new upgrade policy...

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Hirazi Blue
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new upgrade policy...

Post by Hirazi Blue » 09 Jun 2012, 13:48

Just noticed this yesterday, but it is actually somewhat older news. It still might be of interest though:
In a newsletter by German reseller 3D Cyberdream the following was mentioned:
WICHTIG: Autodesk ändert im Februar 2013 die Bedingungen und Preise für Upgrades aller Autodesk Produkte. Dann sind zwar Upgrades bis zu 6 Versionen zurück möglich, doch zu einem einheitlichen Preis. Dieser Upgrade-Preis beträgt 70% vom Anschaffungspreis einer entsprechenden Neulizenz.”
(Quoted from here)

Rough translation:
IMPORTANT: Autodesk will change the conditions and prices for upgrades of all Autodesk products in February 2013. From then on upgrades will be possible up to six previous versions, but at a uniform price. This upgrade price will amount to 70% of the purchase price of a similar new license.
On the 3d Cyberdream page they mention a special offer for people upgrading now, but it’s unclear if this is a world-wide offer, a German offer or just a local offer of this one reseller alone… If you want to find out, contact your own reseller!
:)]
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Re: new upgrade policy...

Post by Rork » 09 Jun 2012, 14:49

Maybe they try to get the people that are still using the 'old' versions in line with the latest updates.
So basically the people who didn't go for the upgrade+maintenance package when AD took over after v7.

It could be a good deal to upgrade from so far back with a special offer.

And 70% for an upgrade if you decide to step out of the upgrade race for a while is a bit high. But that's me.....
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Re: new upgrade policy...

Post by luceric » 10 Jun 2012, 05:47

you'd have to have at least 7.5, the first Autodesk product.

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Re: new upgrade policy...

Post by Hirazi Blue » 10 Jun 2012, 11:29

It's true, although 7.01 could possibly be viewed as an Autodesk release also.
Kind of twilight zone release in that it already carried the name Autodesk, while running on the old Avid licensing system.
It's sort of a pointless discussion, though, as non of us are lawyers (AFAIK) versed in the obscure topic of what truly constitutes an Autodesk version, but of course we had one already here
(which obviously wasn't pointless to the OP I hasten to add, only pointless in the sense that - us not being lawyers -
it was yet another issue impossible to resolve - which, however, shouldn't stop us from trying anyway)

:D

edit: just found this: even Jason Brynford-Jones hailed XSI 7.01 as the "first Autodesk release of XSI" (in this Mailing List post)
and if we can't even trust him anymore, well then the future seems a lot less bright...
(this last part was an admittedly bad joke, BTW :p )
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Re: new upgrade policy...

Post by Bellsey » 10 Jun 2012, 14:00

This is all part of a current campaign Autodesk are starting in the light of the pricing and policy announcements that they have made. There's a current thread on Cgtalk.

Yes, technically XSI 7.01 is an Autodesk release, but is was simply a re-badged version for legal purposes, it still used the old licensing system. Softimage 7.5 was the first proper Autodesk release, as it had a new name and used the Autodesk licensing system. However the point to remember is that it is no longer supported in accordance with Autodesk's standard support policy. Autodesk only supports the current software release and 3 versions back. We communicated the retirement of verions pre-7.5 here: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc ... eID=123112
If anyone had any sense, they would of moved their old 7.x versions, or upgraded because we can no longer support those old versions.

In terms of the announcements, well no one likes the idea of prices going up, so I'm not expecting the news to be well received. But I do think that the deals that Autodesk are offering are good. One of the reasons for being on Subscription is that it's the cheapest way to always stay current with your software. If you drop it and let it go too far, the cost of upgrading can get expensive. So, imo, the 70% deal isn't as bad as it sounds, that's more than half price (the purchase price of a corresponding new license) and just short of three quarters.


(you're right Hirazi, that was a bad joke :-t )

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Re: new upgrade policy...

Post by Hirazi Blue » 10 Jun 2012, 14:58

Bellsey wrote:(you're right Hirazi, that was a bad joke :-t )
Yes, I almost felt ashamed whilst writing it down, but I couldn't help myself, sorry :ymblushing: ;)

Back to topic: As you mention the CGTalk thread: is a mail similar to the one mentioned
by the OP in that thread still forthcoming to all customers world-wide?
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Re: new upgrade policy...

Post by Bellsey » 10 Jun 2012, 15:36

I believe that these announcement and deals are global, but there will be some exceptions but I don't know the full details. I'm sure resellers will contact their customers accordingly and it appears that some already have.

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Re: new upgrade policy...

Post by luceric » 10 Jun 2012, 16:36

Hirazi Blue wrote:It's sort of a pointless discussion, though, as non of us are lawyers (AFAIK) versed in the obscure topic of what truly constitutes an Autodesk version
just to clarify, this isn't a legal topic. this stuff is what sales decides is elligble or not. sales can decide that you can only upgrade if you wear yellow pants on a Tuesday, if they want :P

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Re: new upgrade policy...

Post by Hirazi Blue » 10 Jun 2012, 20:19

Bellsey wrote:I believe that these announcement and deals are global, but there will be some exceptions but I don't know the full details. I'm sure resellers will contact their customers accordingly and it appears that some already have.
[IMHO]
It seems Autodesk more or less intentionally has these kind of things backwards IMHO. As you might remember, when the Europe price raise happened a while back, many of us didn't get mails from their respective resellers. In that case, still being on the mailing list of a previous reseller was the only thing that alerted me. (And technically I am still waiting for that specific mail from my own reseller, BTW)
Big changes in policy and/or pricing scheme should be announced by Autodesk to all users (mail is cheap), not by the resellers. Such a mail can easily end with the famous words "contact your reseller" BTW, that's not the point.
But as not every reseller seems to see the need to distribute such information, Autodesk should make it a point to do it themselves, I would say...
[/IMHO]
;)

@luceric - I think you might have misinterpreted my words ever so slightly.

edit: removed slightly ambiguous smilie
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Re: new upgrade policy...

Post by Bellsey » 11 Jun 2012, 16:30

I think its better to go through the resellers, as this is where many customers purchase their software and resellers are pushed to do things. Though they might not spam everyone, but instead target the customers to whom the offers might perhaps appeal to the most? Which is perhaps why, some people get communications and others don't.

As for emails in general, well they're not as cheap as you think, not to send a big mailshot out to lots of customers and I'm not sure I would appreciate being spammed like that as well. And in fact many people filter stuff out, so its never certain that the message will get through. Online/social media seems to be a better way now for companies to target their customers and many (including Autodesk) are doing this.

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Re: new upgrade policy...

Post by Hirazi Blue » 11 Jun 2012, 16:43

To still hide behind the awesomeness of resellers seems strange given their track-record. I already cited the "European Softimage Subscription Event" (to coin a phrase) as a clear example. As long as it's Autodesk that ultimately gets most of my money, they should either inform me directly or make sure (100% sure) all resellers send out this kind of information to everyone, instead of just a few resellers doing so. If Autodesk can ensure that resellers do absolutely send all vital information (and pricing and policy change do fit that bill, I'd say, and aren't the same as the mere "offers" you mention) to all of their customers, they can gladly leave it to the resellers. Until then, however...

And BTW, yes, I obviously meant "relatively cheap", when I claimed "mail is cheap", sorry for being so inaccurate...
;)

But there seems to be no point discussing this much further, I'm afraid,
as we are quite obviously at two different sides of the "fence" on this...
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Re: new upgrade policy...

Post by Bellsey » 11 Jun 2012, 17:00

I'm not sure its hiding as such, and I'm not defending or championing the channel either, but seeing as Autodesk stills does a great deal of business though their channel (distributors and resellers), they no doubt see the need to involve them in this process.

I understood your meaning about email being cheap, but I did once ask about this myself and the mechanisms involved and I was surprised at the costs. It's not as simple as putting together a mailing list in Outlook, even though I wish it was.

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Re: new upgrade policy...

Post by Hirazi Blue » 14 Jun 2012, 22:35

So is this just another rumor, someone's idea of a bad joke or the truth?
a little fairy told me today...
in about two weeks we (Europe) would see 25% increase on licenses/maintenance for autodesk 3D software,
and upgrades at about 75% of the cost of new licenses.
The second part seems to be true, it's what we talked about in this thread
(well actually we talked about 70%, which was the percentage mentioned by 3D Cyberdream),
how about the increase in the price of maintenance/subscription (in Europe)?
:-\
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Re: new upgrade policy...

Post by Hirazi Blue » 16 Jun 2012, 22:13

The lack of response to my serious question is quite significant.
Case closed as far as I'm concerned!
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Re: new upgrade policy...

Post by wireframex » 16 Jun 2012, 22:53

It is a good way to earn a lot of money or to kill SI ....
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Re: new upgrade policy...

Post by Bellsey » 17 Jun 2012, 00:11

Hirazi Blue wrote:So is this just another rumor, someone's idea of a bad joke or the truth?
a little fairy told me today...
in about two weeks we (Europe) would see 25% increase on licenses/maintenance for autodesk 3D software,
and upgrades at about 75% of the cost of new licenses.
The second part seems to be true, it's what we talked about in this thread
(well actually we talked about 70%, which was the percentage mentioned by 3D Cyberdream),
how about the increase in the price of maintenance/subscription (in Europe)?
:-\
That has probably come from someone's reseller as I know a lot of the resellers have been calling out and pushing the fact that there is an upgrade promo now and that next year upgrade pricing will be going up to appox 70% of the cost of a new licence.

As for the other matter, price changes don't normally happen during a quarter, but there can often be announcements before the next quarter. However that isn't a confirmation or denial of anything and either way I must also tread carefully legally. Also, and honestly I simply don't know as at present no news has filtered to me yet.

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