Do I need Maintenance to allow in-version updates?
Hi,
I am slightly unclear on something that may have changed at V21.
Previously (V20 and prior), if I did not opt for the Maintenance package I could still install any updates that were within the same major version that I had bought a perpetual licence for. I could not update to, say, V21if I did not have the maintenance package unless I bought a new licence.
In the wording for the Maintenance package for V21 it is worded as if you need it even to get in-version updates as and when they are released. Is that the case, which would mean the terms have changed; or is it just that the wording is a bit unclear?
Thanks
Comments
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I also do not seem to be able to delete the Maintenance package from the cart when I try to upgrade my licence, it also deletes upgrade itself.
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Hi Jamie
You will have access to all minor release if you are a v20 user, as you mentioned.
If you have a Maintenance contract, that is active during a new release, you will receive a license to access that new release.
As consequence you will also have access to all minor release for that new version.If your Maintenance contract expired before the new release you will of course not get access to the new release.
You can upgrade your license to the latest release and you will be back on Maintenance because this is included with the upgrade.
This way you will also have access to the upcoming release and you again have the option to renew/expire your Maintenance.So the only thing that changed since v20 is that you will get Maintenance when you upgrade your BricsCAD license.
Not sure if I answered your question correctly but hope it helps...0 -
Hi Mathieu
Thanks for your reply. It seems a little unfair to force an upgrader to buy the maintenance plan when on the website it describes it as being optional. This is a significant departure from Bricsys’ pricing model that I would urge it to reconsider.
Jamie0 -
Hi Jamie
If you don't like to be on Maintenance you can still buy a new license without Maintenance but upgrades will always include Maintenance.
Best regards
Mathieu
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@Jamie Fraser said:
This is a significant departure from Bricsys’ pricing model that I would urge it to reconsider.Agreed. And it is really weird that maintenance is optional if you buy new, but mandatory if you upgrade. The support that comes with maintenance is much more needed by a new user, than someone who is upgrading.
In my gut, the required maintenance starts to feel like the company is trending towards some of the the dreaded policies of Autodesk.
-Joe
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I absolutely agree with Joe. I have specifically not upgraded to V21 because of the mandatory maintenance subscription, which I neither need nor want. I'm also disappointed that the license tier I have been using (V20 Professional) now no longer exists, as I don't need the 3D constraints and other features which have now been rolled into V21 Pro. It's pushing the historically competitive pricing out of the realm of what I can justify to stay up to date with new features.
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The saying you can please some people all the time, all people some of the time but not all people all the time applies here. When Bricsys became part of Hexagon I wondered what it would mean for licensing, pricing and product structures because Hexagon (not unlike Autodesk and Bentley etc.) is more aimed at corporate clients with corporate wallets than small or one-man businesses.
Not to downplay anyone's needs/situation but this licensing/product structure issue is not unique to BricsCAD.
My guess is that far more licenses of Platinum were sold than of Pro and then it makes sense to merge to two.
No matter what the licensing/product structure is there will always be people caught in the middle of two product versions because their needs are just a little bit more than what the lower tier package is offering or they don't need (most of) the "upgraded" functionality in this case.In my case it is simple, I just need the whole nine yards (and some more but there are add-on applications for that if needed).
Because every year has brought enough new/updated functionality for me over the past decade and a half it was worth to upgrade each time, in that case being on maintenance is simply the more cost effective option rather than pondering on whether to upgrade or not and skip a year and forego on new/updated/improved functionality. When that changes I'll look at the options and then decide how to continue.Being an existing user does imho not mean you are less likely to need priority support of maintenance, it can be the opposite if new/updated functionality does not work as expected etc.
As long as the price is fair to what is being offered I'll stay with BricsCAD as it is still more competitive than having to get AutoCAD and Inventor (or e.g. Microstation and Solidworks) (and possibly Revit for having BIM functionality).
For others it is different, only you can decide whether it is still worth staying with BricsCAD or to look for an alternative.
If another DWG based (or otherwise compatible through import/export) program offers all you need at a lower price that you can afford then then there is an alternative, otherwise you just have to bite the bullet and get the new Pro or keep using your current version and forego on the new functionality until you can afford to upgrade. (I've dropped Autodesk a few years ago for their lack of updates as well as their licensing and price gauging politics I saw coming, but that was also because I had been using BricsCAD for quite a while and it was surpassing AutoCAD at that point so I had an alternative.)0 -
I disagree about support for someone upgrading, vs new users. An experienced user only has to deal with whatever was new. Also, in spite of the excellent support I have always received from Bricsys, people in general are increasingly trained to go to online forums. So, in general you are not nearly as tied to the company for support, as you would have been back in the 80's.
But, I do agree with the rest of what you have said.
I will add one more thing... it really is the customer who has ultimate say about what the pricing will be. When the price for a product is too high, they will just stop handing their money to the company. Autodesk proved that by unintentionally sending us to BricsCAD.
There is another policy that I lament has taken over the software world. Back in the 80's, Autodesk allowed you to skip versions, and when you did upgrade, I think there was a minor extra cost, but you paid much less than if you had upgraded with each version that came out. The general advice that people often followed was to skip odd numbered versions. Often new features were introduced in the odd numbered releases, and so those tended to be a bit buggy. Staying with even numbered releases both saved money and time dealing with bugs.
The biggest benefit to that, in my mind, was that it meant that an upgrade had to earn its money. If the new features didn't seem valuable enough to the customer, they just didn't upgrade. But, when subscription became the norm, and skipping a version didn't save any money, the motivation for a company to introduce features that earned the customer's money was dramatically reduced. And to make subscription seem more valuable, companies tended to introduce worthless new features, just to prove they did add something.
But, the market will bear what the market will bear. If a company goes to far along, unless they have a monopoly or exist in a socialist nation, they eventually end up loosing to the competition.
-Joe
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I'll just chime in here as someone who's on the verge of buying the product. The licensing changes are really convoluted. Especially during a time when the company could be substantially increasing their market share. I once heard someone say that the licensing was 'simple'. It's really not. Especially compared to their competitors. I've been teetering on the fence for a year now lol.
On a positive note I recently did a trial of the latest version and the software itself looks better.
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I was again looking at the costs for an upgrade, and it seems (from the web site) that the policy of requiring maintenance costs for an upgrade, but not for a new seat, is sill in place. With the maintenance costs added, it is actually cheaper to buy a new seat than to upgrade.
I just wanted to check that this policy is still in place, in case the web page is out of date.
-Joe0
