Trade policy that makes me cranky :-(
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Hello all,
My Educator's free licence of SketchUp 2019 expired on April 24th. A few days earlier, I asked for a new free licence of SU2020.
The local supplier sent me a proposal for 78€, so SketchUp Pro is now payware for everyone, including teachers and students.
Should I pay for training Trimble's future clients ? Should I pay to have the right to develop free plugins ? No.
I've decided to stop teaching SketchUp, and to stop developing and updating my free Ruby extensions. Not a question of price, but of principle(s).
So I'm back to SU Make 2017
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Damned!
Wishing that most of existing plugins will be compatible with up versions of 2017...
...Not for me because i am blocked also to this old one !
Bravo for the yet made!
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@pilou:
La compatibilité s'arrêtera à SU2019. J'ai déjà plusieurs rapports de bugs avec 3 ou 4 plugins qui ne marchent plus très bien sous SU2020.
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@didier bur said:
Hello all,
My Educator's free licence of SketchUp 2019 expired on April 24th. A few days earlier, I asked for a new free licence of SU2020.
The local supplier sent me a proposal for 78€, so SketchUp Pro is now payware for everyone, including teachers and students.
Should I pay for training Trimble's future clients ? Should I pay to have the right to develop free plugins ? No.
I've decided to stop teaching SketchUp, and to stop developing and updating my free Ruby extensions. Not a question of price, but of principle(s).
So I'm back to SU Make 2017daaaaang, such a blow to the SU extension community
perhaps patreon or extension payware?
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Is this "trade policy" or Trimble Policy?
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Never thought I'd ever say I miss those Google days
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@glenn at home said:
Is this "trade policy" or Trimble Policy?
I'd love to know as well. It's taking SketchUp (Trimble) 9 weeks so far to attend to fixing a simple search function on the EW. Wowzers, very confidence inspiring.
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@unknownuser said:
Is this "trade policy" or Trimble Policy?
I'd say both.
IMHO it's a "loser-loser" strategy. (in french: "stratégie perdant-perdant") -
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I'm on the same street as HornOxx. Thank you very much, Didier!
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I agree with you all above!
I can't count the many years I've been on the road with SketchUp - pivat always with a free/make version. But always - with some delay in time I introduced SketchUp to the the companies where I worked with regular licenses and in significant numbers.@Didier Bur - I also want to thank you for your great works here which I have also enjoyed and used so far!!!!! and to say it clearly - hope to continue enjoying in future!!! - even if it costs money...
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If only there was a company that gave students and educators FREE copies of ALL of their products...but alas
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It's often the case that large corporate entities define their self-interest in an overly narrow way, which results in blinkered strategic vision.
It's also true that policies that are successful in stamping out 100% of consumer misuse will penalize and alienate legitimate customers (who are the vast majority of all users) in the attempt to thwart the small percentage of miscreants.
In this case, the alienated user has been one whose innumerable contributions over many years puts him in the global all-time top ten of SU influencers / contributors / educators.
I hope that the SU team are paying attention to how certain Trimble corporate policies damage the SU eco-system, and can positively influence the future evolution of such policies.
If nothing else, create a marketing program that formalizes the sponsorship of key influencers / educators / extension developers, part of which is flowing them free licences. Hell, I would grant them an annual stipend as an acknowledgement of their past contributions and to to ensure that they can continue to enrich to the SU community well into the future.
I certainly hope that this is resolved in some way and that Didier is brought back into the fold.
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@didier bur said:
...IMHO a really clever long-term strategy...
Yes! and SketchUp itself would not be where it is today, if they hadn't pursued a much more "open" policy in the past years... -
Hi Didier
Well said.
Trimble has always been just for the profit and never appreciated that you in particular and others too from the very beginning have made Sketchup so complete and and freely given.
Trimble simply took your free gifts and never gave a thought to giving back.
Thank you so very much for all your good works.
I have stopped at SU 2018 as it is more than complete enough for any project I have done or could imagine.
I am happy to pay for what I need and use as a professional Architect.
The free game is over and subscription not free for education is just not an acceptable result.
Thank you a thousand times again for your generosity and goodness of spirit.David Rich Architect
aka dtrarch -
@unknownuser said:
If only there was a company that gave students and educators FREE copies of ALL of their products
Autodesk is doing that: teachers and students can get a set of more than 60 softwares (Autocad, Revit, 3DS Max, Maya...), all fully functional with minor restrictions, licences expiring after 3 YEARS.
Unreal Engine (TwinMotion), Abvent (Archicad, Artlantis, BIM Office...) do so as well, licences expire yearly.
IMHO these are clever long-term strategies...
And I repeat: I ain't no stingy guy until a software publisher charges me even several bucks to promote (in some way) its product.
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@didier bur said:
@unknownuser said:
If only there was a company that gave students and educators FREE copies of ALL of their products
Autodesk is doing that: teachers and students can get a set of more than 60 softwares (Autocad, Revit, 3DS Max, Maya...), all fully functional with minor restrictions, licences expiring after 3 YEARS.
Unreal Engine (TwinMotion), Abvent (Archicad, Artlantis, BIM Office...) do so as well, licences expire yearly.
IMHO these are clever long-term strategies...
And I repeat: I ain't no stingy guy until a software publisher charges me even several bucks to promote (in some way) its product.
Yeah, I know this
LOTS of companies do it and STILL make a living. No surprise on Trimble not doing this.
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