Autodesk maintenance plan going away - only subscription in the future

[rkent]

Anyone else get the letter from Autodesk telling you the maintenance plan is being phased out with prices for the next 3 years going up through 2019? The implication is that in 2020 you won't be able to keep a permanent license current so companies will have to go on yearly subscription or get off the upgrade train.

 

I know the program is good enough and has been for a long time and I will keep the permanent license and just not get anymore upgrades. I should be out of the game by 2021 anyway so the timing is perfect.

[ReMark]

Yes. Received a similar email this past Thursday. Not sure what we will do yet.

[rkmcswain]

I do not believe there is any force being used, other than financial, to move users from perpetual to rental.

 

The letter is here: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/moving-to-subscription/welcome/td-p/6916135

[ReMark]

While we have four licenses (two-full ACAD, one-LT and one-Electrical) only two are on subscription and one of those, Electrical, will probably be dropped.

[f700es]

I can see making the switch if the 60% discount can be my fixed price going forward (from the linked page). I have 2 copies of Design Suite Premium and 1 copy of Infrastructure Design Suite Premium and 6 LT. I can drop the IDSP and move the 2 DSP to the new A/E/C Collection and get the software we had in the IDSP. It would almost be a wash in price if I can get the discount going forward. I've put in this question to my re-seller. We'll see.

[rkent]

I do not believe there is any force being used, other than financial, to move users from perpetual to rental.

 

The letter is here: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/moving-to-subscription/welcome/td-p/6916135

 

I never said anyone was being forced, for now there is still a choice to keep perpetual and pay a lot more each year for the upgrade. Since they state they are a company moving to subscription only, the implication is pretty clear that in 2020 or so everyone will have to move to subscription or jump off the upgrade train and keep the perpetual license.

[Cad64]

From Steve Johnson's blog:

http://www.blog.cadnauseam.com/2017/03/05/bull****-returns-autodesk-maintenance-price-hike-part-1/

 

You will have to replace the **** in the link with the relevant letters which have been blocked by the forum software.

 

 

There's also a great post by Bertrand Benoit in this thread:

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/moving-to-subscription/buh-bye-permanent-license/m-p/6918037/highlight/true#M132217

 

Scroll down to post #5.

[f700es]

My favorite piece of BS so far......

 

"Because managing two business models (subscription and maintenance plans) is costly,..."

 

Poor little dears

[Cad64]

My favorite piece of BS so far......

 

"Because managing two business models (subscription and maintenance plans) is costly,..."

 

Poor little dears

 

Yeah, no kidding.

 

So here's a wild and crazy idea. Instead of getting rid of the maintenance plans and locking all their loyal customers into costly subscriptions that they can never escape from, why don't they dump the subscription BS and just keep on with the maintenance plans?

[f700es]

Whoa, Rod! Your going to have to keep those 'crazy' ideas to your self man. How is AutoDesk supposed to survive with that business model?

[Cad64]

Yeah, I know. I'm a wild man with wild ideas.

[tzframpton]

I guess I'm the only one who's on board with the subscription model? Seems to make things great for me. It makes sense both financially and logistically. I have two licenses of AEC Industry Suite and I couldn't be happier with the price and the amount of software I get.

 

-TZ

[f700es]

I am not against it but I am against spending more money a year. My 2 seats of BDSP are about $1,100 each and 1 seat of IDSP is $1,200 with 6 seats of LT are something. The A/E/C suit is $2,800 each a year. No savings for me.

 

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[tzframpton]

I am not against it but I am against spending more money a year. My 2 seats of BDSP are about $1,100 each and 1 seat of IDSP is $1,200 with 6 seats of LT are something. The A/E/C suit is $2,800 each a year. No savings for me.

 

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The AEC I.C. is $2,800/yr, but has more programs than BDSU, and no up-front purchase. Sure, BDSP/U has a cheaper annual subscription but there is a huge investment on the front end ($17k for BDSU, can't remember what it was for BDSP).

 

AEC I.C. would take 7 years to match the BDSU + Subscription costs.

 

So, people who do need the equivalent to BDSU are getting a bit of a bargain. To those who don't need it, and only need one or two programs, are paying more in the end. Take my personal example... for me to begin my business endeavor as I did almost twenty months ago now, I would have needed $17k sitting around just to purchase BDSU since I need AutoCAD full, Revit OneBox, and Navisworks as an absolute bare minimum. Instead, I was able to rent BDSU for one year for $4k. This year, it switched to the Industry Collections, which gave me what I needed and more (for instance, BDSU didn't come with ReCap Pro, AEC I.C. does) for even cheaper at $2,800 per year. Saving $17k for someone to launch into his own, legally, would have been a major undertaking to say the least. I think this will boost more companies to get into software that they couldn't previously get because of high-cost scenarios for smaller companies, or managers/superiors that flinch at high-cost software for their CAD department without fully understanding the eventual investment advantages.

 

In all this could prove to be a major boost in our industry since the high-cost out right purchase for items like BDSU are now entirely reasonable for companies to purchase, thus putting the young and aspiring CAD designer, or the optimistic and curious long time CAD designer to get their hands on many more solutions. I've heard that the ones who will be negatively affected are your giant corporate firms who have a large amount of licenses, and your smaller single CAD designer at a company, or single freelancer CAD designer who only needs one or two programs. Everyone else should technically benefit if you add it all up.

 

-TZ

[f700es]

For new users of course it's a savings as they no other option for getting AutoDesk software now that subscription is the only option available But I pay less for both BDSP and IDSP for about the same number of applications ($1,100 + $1,200

Now if they let me lock in a price with the 60% discount then I am ALL on-board with it. I can drop the IDSP and move my 2 seats of BDSP over to the A/E/C collections.

[rkmcswain]

I never said anyone was being forced, for now there is still a choice to keep perpetual and pay a lot more each year for the upgrade. Since they state they are a company moving to subscription only, the implication is pretty clear that in 2020 or so everyone will have to move to subscription or jump off the upgrade train and keep the perpetual license.

 

Actually, that is exactly what was said.

 

The statement "everyone will have to move to subscription" is exactly the same as "being forced".

 

Maybe not at this moment, but it's coming.

 

And this is ±18 months after the now co-CEO said (bold text is from me)

 

Do we have any plans to end maintenance? No we don’t, and our current intent is to keep the program running as long as our customers use it. Just like we don’t have plans to force customers to adopt subscription. If a customer wants to keep using their perpetual license, then they can continue to do so. If they want that perpetual software to be upgraded with the latest and greatest from Autodesk, then I encourage them to take advantage of maintenance. Keeping maintenance for our most loyal customers is the right thing to do.

[rkmcswain]

I guess I'm the only one who's on board with the subscription model?

 

Who knows, but I think what most people would be happy with, is a choice.

 

When Autodesk first introduced rental several years ago, people did have a choice, and they overwhelmingly chose perpetual licenses on maintenance. Not rental.

[ReMark]

It all depends are who you work for and what you do. Heck, we have a recent addition to this forum who claims to be using release 14 which if I recall correctly came out in 1997. That's twenty years of not spending one more dime than he had to. Certainly must stick in AutoDesk's craw. LOL

[f700es]

Rental is a great option for temp or contract workers.

[f700es]

IIRC R14 is one of the last editions that doesn't call home when it is installed