expired License

[tmschrader]

Hello, Does anyone know if it is legal or illegal to use a a release version of Autocad after it has expired? For example, say a company decided not to get the new 2010 or 2011 upgrade after the 2007 version dies or is no longer upgradeable, is it illegal to still use the 2007 version? By using Gateway and other translater programs they could continue to use the older releases, as they work fine for that company. Of course, this is stricky a hypothetical question, for a company that may not want to be forced to buy upgrades they really do not need.

In the below link you can see that a federal Judge has determined that AUTOCAD is under copyright law and thier License agreement is "Nonsense" (said the federal court). Anyways, in the license agreement thier is a clause that says the license to use is "perpetual".

http://geodatapolicy.wordpress.com/...sk-software-license-agreement-and-first-sale/

 

[atook]

As far as I understand, the license doesn't "expire".

You should be fine using the older release of AutoCAD as long as you like. The upgrades are optional, not mandatory.

Tim Grote - The Irrigation Engineers.

http://www.irrigationengineers.com

 

[zdas04]

I'm using 2006 and have no intention of "upgrading" until I buy a computer that it won't run on.

David

 

[MiketheEngineer]

Use it

 

[francesca]

It's not "illegal" to breach a license agreement, it's a civil offense and makes you subject to civil lawsuit. My understanding is that Autodesk licenses are tied to a particular version and do not expire.

 

[hydrae]

What does expire is the ability to upgrade,
I the past, autodesk sent me a notice that this was the last chance to upgrade, this time they did not.
Now I need to upgrade cause 2006 will not open 2009 dwg's
Hydrae

 

[francesca]

I wouldn't bother because 2009 probably won't open 2010 drawings. Autodesk does "major" releases on a 3-year schedule. 2004, 2007, 2010 are "file type" changes. You lucked out getting in on the last of the 2004 version, don't make the same mistake on 2009! A 2009 drawing can be saved back to 2004 format.

 

[tmschrader]

Thanks for the input.
The gateway or ACAD DWG true view (which are free downloads) allow you to open up to 2008, but not 2009 as Hydrae pointed out. Maybe this should be another topic, but does anybody know of better Conversions programs then Gateway or ACAD true view? And when will the new conversion programs or the releases come out that allow you to open up a 2009 file and downgrade it to a earlier version of ACAD that you may have. This way a company can recieve a 2009 file and not have to call up the customer and ask them to downgrade thier file and resend it.

 

[hydrae]

I must have recieved a 2010 drawing then, but why is 2010 out before halfway into 2009?

 

[djs]

I believe that ACAD 2010 was released in the first quarter of 2009.

 

[RHTPE]

AutoCAD 2010 was released around the end of April 2009. At least that's when I received my subscription copy.

As far as I know, one can continue using a legally obtained copy of AutoCAD for as long as you want. The right to use it does not expire. What will expire is the ability to upgrade to a newer release (at a price less than full "new" seat price) once AutoDesk has dropped support on the older version.

But not upgrading will cost you in versatility. Yes, you can get someone to SaveAs a 2004 or 2000 version drawing file, BUT, if they have taken advantage of some of the newer features (Dynamic blocks, annotative properties, etc.) and then save down, you will find some very confusing stuff in that drawing file.

Several years ago I did a cost-benefit analysis of upgrading every 3-4 years vs Subscription and found that over a 10 year period the cost was about the same. Once you consider the relatively small annual adjustment needed for a new release against the major learning curve of say upgrading from 2006 to 2009, it's far better to go Subscription.

By the way, I do not work for AutoDesk nor am I involved in AutoCAD distribution in any way. Subscription or not, somehow the publisher has to generate the income to pay its people to continue to improve the product. Whether or not each annual incremental release is worth the cost depends upon how you use AutoCAD. From what I have seen of 2010 and its new features, and apply it to how I utilize AutoCAD, the annual cost is not worth it. But then, the 2010 to 2011 increment may be far better.

I don't necessarily like it, but it is the way it is.


Ralph
Structures Consulting
Northeast USA

 

[tmschrader]

Hello Hydrae, if your still around, the 2010 version of true view is now avaivable for download and according to the below it should open that 2010 file you have. But I had to run the uninstal programs to get rid of the 2008 version of true view before I could load the 2010 version.

With DWG TrueView, you can convert AutoCAD DWG files between the following data formats:

AutoCAD 2010
AutoCAD 2007
AutoCAD 2004
AutoCAD 2000
AutoCAD R14, AutoCAD LT 98, AutoCAD LT 97
The releases of AutoCAD-based products between the drawing file format changes listed above are based on the previous format.