AD: Subscription Transition for New Software Licenses

[Hirazi Blue]

Read it and weep:
Autodesk Details Subscription Transition for New Software Licenses

SAN RAFAEL, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today Autodesk, Inc. (Nasdaq:ADSK) announced that new commercial seats of most standalone desktop software products will be available only by Desktop Subscription beginning February 1, 2016. Through these changes, Autodesk is continuing its transition to subscription-based offerings for its products, which provide customers a simplified product management and deployment experience, and makes it easier to introduce new tools and technology into the workflow with lower upfront cost and the ability to pay as you go.

[owei]

Nice find! Well...good NOT to be an AD customer anymore..for good sake

[Daniel Brassard]

Some notable quotes:

Autodesk customers who have purchased perpetual licenses prior to February 1, 2016 will be able to continue to use those licenses, and customers on Maintenance Subscription will continue to receive corresponding benefits for as long as their subscription remains active.

For full details on today’s announcement and subscription options, please visit http://www.autodesk.com/perpetuallicenses

[MauricioPC]

Nice find! Well...good NOT to be an AD customer anymore..for good sake

Welcome C4D and Houdini.

[BenR]

And here's the FAQ

3.6 How long can current Maintenance Subscription customers remain on Maintenance Subscription?
While Autodesk is announcing our plans to discontinue the sale of new perpetual seals, we are not eliminating Maintenance Subscription. Maintenance Subscription customers that remain in good standing on their Maintenance contracts can expect to remain on Maintenance for the foreseeable future.
The multi-year Maintenance Subscription discount will no longer be offered.

[Daniel Brassard]

Here is a quick and dirty little summary for you. It has some flaws but you get the jest of it.

This chart is for single license purchase only, large site license deal do not apply.

I chose 5 years because it shows the year where annual desktop subscription cost overtake the initial purchase plus maintenance option. Between 1 to 4 years, the desktop model cost less than initial purchase+plus annual maintenance current offering. Their is no scenario better that pure maintenance option considering that the initial investment is in the past therefore assumed amortized at year one.

The monthly and quaterly scenario only work if you have a need for the suite for a very short period. If you already have made the investment, staying on maintenance make sense. All the other options are heavily in favour of AD.

Cheers!

[talent103]

Jebus! So it will be cheaper if I stay on Maintenence. Will I still get upgrades to Maya/ Max etc? I have a sub to Ultimate. I certainly did not pay $6000 plus for it. Got a fire sale on XSI from avid right before they sold to Autodesk. About $1800 Upgraded to Maya / XSI creation suite. for about $1200 and was upgraded to ultimate with the Migration for free. So it feels like it makes sense to continue on sub if I want to stay in the industry. At least for the time being.

[talent103]

However this worries me in a "the future is bright kind of way".

"Maintenance Subscription customers that remain in good standing on their Maintenance contracts can expect to remain on Maintenance for the foreseeable future."

[Daniel Brassard]

Did the same thing as you John and you still have access to the upgrades when available as part of the maintenance contract (until AD decide to mess with that). For me staying on ultimate maintenance program make sense. The saving can then be put elsewhere (Modo, Houdini, ZBrush, C4D you name it).

As an example, my maintenance contract this year will be $1090 +tax/rates, an annual desktop subscription is $2730 +tax/rates. That is a difference of $1640 in one year alone. You can apply that difference toward Houdini, C4D, ZBrush, etc.

Agreed, "for the foreseable future" make me worried too but the money will be in my pocket not theirs, I can decide at that time to terminate if necessary and I can use the saving toward buying and learning a new package at my own leasure, not under pressure. Pure Freelance economics .... maximize your profit margin, stay competitive, open to new market, innovate!

[MauricioPC]

For those of use who still don't own, we are *********.

[Hirazi Blue]

edit: removed a post quoting the "Softimage last release announcement FAQ" to not add needlesslly to the general confusion that is Autodesk...

[Daniel Brassard]

Good reminder.

[Rez007]

Hirazi,

After Feb 1, 2016, you can still use Softimage forever in a perpetual state, even if you are no longer on Subscription. If you are not on Subscription, you just wont be able to access the download for it anymore, so you should have it all backed up. These are perpetual license that have been purchase and can be used indefinitely - stated and clarified by Jill and luceric.

https://www.si-community.com/forum/v ... 7&start=20

It is in my conversation with Jill and links (luceric's posts) and references can be found in my posts.

[Hirazi Blue]

The FAQ (edit: potentially a legal document) still is unclear and that would seem the first place to look in these matters... ;)

edit & PS: not that I still care BTW.

[Rez007]

Currently, I am on the Softimage/Maya bundle. So I guess if I would want Max for some work projects I should probably make the upgrade before Feb 1, 2016? Staying on Maintenance would be a lot cheaper then.

I also wish Autodesk would do away with their awkward naming convention - it gets really confusing. 'Subscription' should reference the traditional model that has been in place for years, and 'rental' should mean just that, renting...none of this desktop/maintenance subscription lingo.

[Rez007]

The FAQ still is unclear and that would seem the first place to look in these matters... ;)

I think Jill mentioned that she was going to bring it AD's attention, but AD seems to be slow on fixing that from what I at least understood - I wish they still kept Jill on past her contract. I believe Maruice, over on the list, might have stated something similar to what I mentioned as well. It would be nice though, if AD would give a distinct clarification of what will happen.

In my opinion: I do not think AD will discontinue use of Softimage for people that are not on Subscription. You purchased it, you have a legal point of sale. They would open themselves up to legal issues if they did that.