Perpetual vs Subscription 3

[JoshPlumSE]

As a prominent former RISA employee, a number of people have approached me privately with some questions/ concerns regarding RISA's recent move towards subscription licensing. As such, I thought it would be a good idea to state the current policy as I understand it and offer some generic advice to those who are wondering the same thing.

RISA / Nemetschek is currently only selling their subscription licensing. Meaning that if you contact them about getting a new copy of their software (or updating from an old version) they will offer to "lease" the right to use the software on a yearly basis (i.e. a subscription). But, once your lease runs out you lose all ability to use the software unless you renew your subscription.

However, people who own a perpetual version of the software and continue to pay their yearly maintenance fees will continue to get upgrades to the newer versions using their traditional license protection (Sentinel network licensing or hardware keys or such).

Maintenance cost vs subscription costs. The maintenance costs of the perpetual licenses are significantly less per year than the subscription costs. This is because the owner paid a large up front cost to purchase the right to use the software. And, they are now only paying a yearly maintenance fee to provide for upgrades and access to technical support.

Personally, I feel the Subscription model and costs are really pretty good. Provided you have a reliable internet connection (because the license validation relies on your internet connection). If I were a new user it would take something like three years of subscription to make up for the purchase price of the program. The only drawback is that I don't own the right to use the software once my subscription runs out.

Transferring licenses: If you prefer a perpetual license over a subscription, your only current option is to purchase it from an existing RISA user. Maybe you have a friend who is getting ready to retire and is willing to sell you their license. All you have to do is purchase the license from your friend, and get them to write a letter to RISA authorizing the sale. Then you can take over their maintenance payments and such.

A couple of words of words of caution about perpetual licenses:

1) The license protection scheme (sentinel USB hardware keys) used for perpetual licensing seem to be falling out of fashion with the company that sells this technology to RISA. So much so, that it hasn't updated the drivers for their keys for years. They still seem to work with Win10, but there is no guarantee it will work with the next version of Windows. What will RISA / Nemetschek do if this happens? Back when Bruce owned the company I knew what the answer would be... He would offer very fair (even generous) terms to the users who got screwed over. He valued all of his customers and had a genuine desire to do right by them. I'm not entirely confident that the new RISA / Nemetschek would be quite so generous.

2) While the maintenance costs for a perpetual license are currently a lot lower than the subscription costs, there is no guarantee it will stay that way. It would be kind of a nasty thing to do, but what's to stop RISA / Nemetschek from raising the cost of the maintenance until it equals the subscription costs. Certainly there is a desire to move as many users over to subscription as possible. It's a better licensing model for them after all...​

Note: I cannot give you the currently pricing because I don't know it. In fact, the current company policy at RISA/ Nemetschek is to let only their Sales Reps know the cost of the software. Pricing structure is considered "too complicated" for regular engineers to understand. LOL... If anyone wants to know the current pricing, then you should ask RISA directly or get someone to post the information to this forum.

 

[BUGGAR]

And as I mentioned earlier, if a client has security restraints on your internet use for the project, this is a problem. My clients are in a very competitive industry.

 

[JoshPlumSE]

Buggar -

Yes, that is a definite drawback. I've seen some government / military clients that won't allow USB keys either as they're afraid they're jump drives and people can sneak out top secret information. Not much of a way to work around either.

The only way I can see an obvious work around is the following:
i) With a subscription, you check out the license for 30 days when you have access to the internet. Then restrict internet access after that. But, you have to renew it every 30 days.
ii) With the USB thing, you can chain the USB key to the computer so that it would take bolt cutters or such to remove it.
iii) With the network license, if your network and server is secure then you're good. If not, then you can commute a license (remote or local) Same thing with item i) though. You have to re-do this every 30 days.
iv) RISA technically can still issue "emergency license files" to any user. These are like a commuted license generated directly in the RISA offices. They are subject to a max time limit greater than 30 days (I think it's 180 days). However, my belief is they've made a decision to not give these out anymore. If you beg and plead, you might be able to persuade them.

 

[BUGGAR]

Thank you, Josh,

I'm resigned to the fact that we are having to leave a lot of tools behind due to subscription requirements. We're on a different CAD program now (not so bad since it goes directly to product) and I am returning to the old Basic programs everybody used to share across the net (I'm the author of Vibes.bas)

Best wishes to all.

Bob

 

[JoshPlumSE]

Just a correction to a comment I made a few weeks ago. It turns out that the subscription license does periodically check the internet to renew your license while you are using the program. I have now had the program shut down on me (while giving me the option to save my work) when I lose my internet connection.

It seems to take a little while (15 minutes?) for the internet to be down for me to get booted. It tricked me because the time period is a good bit longer than the network licenses which kicks you out after maybe 5 minutes (if your network goes down), or the stand-alone key which kicks you out almost immediately (if you remove the USB key).

 

[BUGGAR]

For what it's worth, I've picked up some clients solely on the basis that I use my old legacy copies of Risa and ACAD and my work never touches the internet. We mail USB sticks back and forth via US Mail and finished designs go directly to CNC machines, also via USB sticks. Paper copies are US Mailed but no electronics. I'm working in a competitive and well hacked industry.