AD: new SI licensing plans!!!

[BenR]

Well that's an improvement. But does that mean that we would need to maintain a Maya subscription in order to continue using Softimage if we go with the transition offer beyond 2 years? It seems unclear. The updated Autodesk announcement says:

If you need to use Softimage after February 1, 2016 you will be able to access it through the Subscription center in the same way that Subscription customers can access prior versions today.

My understanding is that one loses access to old versions if subscription is dropped and only the latest version is considered perpetual. So does that mean that you lose access to Softimage, or that you continue to have access to the latest Maya and the latest Softimage which you had obtained during the term of your subscription?

That paragraph just says that that Softimage 2015 will be available as download from the sub center, after 2016, when it stops shipping with the migration bundle. It's part of this paragraph about the end of the migration : "We will no longer ship Softimage with these products. If you need to use Softimage after February 1, 2016 you will be able to access it through the Subscription center in the same way that Subscription customers can access prior versions today. "

OK, so then I'm still unclear about the following situation: I transition to Maya and maintain my subscription beyond the Feb 2016 cutoff. Then in 2017, I let the subscription drop. It's my understanding that I can continue to use Maya 2018 but not earlier versions of Maya. Can I still use Softimage 2015 under my perpetual license? Sorry if I'm being thick about this but I'm not seeing a clear answer yet.

[xowgax]

Havent heard anything on that or the state of the EDU versions.

PDF states

All Softimage licenses will still continue to work after April 30, 2016

Hopefully we're covered..

[angus_davidson]

Havent heard anything on that or the state of the EDU versions.

PDF states

All Softimage licenses will still continue to work after April 30, 2016

Hopefully we're covered..

Have had an Update from Maurice that new ARC and Student licenses will not be available, but you can continue to use the old ones until the license expires. For student and ARC licences this is normally a 3 year period from when you got it..

Check you license file it will tell you if and when it expires

Kind regards

Angus

[Hirazi Blue]

FYI, Maurice Patel has replied to the Mailing List post I quoted here earlier:

The mechanism is the same. Your comment about three versions back applies to what is made available as new releases are issued. No new releases for Softimage will be available so the situation is not really identical and the three version back limitation does not apply. Also the three limit back is about access to licenses not about existing ones. For example if you are using Maya 2009 today (more than 3 versions back) you can still continue to use it although you would only access 2011, 2012, 2013 from the Subs center.

[scrubjay]

I still do not understand what happens to those of us teaching it. We are on Autodesk support, and have no interest in switching to Maya or 3DS Max. Will I be able to have students dl the 2015 version? If we are forced to switch, I can assure you I will go to Cinema 4d (the integration into After Effects is quite good) or a Houdini with/without Modo solution.

If I taught Maya I would have to slow down all my classes. There is no way to cover the same amount of material in it, I have tried. 3DS Max would need plug ins to make it comparable, and then we get into non-standard versions and all sorts of other nonsense.

[angus_davidson]

I still do not understand what happens to those of us teaching it. We are on Autodesk support, and have no interest in switching to Maya or 3DS Max. Will I be able to have students dl the 2015 version? If we are forced to switch, I can assure you I will go to Cinema 4d (the integration into After Effects is quite good) or a Houdini with/without Modo solution.

If I taught Maya I would have to slow down all my classes. There is no way to cover the same amount of material in it, I have tried. 3DS Max would need plug ins to make it comparable, and then we get into non-standard versions and all sorts of other nonsense.

This depends as to when it is released.

If your on subscription you will be able to download it and install it in your classes. However the students will not be bale to download the free academic versions after the 28th of March 2014. ie no working from home for them. If your apply for an ARC license now it will give you 3 years during which the students can borrow a license by bringing their machines in for 6 months at a time.

For us we have a legal obligation not to teach EOL Software so we have to migrate. ;( We went from teaching Maya to teaching softimage and it made a huge difference. now we have a mountain to climb again.

[bb3d]

My subscription expires in August 2014, so I will be able to download and activate Softimage 2015, but I will definately not renew my subscription.
Now I understand that my license will not expire after that, but the question for me is, whether I will have access to service packs in the next 2 years or not, because I won't pay money just for bug fixes.

[angus_davidson]

Service packs and bug fixes should be available for download

[Unaided]

That Autodicks help you with SI license in the future, beyond 2016 is not good notice, and why?
Because they know a software will be dead with new hardware and new operating system updates.
You can choose keep using SI (I will do the same), but I know that I must have been a computer with current capabilities and current o.s. versions to run SI forever.
The only good news from Autodicks is that they release Softimage rights, and put SI for sale. Is the only good thing they can do it. And this is opposite for its strategy.

[kat]

That Autodicks help you with SI license in the future, beyond 2016 is not good notice, and why?
Because they know a software will be dead with new hardware and new operating system updates.
You can choose keep using SI (I will do the same), but I know that I must have been a computer with current capabilities and current o.s. versions to run SI forever.
The only good news from Autodicks is that they release Softimage rights, and put SI for sale. Is the only good thing they can do it. And this is opposite for its strategy.

Quoted for Agreement. too much proprietary technology is the excuse that they gave for not doing exactly what you suggest. I call bullshit.

[iMax]

Not sure if that helps a bit, but as a hobbyist I did not buy any Autodesk version of XSI, because I could not really justify it. So I still have XSI 7.01. I recently upgraded my computer to an Intel i7 with Windows 8.1 64-bit. XSI 7.01 64-bit still runs without any issues. Even the license manager with the dongle works fine. From time to time it refuses to work after the first start, but restarting the licensing service helps there. Considering that XSI 7 officially supported XP only (if I remember correctly), this is not too bad. I think there is hope that the latest version will still survive a few years without active support.

[curly]

Can you still additional licenses of Softimage after 2015 - 2016? That is something that isn't clear to me. I don't care if they cancel support, as long as you still can buy the sofware it's fine with me.

[angus_davidson]

Can you still additional licenses of Softimage after 2015 - 2016? That is something that isn't clear to me. I don't care if they cancel support, as long as you still can buy the sofware it's fine with me.

For education licences no. For commercial licences I am unsure

[Hirazi Blue]

The (updated) final release announcement faq states:

After the two year transition period customers will no longer be able to purchase or rent new Softimage licenses from Autodesk.

[Pancho]

This decision is necessary for Autodesk to keep pace with the industry's rapid rate of change and to better serve our customers during this highly turbulent transitional period for both visual effects and games. We need to innovate faster while balancing our investment in the development of features and functionality needed to support new and existing customer workflows. We did not make this decision lightly. Many factors were taken into consideration during the decision making process, including the impact on the Softimage user base. Although the decision is a difficult one, we do believe that by doing this we can better serve the needs of the industry as a whole and provide customers with better product choices.

I wonder whether they know what they are saying.

[Bullit]

It is just Autodesk joking in our faces, works with current journos that are too lazy to do anything than post PR word by word.

Autodesk is a giant, the fact "they have to keep pace with industry" that is several times much less powerful shows how badly managed the company is.