From SolidWorks to Creo to F360 to ... Alibre?

[Another CAD user]

The time has come – I need a new 3D CAD.

After being disgusted with SolidWorks/DS borderline legal business practices – I worked as a technician/programmer for a big local “Value Added Reseller” … no value added, strictly drug dealer (VAR) / drug addict (customer) relationship.

After being shocked how ridiculously bad and obsolete PTC Creo was compared to Solidworks.

I work for a little startup now and Fusion360 is holding our data hostage. Each day we use F360 the bigger the risk is. I don't understand how companies entrust their existence to Autodesk.

No more.
I need another CAD. Not as bad as Creo, absolutely no cloud like F360, not produced by a bunch of assholes like SolidWorks.
AFAIK there are only two. ZW3D and Alibre.
There is almost no information about ZW3D. So realistically there is only Alibre.

Before I commit myself to Alibre I have a few questions to verify that Alibre is not SolidWorks in disguise.

1. Is it possible to purchase totally offline version of Alibre Design? To have a peace of mind that I can install AD and open my native design files even when Alibre cease to exist and licence servers are long gone.
It is nice to buy a “permanent” license, but it is not really permanent if you have to ask some remote license server for permission.
It is almost the same hostage situation as with F360 – when Alibre goes bankrupt my business go bankrupt.

2. Are native AD part/asm files encrypted to prevent users modifying them externally?
I don’t care if it is some non-documented proprietary format I just don’t want them to be intentionally encrypted … SolidWorks.

3. Can older Alibre version open part/asm saved from newer Alibre version?
For example file is created in Alibre 2022 and my colleague has Alibre 2020 – can he open and edit the native file and vice versa? Native, not STEP.
Classic Solidworks chain infestation strategy.

4. Is it possible to save native part/asm file as older format for older AD versions?
For example with AutoCAD I can save drawing as DWG version 2003.

5. Is the native part/asm file format compatible with all Alibre products?
Can Alibre Workshop open and at least to some extend edit files from Alibre Expert – native files, not neutral formats?
Can Alibre Pro user open and edit sheetmetal part file from Alibre Expert?

6. Is it possible to upgrade from Alibre Pro to Alibre Expert?
At this time we don’t need sheetmetal but in the future some basic sheetmetal would be nice.

7. Is the license geographically limited in any way? Can I live in Germany, buy AD from South Africa reseller, and then move my business to Brazil with the same license?
When maintenance is active does it “travel” with me or do I have to ask my South African friends for help when I am in Brazil?

I will appreciate the answers both from sales representatives and users.
Thanks.

 

[Max]

Welcome to our community!

I work for a little startup now and Fusion360 is holding our data hostage. Each day we use F360 the bigger the risk is. I don't understand how companies entrust their existence to Autodesk.

No comment.

1. Is it possible to purchase totally offline version of Alibre Design? To have a peace of mind that I can install AD and open my native design files even when Alibre cease to exist and licence servers are long gone.
It is nice to buy a “permanent” license, but it is not really permanent if you have to ask some remote license server for permission.
It is almost the same hostage situation as with F360 – when Alibre goes bankrupt my business go bankrupt.

We've been in business since 1997, if that matters to you. But related to your question directly, there is no "permanent" licensing mechanism. You can work offline for a year at a time, but yearly must "reactivate", a quick process. However, in the extraordinarily unlikely event that we were to go bankrupt, we would simply issue truly permanent licensing to our customers prior to that. There has to be some balance between our business interests and making simple software-side license key validation that involves no servers is just too easy to crack. But, in the event of the unthinkable, implementing that is not hard to do and is something we would do.

2. Are native AD part/asm files encrypted to prevent users modifying them externally?
I don’t care if it is some non-documented proprietary format I just don’t want them to be intentionally encrypted … SolidWorks.

No they are not encrypted.

3. Can older Alibre version open part/asm saved from newer Alibre version?
For example file is created in Alibre 2022 and my colleague has Alibre 2020 – can he open and edit the native file and vice versa? Native, not STEP.
Classic Solidworks chain infestation strategy.

No. However, we recently implemented side-by-side installations so moving forward you can have v25 next to v26 next to v27 etc. This allows you to open older files natively in the native version and modify as needed.

4. Is it possible to save native part/asm file as older format for older AD versions?
For example with AutoCAD I can save drawing as DWG version 2003.

No, and honestly this is not something a ton of people want. This and 3) are doable in theory and in many ways are the same thing, but there just aren't enough people that care about this for us to justify the time it takes to do it. If that changes we would consider it. An exception to this is in drawings whare we let you target older versions of DWG/DXF, as well as older versions of 3D export formats.

5. Is the native part/asm file format compatible with all Alibre products?
Can Alibre Workshop open and at least to some extend edit files from Alibre Expert – native files, not neutral formats?
Can Alibre Pro user open and edit sheetmetal part file from Alibre Expert?

Generally speaking, with the exception of Sheet Metal files, lower versions can all open files from higher versions. However, if those files actively use a feature that is not available in the lower version, the file will open read-only. So a block with fillets made in Expert can be opened and edited in Atom3D. If there is a Hole Feature or a Wrap Feature on it, however, it will open as Read-Only in Atom3D. There's no meaningful licensing if lower versions can all open and edit freely things that use higher-level features.

6. Is it possible to upgrade from Alibre Pro to Alibre Expert?
At this time we don’t need sheetmetal but in the future some basic sheetmetal would be nice.

Yes, easily.

7. Is the license geographically limited in any way? Can I live in Germany, buy AD from South Africa reseller, and then move my business to Brazil with the same license?
When maintenance is active does it “travel” with me or do I have to ask my South African friends for help when I am in Brazil?

These resellers are their own companies with their own policies. The South African reseller might not, for example, sell you software if it doesn't think it can support you in your language. Or South Africa might have restrictions of some kind about selling to non-South-Africans. I'm making this up but you get the idea that it's not necessarily always that simple and little of it is controlled by us.

Generally speaking a customer can work with whomever they want, and on a case-by-case basis that includes working with us directly if you're outside the US. That happens very rarely, but it does happen. If you're the kind of person who may live in 5 countries over 8 years, it might make sense for you to work directly with Alibre versus a reseller. That would obligate you to Alibre's support hours, which may or may not be an issue for you.

But you can pick up, move, etc. without having to ask us - there is nothing that "checks" to see if your current location is your "expected" location, we just don't care about that.


I'm the CEO. My email is max@alibre.com, and my cell is 972 805 6697. Let me know if you have any questions. Cheers!

 

[Another CAD user]

Max,
thank you for your answers. I am honored that the CEO is responding on the discussion forum.

Yes, it is a fair approach with the online reactivation and if there is a problem, issue a permanent license.

I'm a little sad that I can't save native data for an older version of AD and cooperate with someone who doesn't have paid maintenance - I get it, it's bad for business. I hope you change it in the future but understand if not.

About upgrading from Pro to Expert. Do I understand correctly that I would only need to pay the difference in price? 1399 - 799 = 600 bucks?

I'm surprised the Alibre resellers don't have their hands tied - that is great! SolidWorks VARs (at least in the EU) are under strict corporate supervision and must meet quotas and adhere to rules, including cartel agreements and minimum VAR margins, in order not to compete with each other.
And yes, the SolidWorks license is tied to the place of business - an EU citizen cannot buy a license from the US, where it costs half as much. At least it was like that about 8 years ago, I guess it is even worse now.

Once we finish the project, we'll switch to Alibre I guess.

One more question. When I have an assembly of 100 parts and one of them is sheetmetal. Can I edit the asm, the remaining 99 parts, with the Pro license? Or is the whole asm read only?

 

[Max]

One more question. When I have an assembly of 100 parts and one of them is sheetmetal. Can I edit the asm, the remaining 99 parts, with the Pro license? Or is the whole asm read only?

You can edit the rest of the components and the assembly. Just not the sheet metal part.

Regarding upgrading, yes generally you pay the difference. It may not be on sale at the time, so keep that in mind.

Generally we do ask customers to work with their local reseller, if available. It's not our practice to try to compete with our channel. 99.5% of customers work with their local channel in places where we do not sell direct, and our resellers are really competent and helpful. But we also understand that sometimes unique circumstances warrant flexibility. If you would like to discuss further if you might fall into that category feel free to email me.

I'm a little sad that I can't save native data for an older version of AD and cooperate with someone who doesn't have paid maintenance - I get it, it's bad for business. I hope you change it in the future but understand if not.

This is actually something we wish we had. It's good for customers. It's bad for business but not in the way you think. We cannot justify the development and QA resources on this when so few people ask for it. It would be a case of simply misallocating resources for us given the demand, which would mean fewer features people are asking for. But like I said if that changes and more people raise this as their priority that could change.