New Autodesk Releases

[Glenn Pope]

Thanks Robert

I have no say in the matter, but I'll bring it up. I doubt anything will happen tho.

[MMccall.83699]

What would happen if you let your subscription expire and try to reinstall to newer hardware sometime down the road. Will it still authorize correctly?


The one year upgrade cycle is a little short for me. I kinda feel like I'm being charged for updates that are more along the lines of patches and service packs. If they are more substantial that that, should the software be charging that radically every year? Shouldn't major changes to the programming end at some point and from there on become more refined, with fewer bugs and more stability. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for new features and improvements, but what I don't need is old features reinvented to justify a new release being 'new'.

[tommy.huckabee]

I agree with that. The one year time cycle is a little short and it seems as though the new features are being rushed and causing bugs and glitches that wouldn't be there if it was released, say every 18 months or even 2 years. I would suggest a new release somewhere in this time frame, it would give Auto Desk time to work everything out and users enough time to get the full grip on the new and updated features.

Tommy

[RobertAitken]

I agree with that. The one year time cycle is a little short and it seems as though the new features are being rushed and causing bugs and glitches that wouldn't be there if it was released, say every 18 months or even 2 years. I would suggest a new release somewhere in this time frame, it would give Auto Desk time to work everything out and users enough time to get the full grip on the new and updated features.

Tommy

Herein lies the problem. Autodesk need to keep the money flowing. When it was subscription was introduced it wasn't sold fully on a how good is this but in part as a "revenue stream" for Autodesk. You are paying for their shareholders.

Last year I looked at the cost of 20 AutoCAD Licenses against 20 Microstation. At the time the subscription cost for AutoCAD was 50% that of Microstation. Saying that I believe Microstation haven't increased the cost but Autodesk has.

Maybe the peasants will revolt and Autodesk will be forced to change tack.

Robert

[tommy.huckabee]

Yeah I think your right, but we shouldn't have to pay for the shareholders. Anyone who works in this field knows how hard it is to upgrade every two years. Companies just don't want to fork out the money to pay for new releases and training has always been an issue. So if your company is like mine by the time you do upgrade it takes forever to learn the new and updated features that you've missed over time. I go through the same thing every year begging and pleading, going into meetings with quotes and pamphlets trying to get upper management to buy something new. I would rather only do this every other year.

Tommy

[RobertAitken]

This again was one of the reasons Autodesk gave when subscription came out. You will know yearly how much you will spend on software upgrades for your CAD investment.

That's fine but from what I've heard Autodesk are increasing the cost of subscription after companies budgets have been finalised without informing their customers.

It appears that they have so many companies by the short and curlies that they feel they have to pay up or lose the competitive edge. Look closely how your business operates the CAD system and see if the new features will benefit you. If not forget the subscription and upgarde when you need to.

It appears that Autodesk are now the tail that wags the dog.

Robert

[tommy.huckabee]

Yeah you're right. We generally upgrade every other year and this year is the one. I didn't see enough of a change in 2k4 to 2k5 to invest the money but I still would like to be on the cutting edge of new CAD software. Being in my seat I have to at least try to upgrade every time something new comes out. I've been a die-hard Auto Desk user since I started so if it is at all possible I would like to use just their products and the latest versions when I can.

Tommy

[MMccall.83699]

Some other thoughts:

Autocad promotes the new features it's providing as increasing productivity. I was wondering how this increase in productivity will ever be realized if the product changes too frequently. By the time companies get a new upgrade, evaluate it, deploy it and train the users there is not enough time to reap the benefits of the increased productivity before the cycle begins again. (provided there are any benefits after users are trained, there productivity does in fact increase and the increase offsets the time and effort to get to that point)

The core Autocad product servers as the platform for many different fields. If one field needs an upgrade to the core in order to move forward it creates a change in all fields that use that core. I use the civil engineering products and I'm not really happy with the fact the the software I use is tied to the needs of so many industries, all pulling it in different directions, and dragging everyone forward. It would be like Microsoft releasing a new version of Windows every time it needed to release a new office product. I much preferred a stand alone civil product.

[tommy.huckabee]

That's a fact. I use Auto CAD for fabrication drawings of cranes so I really don't need any of the Civil or Architectuaral features. There is Auto CAD mechanical and we use it too but there should be some way separate all fields with their own programs.
On the new features, not every discipline is going to need all of the new features and if you are lucky enough to have training provided you will spend valuable time learning about features you're never going to use or buying a product that is basically what you had before. Reaping benefits from a product that is upgraded every year is a daunting task but may be easier than playing catch up every two years. The bottom line when talking to upper management is productivity, but productivity can only go so far. Any one person can only do so much in a given amout of time and can't be moved any quicker. Some things can be made easier but that affects the person and not so much the employer so it doesn't save too much time and time is what the company is looking for.

Tommy

[jaberwok]

Maybe the peasants will revolt and Autodesk will be forced to change tack.

Maybe they will but we've been saying these same things for the past 15 years (or so) and the ONLY relevant changes are the introduction of the subscription model and the yearly release cycle. Good for some, maybe but certainly not good for all.

Can we all persuade our managements and/or clients to stop upgrading? Again, it hasn't happened yet.