V9 ... NO configurations for Alibre Design users ??

[Uman]

V9 ... NO configurations for Alibre Design users ??

I read the Alibre "what’s new" and was quite disappointed to learn that the configurations upgrade will be for Expert and Professional licenses only.

I have had an Alibre Design license since V6. The modeling, assembly and drawings provisions were the same across the packages for Design, Expert and Professional licenses. With the release of V9, only Expert and Professional will have configuration provisions.

Do All licenses pay the same annual maintenance fee amount, which covers upgrades and patches? I paid $295 for year 2006. Did Expert/Pro licenses pay more?

When I purchased my last annual maintenance, Alibre maintenance policy stated that I would "receive all upgrades" not limited upgrades.

Alibre, I paid the full annual maintenance fees and should receive the full upgrade in return.

Jeff

 

[plasticam]

I am in the same position, this is truly disappointing to say the very least!
This is what i would call "core" functionality not some addon surely???

 

[MilesH]

Re: V9 ... NO configurations for Alibre Design users ??

Do All licenses pay the same annual maintenance fee amount, which covers upgrades and patches? I paid $295 for year 2006. Did Expert/Pro licenses pay more?
Jeff

There is a gradation: http://www.alibre.com/products/faq-answ ... nswer=11.2

 

[Uman]

So Expert/Pro maintenance fees increased from $295 on 1 June 05, less than one year ago. Therefore only a portion of Ex/Pro users paid increased maintenance fees since the change, but all will receive all upgrades.

 

[MilesH]

Re:

So Expert/Pro maintenance fees increased from $295 on 1 June 05, less than one year ago. Therefore only a portion of Ex/Pro users paid increased maintenance fees since the change, but all will receive all upgrades.

Sure, there will be anomolies when you change a discrete system, unless you do complex compensations. But, your example relates solely to Ex/Pro users, so surely it's not relevant to your case?

It was less fair to AD users when Ex/Pro users paid the same maintenance fee :wink:

 

[ideazonepd]

I don't understand what all of this complaining is about. When your maintainance policy said that you would receive all upgrades, it meant that you would receive all upgrades for the standard Alibre Design. What did you think, that you could buy the Standard package, pay your little maintainance fee and end up with the same functionality as the Expert version? Let's be realistic. Your package is available to you at such a low price because it is "subsidized" by the users who choose to pay for extra functionality (same goes for the Express users).

And why would it be unfair for Pro/Expert to pay the same maintainance fee. Wouldn't you want to have a lower price for Pro/Expert; that would be great incentive to upgrade and get the features that you're complaining about.

 

[MilesH]

Re:

And why would it be unfair for Pro/Expert to pay the same maintainance fee. Wouldn't you want to have a lower price for Pro/Expert; that would be great incentive to upgrade and get the features that you're complaining about.

I think the present system is the fairest. Developing new features exclusively for Pro/Exp, plus 3rd party license fees, justifies the maintenance cost differentials.

 

[indesign]

Actually the xpress users and their little addon purchases supported themselves plus some. Alibre more than recooped their xpress costs from the purchases made due to xpress release.

The extra cost is for extra features, basic cost for basic features, free is for advertising and future sales.

 

[cclark440]

Come on we all know that Alibre released xpress just to get the software into as many peoples hands as possible. Like Autodesk with AutoCAD in the early days. They didn’t care that it was being copied illegally. In the end they became the industry standard because so many people knew how to use it.

 

[indesign]

Off topic but yes the release was for advertisement I'm sure. But as Alibre announced it paid off. Xpress users who bought the modules, manuals, full versions, etc. more than made up for the cost of the Xpress release. That is one reason why they were able to drop the add bar.

Alibre is not loosing money on the xpress release but have actually made money.

Just one quote from Gregg---"Downloads of Xpress continue briskly, with over 4,000 a week on Download.com alone. Further, our ability to generate revenue from Xpress users purchasing additional products and capabilities has exceeded our expectations

http://alibre.squarespace.com/blog/2005 ... ement.html

 

[jwknecht]

My2Cents

Like the original poster, I bought Alibre pre-Pro/Expert era. I saw this coming once Alibre diffentiated the Standard Package from the Pro and then Expert. I was left with most of the features of Pro but at the Standard price. I asked myself, why would I upgrade? I answered myself "Because I might miss out when (in the future) more enhancements are added to Pro and not to Standard." I don't usually talk to myself :wink: , so I listened to myself. I bargained with Alibre and upgraded to Pro. I am very happy that I did.

 

[swertel]

Same here.

I bought at v6 and had the repository and sheet metal. I got grandfathered in when the packages got instroduced to keep the current functionality that is in the Pro version, so it was called Basic+Repository+Sheet Metal. Upgrading to Pro would only get me Photorender, which I could buy a le cart, and limited use add-ons that I have no need for. Why upgrade?

The questions, the unknowns, and the future of being different then everybody else -- peace of mind in knowing that I will get everything in the Pro version made me upgrade. That, and a good sale price.

 

[jemmej]

It's fairly easy to see (imo) what Alibre is doing. The "home & hobby" version is still a tremendous value. But, if you want sheetmetal, repository and configurations (among others), all things that are really most applicable to a business as opposed to home. Alibre is not alone in this respect by any means.

For example, many many businesses use AutoCAD LT for their 2D drafting purposes. I don't know if the newest versions include the functionality or not, but, as far back as I can remember, LT did not have a few features that most CAD managers (i.e. me) could kavetch was "essential". Batch plotting comes to mind. Of course, batch plotting and XREF managers, et al. were included in the full blown AutoCAD if I wanted to pay (at the time) 5x more for a full seat.

As always, we complain when a price increase/fucntionality issue/etc. affects us directly, but, sometimes we need to step back and see the big picture.

At $1500 vs. $5000, Alibre Design Professional is still a tremendous bargain even if it is more expensive than the standard version.

Of course, that's just my opinion.

Jim