Re: Question on Software Policy

On Sat, 11 Feb 2006 04:15:04 GMT, "John R. Carroll"
<jcarroll@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

BottleBob wrote:
jimz wrote:

This is an interesting situation.
At this point, I do not wish to disclose
the name of this software company, however,
it is a major player in the marketplace.

Jim:

I personally think that public disclosure of questionable business
practices could act as a deterrent to such practices, as well as
possibly giving the company some incentive to resolve this situation.


They sent us out two new keys ( hardware protection dongles) for the
new softare update and new capabilities.

All was well for about a year, and then about a week ago we could no
longer run the software on one of the computers.

It seems, (unknown to me ) they had built into one of the dongles a
timer that stopped the software from running after a year on the
personal seat key.
I was told that to continue to run the personal seat, we
would need to continue the service contract. The reason
they started this policy is to keep the personal seat keys from
showing up on the open market.

CAD/CAM companies are on a roll. I've always thought that maintenance
was major profit center for them, with little return on the investment
for the shop. And with machine shops having nowhere to turn but
*other* CAD/CAM companies that engage in similar practices, the end
user is sometimes caught between a rock and a hard place.
I've never heard of this "Pay your maintenance, or the product will
time out", but I can envision how such a practice could spread like
wildfire throughout the CAD/CAM software industry, especially if no
one makes a stink about it.

Bob,
Delcam used to have exactly this as the policy for all of their software
products. The codes only ran for the length of the maint. period.
Catia, and others, still do this but the implimentation is different between
them.
FWIW, Delcam changed their policy years ago, largely as the result of
resistance by the market.

In a few years at most you'll have to replace your OS & hardware ...
then play catchup on the past due to upgrade ..... probably better to
pay as you go.
--
Cliff
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Question on Software Policy
    ... I do not wish to disclose ... practices could act as a deterrent to such practices, ... I was told that to continue to run the personal seat, ... CAD/CAM companies are on a roll. ...
    (alt.machines.cnc)
  • Re: Question on Software Policy
    ... I do not wish to disclose ... practices could act as a deterrent to such practices, ... I was told that to continue to run the personal seat, ... CAD/CAM companies that engage in similar practices, ...
    (alt.machines.cnc)
  • Re: Question on Software Policy
    ... I do not wish to disclose ... the name of this software company, however, ... practices could act as a deterrent to such practices, ... "Truth" may be a defense once you are sued that your $$ lawyers $$ might use. ...
    (alt.machines.cnc)