Warning: Not all Revits are on subscription (compatibility issues)

[blumarble]

After talking to our Revit vendor, I thought I should post this warning. We -- and according to our vendor, a lot of others as well -- are under the impression that the only way to get Revit licenses is by subscription. Apparently that was the case before Autodesk bought Revit. But somehow we (probably someone in accounting) made the decision to purchase only the 8.1 license and not a subscription.
I began work on a project (first one in the office) about 2 months ago, and had some problems with areas. After reading some advice in these forums, I decided that maybe the upgrade to Revit 9 would help (which it did) and called our vendor; the person I spoke to said: "No problem, just download it, install it, and put in your serial number and you should be good to go!". So I did, and I thought I was OK until this morning when I got the warning that the 30 day trial was about to expire. I believe that when I installed 9, and after entering the serial number, the dialog box just closed without any warning; although I just may not have noticed in the "fine print" that there was something wrong. So now my project is in 9 and the software is about to quit working on me.
Activating another 30 day trial on another machine is not convenient. I can do it at home, which will buy me a little time, and we're now considering whether we will "upgrade" to a subscription. But the only practical solution at the moment might be to export everything to Autocad and recreate it all in 8.1.
I guess this still leaves the question: if some offices choose not to go on subscription, and there's no backward compatibility, what will happen when working with consultants who may not be on the same or compatible versions of the software?

[kdavis]

I've noticed that even though I install and enter a code I often get the expiration notice on new installs and upgrades. It appears that the initial install or upgrade doesn't apply for a registration code, it just defaults to the 30 day mode. When this happens I go to the Product and License info under Help and work through the register wizard.

[sbrown]

You may not like it, but I think subscription is the only practical decision to make. You will forever be unable to work with others, use new content, functionality, get support, etc. If you don't get on subscription. As the industry adopts revit, ie struct. and mep. you will run into issues with them being on the latest and you aren't. We have allready run into this issue. we have a job in 8.1 and don't want to upgrade it yet, however our struct. engineer is on revit structures 3 which only works with revit 9.

[blumarble]

PS: Here are some examples quoted from this forum that tend to illustrate what I mean. I know, they're out of context, but I'm not leaving out anything that elaborates the options. None of these are more than 18 months old, but maybe some older threads might also be adding to the confusion?

"There really isn't a compelling reason to avoid an upgrade. The software is sold on subscription so it isn't a cost factor."

"The subscription system is for me at least part of the deal, so that we always have the latest release available to us."

"Because of subscription everyone should have the latest version. Unfortunately, students are being left out of the loop."

"Revit Series is perscription (sic) based, too, so you will always have upgrades to the new releases of both AutoCAD and Revit."

"I am having trouble understanding the current pricing model as someone who would want to start using Revit. I see the "subscription price" on the Autodesk website, but it is not clear whether there is an additional initial (hefty) license fee, which I've seen quoted, too. Or perhaps you pay the license fee and then get the first year's subscription included? Or perhaps the single license fee and the subscription model are two separate tracks, as I had understood at one point in the past. Oh, it's all so confusing.... (answer): I can't speak for all regions, but my reseller charges an initial fee (you're right, it's hefty) as well as the subscription fee. So the first year you'll pay the combined amount. Every year after that you'll be paying the prevailing subscription fee."

[blumarble]

But what if *we* are working on subscription and the latest version, and out consultant(s) are not working with a compatible version? If everyone is forced to go to a subscription basis then the issue goes away. But because Autodesk made subscribing optional -- and there's no backwards compatibility -- it's going to create some problems.

[blumarble]

I think you also pointed out another problem with the lack of backwards compatibility. Even if everyone is on subscription and there's no issue of being *able* to upgrade, if someone doesn't *want* to upgrade just yet, there are compatibility problems. In this scenario, everyone has to upgrade at the same time or someone has to work in an earlier version (if it's available to them).
Personally, I would like to see us go to subscription, but it's not my decision. I know that providing some kind of backwards compatibility may nto be easy, but I think Autodesk needs to address it somehow.
In the meantime, I need to figure out how to salvage my project!

[ron.sanpedro]

But what if *we* are working on subscription and the latest version, and out consultant(s) are not working with a compatible version? If everyone is forced to go to a subscription basis then the issue goes away. But because Autodesk made subscribing optional -- and there's no backwards compatibility -- it's going to create some problems.

Our contract specifies that our consultants be up to speed. I agree, the lack of SaveAs is eventually going to be an issue, but I think most people progressive enough to be looking at a whole new way of working have also seen subscription as a viable whole new way of buying software.
As for your reseller, I would look for a new one. I expect a reseller to help solve problems, not create them with wrong or incomplete or out of context information.

Best,
Gordon