Alibre Licensing and expiry

[moyesboy]

Alibre Licensing and expiry

As I understand the alibre licensing:
You buy an Alibre product (e.g. std for $995). This includes maintenance for one year.

You install the product, generate a key for your account so it works on that machine (alibre might let you load it on other machines too for non concurrent use).

After a year (or just before that) Alibre ask for the next years maintenance money (if you are late with that the cost goes up).
At this point you have the choice to renew. If you don't then alibre will send you a key that will keep your Alibre running so you can always access your designs for ever more.

That perennial license for you "expired" version of Alibre. Does it only work on that machine or can you transfer it to new machines and thus keep it working for evermore (operating system permitting)?

Am I right that at the point you let your maintenance lapse you need Alibre to be there for you and to provide this key, otherwise you will not be able to access your data?

I'd prefer to have the perennial license provided at the point of sale so that I can always access my data no matter what happens at or to Alibre. I don't want to be reliant on the actions of an external company to provide me access to my design data at some date in the future, I want to have it by right, forever, whatever happens in the world.

You can guess what prompts this question, suppose it was Dallas and Richardson that were being evacuated just as your license expires...

This is a question from a narrow professional viewpoint.
I wish all you folks in the southern USA well, I hope things turn out well for everyone in the coming days and hope that all your families and friends remain safe.

 

[Larry Brown]

I am under the impression that you continue to run the software offline with the existing key when the maintenance period expires.

Larry Brown

 

[MilesH]

Re:

I am under the impression that you continue to run the software offline with the existing key when the maintenance period expires.

Larry Brown

Not exactly.
See last sentence of reply #24:
http://www.alibre.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... c&start=15

Miles

 

[jemmej]

I don't see anywhere where Greg's reply says that the license key will stop working. Perhaps I missed a point, but, you can always use the last license key to install Alibre on your computer even with a new install (else how would the "first" installation work sucessfully)?

Jim

 

[MilesH]

From everything I've read:

License is perpetual.

Keys are tied to an account and a specific installation and last for the maintenance period only.

To use your license on a different machine you need a new key.

You can have more than one concurrent key, but only one installation of Alibre can be used at a time.

If you decide not to renew maintenance you are entitled to a perpetual key. Not sure how this works with different installations, though...

Jim, you can use your current key to re-install, on the same installation, while it is still valid. Or am I missing something?

Miles

 

[moyesboy]

Reading through Gregs clarification of licencing I see that once your maintenance is expired the software may well be locked to one machine as the perennial key is machine dependent.
I have concerns about that.
If I have alibre legacy data and have moved on to another CAD system I need to br able to access that legacy data after a hardware failure. No point backing up all my data and following a disaster recovery plan if I'm dependant on one machine.
I need to access my data at a future time independant of the existance of Alibre inc. like I can my Autocad and PTC prodesktop data.

"In any event, if there was ever a reason that Alibre was not available to provide license keys we would ensure that all customers had full access to a perpetual license of the software. The licensing scheme is flexible enough to handle this sort of situation".

The implication is that all Alibre users would get some sort of unlock code to run the software sometime before Greg locks the door on his way out.
I'd hope theyt are concerned about the welbeing of their customers in that situation.

I'm not implying that there is any uncertainty in Alibre's future but I am trying to answer questions about this from my CEO who is understandably concerned not to be over reliant on any outside company.

If I bought solidworks I'd always be able to run the software, provided I didn't loose the dongle...hmm you have to insure the dongle for $4000!

 

[MilesH]

I think this does need clarifying. If the perennial key is machine dependent (I'm not completely sure if it is or not) then you need to apply for a new, non time limited, key when you install your legacy version of Alibre on a new machine. Which is the same situation as when you're on maintenance..... I guess Alibre are perhaps understandably reluctant to issue 'universal' perennial keys unless the situation requires it.

Miles

 

[aa68]

Each computer needs its own license key, and sometimes if you make hardware or operating system changes, you have to reinstall your license key for that computer.

If you choose not to keep the maintenance service, you can still contact Alibre Customer Support for license key issues.

 

[jemmej]

That's certainly quite true, but is not the point. The point is, what do you do if you have "license issues" if and when there is no longer Alibre Customer Support?

Jim

 

[bscott.arc-tech.com]

Re:

That's certainly quite true, but is not the point. The point is, what do you do if you have "license issues" if and when there is no longer Alibre Customer Support?

You lose.

This is the major problem with software that requires unique keys or other, similar copy protection mechanisms. If the source of those keys becomes unavailable, the software effectively dies. Possible causes include: Going out of business; change in product focus; change in ownership; change in management; change in business conditions; changes in technology.

What happens when EvilCorp decides they aren't making enough money, and so stops handing out keys? Instant cash flow as all the holdouts have to upgrade! Substitute Alibre, AutoDesk, Microsoft, etc. for "EvilCorp" as you please.

Note well: I am not bashing today's Alibre here, nor am I saying Alibre has to turn into EvilCorp or go out of business some day. What I am saying is the possibility is a real one, and people should at least consider the ramifications.

 

[moyesboy]

Hmm. This is a difficult one.
Even if you have a perpetual key then you still cannot get the software running on a new machine should alibre not be there to generate a new key for you (ruling out digging into how the key works and how it identifies the PC).
So your design data is only as secure as the reliability of the machine you put your perpetual license on. ie not very good. What happens when your have a beak in and your pc is stolen - no amount of off site backups will help you.
If you compare to another system where you buy a license and you get a hardware key, then you can always get at your design data provided you can still get a computer that has the right port to plug the key into (and you don't lose that $4000 key!). Now perhaps you are more likely to lose that key than you are your PC, but the key is more likely to keep working for 10 years than the PC...

For many users long term access to the design data is not an issue. If you regularly "finish" descrete projects then it may well not matter. However for us our design data is what our company is built on and continues to build on - so losing access to it would cripple us. We still refer to the first design we did in dos based autocad!
So you would enter into a sort of partnership with Alibre and your future would depend in a large way on the success of Alibre as well.

 

[macinc]

I would think that if the program is shelved for something new then Alibre would have to continue to support the program as far as key issues, or offer free upgrades to the current product provided it can import the files of the retired program. An example may be PTC discontinuing ProDesktop.

http://www.ptc.com/products/desktop/faq2.htm

I would imagine that if Alibre went belly-up, some innovative companies would then have an open door to design a conversion utility to import the native files into another program?, Or given the demand, "hack" the keys?

 

[lcguias]

When the V8 and the new licensing was release I post a poll.
I was surprised that most of users were " indifferent"

Maybe we should take that poll again and get the V9 to be "machine free"
(like SW is !)


Dan

 

[indesign]

From what I can tell of the install process and the keys is that you are allowed up to 3 installs per license. But the only way they can tell if more than 1 is running is if it was working online at any given time. So that would mean if you can work offline then they couldn't tell if you were using it on more than 1 system at a time?

To get the key though you need to call or be online. If Alibre were to go 'belly up" it seems you could continue using the software on the already installed systems but if you had to reinstall you have a problem. But if the hardkey on some systems are lost, stolen, burned up by spike, or damaged in any other way then you are screwed as well. It seems the entire industry has the same issue.

I have other software with the same issues and other things like Windows updates that cause software to stop functioning. I am running windows 98 on a $260,000 machine with no way to upgrade.

There is no way of knowing what this company or any other could be doing in 10 years so all we can do is .............PRAY!

 

[moyesboy]

Re:

I am running windows 98 on a $260,000 machine with no way to upgrade.

$260,000 running win98! Thats a lot of hardware value and a very dated operating system!

 

[indesign]

Re:

I KNOW!!

That is the point. There are systems/software out there where there are no cheap options available for support or renewal or upgrade. Any proprietary system has limits on what you can do with it if the company who made it never releases any code but will not or can not support the original system.

The manufacturer of this machine was bought out and the new owner needs to make money so they do not offer upgrade options for the original software. This means new controls to get new software is the only option. The cost of which would be $30-40k. The owners would never pay this much just to run a newer better software or a new version of windows.