Announcing Subscriptions

[jc-s]

I think it's a good idea to try and bring new users on board. I (like many here) wouldn't want to have a monthly subscription, but if it means some new users come on board, when otherwise they wouldn't, that has to be a good thing.

With a subscription, can you drop it for a few months (without access to the software) then pick it up again, so you only pay for the months that you are using it? I could see that being attractive to new users who don't know how often they might be using it. Gives a nice low bar to entry.

 

[Hop]

Hey, put that pitchfork down! I saw you.
....
Hopefully this helps to dramatically expand the Alibre community as we welcome in tons of new folks. Let us know what you think

I think this is a wonderful idea. I have had an Alibre Design Expert license for many years, often with yearly "maintenance" but sometimes not.

I am currently on yearly maintenance because Alibre now allows me to pay for the maintenance on a monthly basis with a direct debit to my checking account. My current maintenance expires in December 2023 and I will probably renew it again for a year, hopefully still paying monthly instead of in one lump-sum as I did in the past. But, given my age (79) and co-morbidities, perhaps a monthly subscription next year might be a better option.

Or maybe not. I have a "perpetual" license for an earlier release of Alibre Design Expert from when I previously declined maintenance, but Alibre makes it easy to convert whatever license I might currently have with maintenance into a perpetual license without maintenance. In other words, I can give up any future improvements by simply foregoing maintenance while still using whatever version I already have. And if, in the future, I notice that Alibre has added some capabilities that I actually need (as opposed to just want to play with), I can pay a penalty and renew the maintenance.

I have actually done this in the past: allow maintenance to expire then wait for improvements before purchasing maintenance and getting the latest upgrades. That wasn't very efficient, nor did it save a lot of money, but I am a (retired) electrical engineer who uses Alibre Design Expert for hobby purposes only. Perhaps some day before I die, someone will pay me to use Alibre Design to design a product or part or some such, but I am not planning on that happening.

I am in the process of finishing the construction of a largish copper plumbing-pipe, octagon, magnetic-loop antenna. It stands about twelve feet tall from the top to the bottom, and of course the same distance between any two opposite sides. I want to use Alibre Design to try to design a variable tuning-capacitor mount that will be electrically inserted in series with the top pipe. It will also extend between the top and bottom sides to provide some rigidity. That variable capacitance, plus the inductance of the copper octagon, will allow me to tune this antenna to resonance over a frequency range of 3.0 to 3.5 MHz, which is the 80m amateur radio band allocated to licensed amateur radio operators with certain classes of license by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

So, this week I fired up Alibre Design Expert V27 on my Dell laptop. I also have V27 installed on my custom-built desktop "tower," but the activation was transferred to the Dell. I will eventually transfer the activation back to the desktop computer after I find enough space in my bedroom "office" for an additional monitor or two.

In the meantime... here I am baaack again, God willing, for awhile.

Hop

 

[chiawei0306]

OK , ready to design
thank you MAX

If you have a one-year subscription, please be careful not to arbitrarily change this account to a one-month subscription in advance, as there will be additional charges.
(各位如果有訂閱一年訂閱,請留意不要在這個帳戶提前任意更改成一個月的訂閱制,會有額外再次收費的問題)

 

[Max]

I think this is a wonderful idea. I have had an Alibre Design Expert license for many years, often with yearly "maintenance" but sometimes not.

I am currently on yearly maintenance because Alibre now allows me to pay for the maintenance on a monthly basis with a direct debit to my checking account. My current maintenance expires in December 2023 and I will probably renew it again for a year, hopefully still paying monthly instead of in one lump-sum as I did in the past. But, given my age (79) and co-morbidities, perhaps a monthly subscription next year might be a better option.

Or maybe not. I have a "perpetual" license for an earlier release of Alibre Design Expert from when I previously declined maintenance, but Alibre makes it easy to convert whatever license I might currently have with maintenance into a perpetual license without maintenance. In other words, I can give up any future improvements by simply foregoing maintenance while still using whatever version I already have. And if, in the future, I notice that Alibre has added some capabilities that I actually need (as opposed to just want to play with), I can pay a penalty and renew the maintenance.

I have actually done this in the past: allow maintenance to expire then wait for improvements before purchasing maintenance and getting the latest upgrades. That wasn't very efficient, nor did it save a lot of money, but I am a (retired) electrical engineer who uses Alibre Design Expert for hobby purposes only. Perhaps some day before I die, someone will pay me to use Alibre Design to design a product or part or some such, but I am not planning on that happening.

I am in the process of finishing the construction of a largish copper plumbing-pipe, octagon, magnetic-loop antenna. It stands about twelve feet tall from the top to the bottom, and of course the same distance between any two opposite sides. I want to use Alibre Design to try to design a variable tuning-capacitor mount that will be electrically inserted in series with the top pipe. It will also extend between the top and bottom sides to provide some rigidity. That variable capacitance, plus the inductance of the copper octagon, will allow me to tune this antenna to resonance over a frequency range of 3.0 to 3.5 MHz, which is the 80m amateur radio band allocated to licensed amateur radio operators with certain classes of license by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

So, this week I fired up Alibre Design Expert V27 on my Dell laptop. I also have V27 installed on my custom-built desktop "tower," but the activation was transferred to the Dell. I will eventually transfer the activation back to the desktop computer after I find enough space in my bedroom "office" for an additional monitor or two.

In the meantime... here I am baaack again, God willing, for awhile.

Hop

Welcome back Hop, it's been too long