My concerns about renewal are this. I purchased several years of renewal up front. I felt this would be investing in the company's future well being and I would save a little money too. Well then came along Geo and then I in essence got nothing for some of the years for which I had paid. I do not have any plans to renew, no more paying & praying; paying up front and praying you get something in return.
As I believe Alibre is reading this. Should I want to upgrade in the future I will NEVER pay a 'lapsed maintenance fee'. All the companies with which I do business, that have this fee, eventually have a 'special' that allows you to get back on maintenance at a 'special' price and not have to pay the 'lapsed maintenance fee.' I will wait for one of those, should I decide to upgrade.
I like Alibre but given that I spent money with them and got nothing for it, upsets me enough that I am unsure if I will ever give them any more of my money. For as little as I use CAD, there are alternatives, some of which I have purchased.
Some of the problem lie in the issue of software companies trying to normalize their income. Part of that problem, IMHO, is that most charge too much for maintenance and subscription, if a company choses subscription. I think Adobe has it right ( just about); for $60/monthly you have the ENTIRE Adobe Suite, and you can start and stop your subscription on demand. And, if you are in .edu it is even cheaper. If I used their type of products I would pay them for life. But I only occasionally need them and I have an older version of Acrobat Pro that works just fine for day to day needs (Everyone creates some type of typed document daily).
But take Altium, for example, they want a maintenance fee of $1800+ yearly, same with Solidworks, same with Cadence. and relatively speaking Alibre's maintenance is substantial compared to the full license cost. With most this include "support" calls; but guess what I, and probably many others, NEVER need support calls, so why should I have to pay for it? The last statement and question should give some insight as to how I believe maintenance costs can be lower.
Hopefully this helps anyone that take the time to read it.
