Hydratec, Inc. Newsletter
HydraNEWS Volume XXV- Number 1
In This Issue
Autodesk Perpetual Licenses
Autodesk Rebates
Renting AutoCAD
HydraCAD RevitLink 6.0
Quick Links

Greetings!

6/2/15 - Autodesk has announced a radical change in how they sell software licenses. Many of you received an email from Autodesk explaining the changes and/or heard rumors over the last six months or so about this topic. We will try to distill the messages into a basic explanation, below.

To encourage users to switch their older perpetual seats to Desktop Subscription seats, Autodesk is offering rebates. You can now swap an old AutoCAD (as far back as 2005!) to a new AutoCAD 2016 desktop subscription version. Contact us for details.

Our last newsletter we went over the benefits of the Autodesk Rental Program, which is essentially this same idea. I have reproduced that article below, for your reference.
Also, we have released HydraCAD RevitLink 6-0. Please refer to the article below for more information on this.

Autodesk Switches to Perpetual Licenses

Much was written about this topic in a recent Autodesk announcement. Here are the meat and bones as they pertain to the majority of our customers. These refer to AutoCAD for simplicity, but they are the same for other Autodesk products.

Q: First - what is a perpetual license?
A: A perpetual license is what you have now. Once you buy AutoCAD, or any other Autodesk product, you can use it 'forever' (in perpetuity).

Q: So, what is changing?
A: Come February 1st, you will not be able to buy a new perpetual seat of AutoCAD. Instead you will be buying a rental version of AutoCAD, which they term a 'Desktop Subscription'.

Q: Will my existing seats of AutoCAD still work?
A: Yes. Nothing is changing there. If you own a seat of AutoCAD, you will continue to own it.

Q: Does the new Desktop Subscription version reside on my hard drive or in the cloud?
A: It works from your hard drive just like it does now.

Q: How does the licensing work?
A: It occasionally checks for the license on the cloud. As is stands now, you must be attached to the internet once every two weeks for this check. Autodesk has indicated that they re-evaluate this time period occasionally to see if it causing problems and they may adjust it in the future (having already done so in the past).

Q: Will I still be able to get new versions of my perpetual license?
A: Yes. Customers who have a perpetual license on Maintenance Subscription will continue to receive updates as long as the subscription remains active. In fact, there is an offer of 5% off a three-year (the maximum term) subscription until July 31st.

Q: What terms are available for the Desktop Subscription?
A: Hydratec can offer monthly, quarterly, one, two and three year plans for most Autodesk products. The plans all include the latest versions available.

Q: Can I convert a perpetual license to a desktop subscription?
A: Yes, you can

Q: Are there any deals going on to encourage this?
A: Yes, in fact you can convert AutoCADs all the way back to AutoCAD 2005! see the article on rebates, below.

Q: Why are they doing this?
A: Autodesk states that is will give customers more flexibility and lower up-front costs, and they will be able to update users with bug fixes and new features more quickly.

Visit Autodesk's announcement page for their details on this, or refer to their FAQ document.
Autodesk Rebates
big-bills-money.jpg
Autodesk has announced some online rebates, effective immediately and good until July 24th. There are a quite a few of them, but the simple list below should cover what the majority of our customers regularly buy.

Rebates for New Perpetual Licenses purchased with 2 or 3 year maintenance subscription:

AutoCAD = $500
Building Design Suite Premium = $1000
Building Design Suite Ultimate = $1500

Rebates for Crossgrades from AutoCAD / AutoCAD MEP to Building Design Suites purchased with 2 or 3 year maintenance subscription:

Building Design Suite Premium = $250
Building Design Suite Ultimate = $1200

 

Rebates for Conversions from Perpetual Licenses of AutoCAD 2005 through AutoCAD 2015 (or AutoCAD MEP) to Desktop Subscription

 

AutoCAD = $200

 

Please note that these are online rebates, not instant rebates and are not in any way handled by us, but are handled by Autodesk. 

Renting AutoCAD/Navis/Revit Now a Viable Option
Autodesk has had 'rental' of their products available for about a year, but maybe it is time to consider this in certain circumstances (PS - although AutoCAD calls it 'pay-as-you-go', we call it rental, as that is more familiar to people).

Here are some scenarios where rental may make sense:
  • You plan to hire an intern for the summer to help out in your design department
     
  • You have a project that will last two or three months and need another seat of Navisworks Manage for that period
     
  • You are just starting out or need to add another seat of AutoCAD and don't want to stretch your cash flow to pay for a new seat up front
     
  • You want predictability in your budget, and rental can make that a fixed cost
Aside from the reduced amount of money needed up front to add a new seat of whatever, one advantage of Autodesk rental is that it includes the latest version of the software, so you do not need to pay a separate maintenance subscription fee.

We have a blog post looking at the costs of rental versus a traditional buy. Please look at it for more information.

We can offer rental on all Autodesk products, not just the ones listed on their website, so contact us for pricing!
HydraCAD RevitLink 6.0 Released

The HydraCAD RevitLink has been updated to  Download Revit trial

Version 6.0  


This update includes compatibility with Revit 2016/2015/2014/2013 for Version 53 and Revit 2015/2014/2013 for Version 52.
It is available only on our new download site.
Sincerely,
 
Arthur Dove
Hydratec, Inc.