Classic/perpetual licence option ending this year!

applemango85 · 27 Jan 2020, 10:14

Hi

I’ve just had an email from my sketchup retailer reminding me that I need to renew my classic licence 1yr support & maintenance. He mentioned that the classic/perpetual licence option was ending later this year.

I’ve emailed back to ask for more info but if so this is quicker than either adobe or autodesk going fully subscription?! and for me a disappointing move from Trimble

Anyone know anymore about this?

rogalxxx · 28 Jan 2020, 19:29

Wait, WHAT?
I got a 3 year support for classic license in 2018. So it should be ok for 2021, right?

Dave R · 28 Jan 2020, 19:39

@rogalxxx said:

Wait, WHAT?
I got a 3 year support for classic license in 2018. So it should be ok for 2021, right?

It would make sense to contact your reseller to make sure instead of asking on a forum. Get the information directly from those who know.

I expect you will be fine. They are still showing the Classic license option on the SketchUp website at this time.

Glenn at home · 28 Jan 2020, 19:53

@dave r said:

... They are still showing the Classic license option on the SketchUp website at this time.

Yes, just updating mine on the 23rd of this month.

applemango85 · 28 Jan 2020, 21:40

Tried to get more from my sketchup provider but he wasn’t giving anything else away

I guess he had already said too much (by saying the classic licence is ceasing to exist later this year/2020)

If it does happen in 2020 it would be a bit of a crappie move eliminating the perpetual option imo

Dave R · 28 Jan 2020, 21:45

@applemango85 said:

If it does happen in 2020 it would be a bit of a crappie move eliminating the perpetual option imo

The perpetual license only applies to the current version you are using anyway. If you are planning to take advantage of that you would need to stop upgrading to the next version.

Since there hasn't been anything official from SketchUp directly on this topic, I wouldn't get too worried about it now. If they do discontinue the classic license option you can deal with it then. And maybe your reseller was talking out of their hat or somewhere else.

applemango85 · 5 Feb 2020, 10:24

I’ve had another email from my retailer

Trimble is looking to end the Classic Perpetual License model later this year

The date is not known but subscription is becoming the norm at some point this year

I imagine that sketchup would have to honour any existing m&s plans (in fact where do you buy a 3 m&s top up as that’s probably the best future proof for us classic users)

Sound like it’s happening - so those of us who are classic not intending/can’t afford to go subscription should start covering ourselves now

kaas · 5 Feb 2020, 15:30

Too bad but no real surprise here.

The subscription business model is great for business but not for the users. Their argument 'we have to earn your trust every year' and 'make your wallet speak' is not valid and much weaker compared to the classic license. Not paying is no option to make any changes to your files (or you must convert all of them to V8). Long time users are hurt the most. Pisses me off every time the marketing use it.

I will keep my Classic 20 and we'll see at any point if there's a big reason to buy a subscription 'Pro' as well.

dedmin · 5 Feb 2020, 20:36

The real power of the subscription (for the developer) is when you stop paying, you are left with nothing! That is the whole point - you have to pay to use your files! They want a full control - the software and your files on the cloud and on subscription! And this is just the beginning! With IoT all your stuff will be on subscription!

Glenn at home · 5 Feb 2020, 21:08

@kaas said:

Too bad but no real surprise here.

No it's not. This has been Trimble's business model for years. It was only a matter of time.

numerobis · 6 Feb 2020, 11:13

@jbacus said:

We haven’t announced any future end to our existing support and maintenance for perpetual (classic) licensing, so I wouldn’t necessarily jump to the conclusion that we are actively working against your best interests. You’ll have to decide if you trust us or not, I guess.

SketchUp in 2019: where great ideas get to work

Well, it has been quite a year (plus a little) here at SketchUp HQ, with tremendous amounts of coffee consumed and today we’re finally ready to spill what we’ve been working so hard to finish. There’s quite a lot to shar…

SketchUp Community (forums.sketchup.com)

@unknownuser said:

Currently, we do not have a date when we will sunset the classic M&S upgrades completely. You will always be able to use the version you’ve last upgraded to in perpetuity, even if the day comes that we do not offer M&S anymore.

SketchUp in 2019: where great ideas get to work

Well, it has been quite a year (plus a little) here at SketchUp HQ, with tremendous amounts of coffee consumed and today we’re finally ready to spill what we’ve been working so hard to finish. There’s quite a lot to shar…

SketchUp Community (forums.sketchup.com)

@unknownuser said:

Yes. We will phase it out eventually, but we do not have a timeline as to when the sunset will occur.

SketchUp in 2019: where great ideas get to work

Well, it has been quite a year (plus a little) here at SketchUp HQ, with tremendous amounts of coffee consumed and today we’re finally ready to spill what we’ve been working so hard to finish. There’s quite a lot to shar…

SketchUp Community (forums.sketchup.com)

@unknownuser said:

WOAH! This is absolutely not true! I’m very sorry everyone. We are a big team and wires got crossed here.
Rather than try to hide this I’ll simply say that it is not the true. No decisions have been made to phase out perpetual licenses. We will continue to let our customers and the market as a whole, inform us as to how they want to purchase software in the future.

SketchUp in 2019: where great ideas get to work

Well, it has been quite a year (plus a little) here at SketchUp HQ, with tremendous amounts of coffee consumed and today we’re finally ready to spill what we’ve been working so hard to finish. There’s quite a lot to shar…

SketchUp Community (forums.sketchup.com)

applemango85 · 6 Feb 2020, 16:13

I remember those quotes

At the time I was thinking we had at least another 3-5 before subscription only

Trimble has been a relatively good software company to us users over the years - I like to take them on their word

I’m only relaying what I’ve been told by a respectable retailer - it’s better to pre warn on something that never comes about then say nothing and it catches people by surprise with no time to plan/budget

numerobis · 6 Feb 2020, 18:46

@applemango85 said:

Trimble has been a relatively good software company to us users over the years - I like to take them on their word
I’m only relaying what I’ve been told by a respectable retailer - it’s better to pre warn on something that never comes about then say nothing and it catches people by surprise with no time to plan/budget

I'm not sure, if you're talking about the same "Trimble"...
And yes, thanks for the warning! I think, i would trust your retailer more than a company that has shown more than enough how "credible" they are and what intentions they have.

samnorth · 7 Feb 2020, 11:43

I've had the same response via a different channel to the OP.

The distributor's line was 'Sketchup is moving to a Subscription model...Perpetual licenses will become legacy'. The time frame is unknown but probably within the next 12 months.

genma saotome · 28 Feb 2020, 03:41

This begs the question of whether Trimble can shut down all the versions of Make.

I've never had a need for any of the Pro features and would be happy to pay $100-200 for another version of Make, a product I use almost everyday (for hobby purposes0.

Anything like this thread that indicates Trimble is ending something gets me very worried.

Anyone know what their position is regarding Make, other than the obvious that it is not part of their go-forward plans?

Dave R · 28 Feb 2020, 04:01

No one who might know Trimble's plans for the future is at liberty to say so there's no point in asking. They have said that 2017 Make will continue to be available for the foreseeable future. Of course since it isn't being updated, there is the potential that some things might not work with new operating systems. (That being said, I have V3.1 from 2003 installed on my Windows 10 machine and it works just fine.)

Since you are only using it in a hobbyist's capacity, SketchUp 2017 Make should continue to serve you now assuming you've upgraded. Your profile indicates you are using SketchUp 8. If that's still the case, you might want to update. And if you're worried about not being able to download it in the future, it would be wise to save a coopy of the installer.

I doubt they would do anything to turn off Sketchup Make but you may find some day certain web-based features aren't functional. That already happened with Geo-Location terrain data and aerial imagery when Google removed access to what they had provided for free.

The web based version has been on a steady path of improvement so at some point in time you might just switch to using SketchUp Free.

genma saotome · 28 Feb 2020, 20:02

Profile updated. I use Make 2016.

I won't use Free because I will never use any outside site as a sole repository of my files. Backups? Sure. Distribution? Sure. Only place? Never. Given I have 7000 .skp files (many of which are quite simple), this matter is pretty significant for me.

Even the idea of exporting them as as collada files for the purpose of porting them elsewhere is too much to consider.

Dave R · 28 Feb 2020, 20:30

@genma saotome said:

Profile updated. I use Make 2016.

I won't use Free because I will never use any outside site as a sole repository of my files.

Who says you have to use an outside site as a sole repository with SketchUp Free? That certainly isn't the case at all.

Backups? Sure. Distribution? Sure. Only place? Never. Given I have 7000 .skp files (many of which are quite simple), this matter is pretty significant for me.

Even the idea of exporting them as as collada files for the purpose of porting them elsewhere is too much to consider.[/quote]

No one says you have to export anything as a Collada file.

genma saotome · 29 Feb 2020, 22:32

It was my unde5rstanding that your model's file was stored at Trimble, not locally. Is that incorrect?

Dave R · 29 Feb 2020, 22:41

You can store your model in cloud storage provided by Trimble Connect or you can save it to your computer locally or you can do both. I do both when I use the web-based version.