Desktop died, but Bricsys' web page won't let me deactivate to transfer to laptop
I own a perpetual seat of BricsCAD Pro v14. My desktop won't boot, so I tried to deactivate the desktop's license via the BricsCAD's web page. But it says I have exceeded the max number of revocations.
It won't let me activate on my laptop... I can't do any work!
I've left message at Bricsys's U.S. office, and started a support request. I know I am duplicating efforts, but I need to get these drawings done!
What can I do?
-Joe Dunfee
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I will add that the Bricsys' web page "contact us" form opens, but it is blank and will not let me type into it.
-Joe
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You might try Fusion:
Fusion Engineering and Technology
1810 Gillespie Way Suite 207
El Cajon, CA 92020
United States
Phone: 619-736-2800They are a reseller/dealer but may have some other suggestions or contacts to try.
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What about downloading a trial version of V25. At least you will have 30 days to sort something out.
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Or v24 - can that be had as trial version? Then it won't have the new v25 complication of only one activation at once.
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I eventually got the desktop to boot. BricsCAD would run, though, a lot of settings were reset. So, I am OK… for the moment.
Sadly, Bricsys' support holds to the line that users only get two revocations. Period. They suggested buying an upgrade to the software. They consider the failure of the user to deactivate a license on a broken computer to be just poor maintenance by the user, and absolves them of any responsibility to honor the original sales terms.
Note that they change the licensing method after I purchased the software, and essentially gave me no way to use this, so-called, perpetual license. The people with less money to upgrade either their computer or software are the ones they hurt the most. This is because old machines are more prone to breaking, and thus create the need for a revocation.
I purchased a perpetual license. I understand that some effort is needed to stop piracy, but ultimately the company should honor its agreements. A legitimate user, who purchased a perpetual license, is owed perpetual licensing support.
I left Autodesk behind when I realized how hostile they were to the end user. At this point, even if I could an afford an upgrade to BricsCAD, I would not do it on principle.
-Joe Dunfee
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Joe, do you mean the new v25 complication of only one activation at once has been retro-applied to previous versions?
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I was referring to Bricsys retroactively changing the policy and method of activating a license. If I recall correctly, on v14, the original license key would work on any number of installs. I don't recall if the install would "phone home" as part of the process. But obviously, it made piracy easier.
Then Bricsys started a new licensing system, and also issued a new key for existing licenses. And at some point, added a limit to the number of time you could ask Bricsys to deactivate a license on a dead or corrupted computer so that you could reinstall.
So, you are allowed only 2 broken computers before your perpetual license is useless.
-Joe Dunfee
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Years ago, back when the issue of a limited number of revocations first came up, I recall a thread where users discussed the idea of having a utility to automatically re-activate a BricsCAD license as soon as you started the program, and then automatically de-activate the license when exiting BricsCAD.
I can't find that thread. Can anyone recall if there ever was a utility created to do this? If not, how might it be done? I think I can deactivate with a series of keystrokes. Reactivating may not work that way. I will try and see if I can get that to work. Not an ideal solution, but at least it may save me in some circumstances.
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Won't that run you straight into the 'only twice' rule?
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I should have defined terms earlier. From within BricsCAD you can "deactivate" the license, and later activate it on another computer. You are permitted to do this any number of times. But "revoking" is a different thing. This can be done by the user on a web page provided by Bricsys. But, the rules (at least the current ones) only permit you to do this twice. The idea is to prevent piracy by installing a single license of BricsCAD onto multiple computers to use at once.
I did check, and I can create a macro to deactivate a license whenever I quit BricsCAD. And I am also pretty sure I can create a DOS Batch file to run BricsCAD, and then the required keys to activate the license. The one thing I am not sure of is that Windows 10 requires that I click an answer on a "run as administrator" window every time I start BricsCAD. There was a way in the past to bypass that, but a windows update eventually disabled or broke that.
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My computer suddenly died with BricsCAD active. My "perpetual" license will not be honored anymore.
-Joe
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That would be outrageous. Let's raise a hooley in support of our Joe.
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“What can I do?”
Not trying to instigate, but I think the law is that you are allowed to make a backup of the product, any sane judge would extend that to mean, being able to restore the product from the backup. Consider small claims
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I already started researching my legal options. I can apparently sue in small claims court. In the U.S. this is a court where individuals can bring civil claims before a judge, for smaller amounts (typically under $12,000) without having to hire a lawyer. I probably should have started the process as soon as I realized that Bricsys's (i.e. Hexagon's) current policy is to blame the user for failing to "activate the license on a computer that is stable". It looks like the purchase of Bricsys by Hexagon is turning out to be the "turning into Autodesk" that we feared.
For small claims court, I need to find the "Registered Agent" for Bricsys in the U.S. This is their official contact that I need to notify of my intents to take them to court. I am having difficulty finding that info.
-Joe Dunfee
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" It looks like the purchase of Bricsys by Hexagon is turning out to be the "turning into Autodesk" that we feared" - exactly. Bricscad now swallowed into the US division of Swedish(?) Hexagon, that freedom-principle of the American Way known as Shareholder Value, aka Monetization, aka Enshittification - will whittle away at what we get for more and more $.
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You would think with as big a company as Hexagon is they would be able to help Joe even if the version is V14. How hard would it be seeing that there can't be that many V14 users out there in the first place?
In my opinion if Bricsys was still independently owned this would be taken care of quickly.
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Support said they would be willing to revoke the license on the broken computer, if I had paid for support. In essence, this policy has created a situation that is like Autodesk's subscription-only strategy, even though they called it (and still call it) a perpetual license.
-Joe
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I believe ("tongue in cheek") this all stems from the concept of property taxes.
You own you're property, but stop paying property taxes and see what happens.
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Support said they would be willing to revoke the license on the broken computer,
And I thought you could buy an upgrade to V25/26 - but couldn't activate it - because you already lost your lifetime 2 revokes already …..
if I had paid for support.
Ah, ok …..
BTW,
I also lost already 1 license revoke ……. while testing Bricscad on Linux, when one of my Linux installations crashed for eternity. So I never activated any Bricscad on Linux since. I always wait for the next Beta Period, in case i have time to test - at that time.
It seems a bit like Archicad, when they still had Hardware Dongles. In my Trial Period they stated multiple times, if you loose one or get robbed, you have to pay again for a new Dongle and Software usage. I think there are better solutions …. so I decided for another CAD App at that time.
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hahaha
you are allowed only 2 broken computers
too funny…even if unintentional humour.
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Time to contact MOSSAD agents. An alternative dark licensing mechanism is desired for this unfavourable situation.
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Yeah well, I doubt our ancestors would have volunteered to get themselves killed (for the chosen people's control of international finances) in world wars if they knew this is how the world would turn out.
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This is a technical forum, let's avoid such off-topics please.
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On a thread about having a single BricsCAD license installed on two computers.
he following is quoted from the EULA;
"For singles licenses purchased before 17 March 2025: you keep the right
to have a copy of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT on a second computer used by
you, as the primary user. This additional copy is for backup purposes
only and may not be used concurrently."This suggests that I should be able to activate on my laptop, even though the license is still installed on the broken desktop, and BricsCAD is not permitting me to revoke that license. However, when I try the same license key on the laptop, it doesn't work, and says, "Activation key already used"
-Joe
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Hi @Joe Dunfee ,
I saw in your SR199785, that currently your license is activated on two devices already, this is mentioned in the last Cosmina's answer. Do you have access to the first devise to deactivate license on it?
Best regards,
Lyubov0 -
The 1st device also broke. Though, I don't know what the cause was. Like the most recent break down, it was a used computer, and was quite outdated in terms of its specs. So, it wasn't worth the time to investigate it. Though, I may still have it somewhere. I guess I might investigate having it fixed. That would be a short-term fix to the non-permanent, and changing, licensing issue.
I did try to check the EULA for v14, but I can't find it anywhere. It doesn't seem to be placed on the computer where BricsCAD is installed. It is not part of the help system either. The help file does describe both the deactivation and revocation process. But, it doesn't give you a limit of two revocations. I don't know when that absolute limit was imposed.
-Joe
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It's a pity ( That's why you can't activate the license on the laptop - there are already two activations, both on broken computers ((
Regarding number of revocations, this is mentioned in the article about revocation:
But I don't recall, when this limitation has appeared…
It seems, a possible solution without version upgrade is maintenance:"If you are a Maintenance user, contact support to review your additional revoke request."
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