎01-18-2019

Morning all,

I am in the same situation and it drives us crazy. Today is a great example (01/18/19), as I have just found out that it has updated last night once again and now I will not be able to teach 3 of my lessons in class today (as the students work will not open on my now older version of Fusion). It takes a while to organize for the IT tech to have the time to come and update two IT suites of PCs running the software as there is no simple way to run the update on all machines at once (he has to come and flash each one individually to work the update)

Is there no way to develop a network version that will update in the background ?

The software is great, we love teaching it and the support is fantastic but these small random updates are driving us crazy

Matt

dan.banach · ‎01-18-2019

Hi Matt,

Sorry about this issue. To reduce the surprise about the lab updates, you can sign up to be notified about the lab updates by doing the following:

1. Go to: www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/all

2. Login with an Educator or School System IT Administrator role

3. Scroll down the list of software and click “Fusion 360 for Educational Institutions” (intended for lab use)

4. In step "3" on the site, click "Click here to be notified"

5. Enter the email address of the person who should receive the notification emails.

I hope this helps reduce the surprises about the lab updates.

-Dan

Anonymous · ‎02-01-2019

thanks Dan,

Sadly this does not alleviate the need to still update each machine individually. is there no network version in the works?

Cheers

M

Anonymous · ‎10-07-2019

This is very frustrating. Is there a way that our IT staff could update all PC's across 2 suites at the same time. At the moment we have to do this one at a time - not a workable solution.