Tips for Going off Subscription?

[m2shell]

I've been a SW subscriber since 2012 and I'm considering going off subscription.

I've downloaded a copy of the 2022 5.0 and I'm going to test installing without the internet.
Anything else I should be aware of?

Thanks

[AlexLachance]

Keep the installation of SolidWorks 2022 SP5 on a USB device so that if your workstation dies off you won't need to run around to get the files back.

Besides that, I don't think there is much to give as a 'tip', going off subscription doesn't really change anything besides not getting support and not being able to update.

[m2shell]

Cool. Thanks

[zxys001]

Send a nice Xmas card saying you need to break up with them but hope they can understand if you need to come back later?

[Frederick_Law]

Download full install of each SP of each version.
Download all SP update installation.
Well download all installation and name them properly.

Open bank account and put subscription money in it.
Watch the account grow and have a good time.

[RichGergely]

There must quite a lot more people going off subscription at the moment. Putting aside the argument of not much is being developed with your subs money. Companies are tightening belts in the current climate, looking for ways to save money, so it stands to reason to save money on CAD subs if you can.

Question is there, just how firmly will Solidworks stand by the current system of paying for past years subs if you want to get back on. I wouldn't be surprised to see some flex to ensure the user base going forward.

[Uncle_Hairball]

There must quite a lot more people going off subscription at the moment. Putting aside the argument of not much is being developed with your subs money. Companies are tightening belts in the current climate, looking for ways to save money, so it stands to reason to save money on CAD subs if you can.

Question is there, just how firmly will Solidworks stand by the current system of paying for past years subs if you want to get back on. I wouldn't be surprised to see some flex to ensure the user base going forward.

I expect that they'll be unyielding in their commitment to receiving your money unless you tell them if they don't relent, you'll buy Solid Edge. That might do the trick.

[Hansjoerg]

Take a look a this Document

[m2shell]

Thanks All

Looking forward to this new adventure!

[Damo]

I have been off-subs since march this year. The only difference for me now is that my var won't actually try to help at all.
Whereas previously their help amounted to little or nothing anyway. (But calling my var, a var, is reaaalllly stretching it..)
Tho, I do regret not getting all the service packs for this latest version I am on.. (2022) but, they were not all available at the time anyway.. Meh.

But just beware if you ever need to go back, they will charge "by the month" for backdating.
And as of Jan 3023 I am informed that SW will only be offering 4yr sub terms. (Doubtless, A ploy to seduce/compel users to the 3DeXploitation)
This will be a hefty payment, to be sure.

[Frederick_Law]

The larger the penalty, the better competitor price become.

[m2shell]

Meh. We'll see. I may switch to Inventor anyway. I can get bundle pricing with AutoCad.

[m2shell]

Download full install of each SP of each version.
Download all SP update installation.
Well download all installation and name them properly.

Open bank account and put subscription money in it.
Watch the account grow and have a good time.

For any given version, do I need to Download all service packs starting at SP0?

[Glenn Schroeder]

For any given version, do I need to Download all service packs starting at SP0?

No, you don't. You only need to download one. That will usually be the latest, unless you've heard of problems with it and prefer an earlier one. After downloading one service pack you can download newer ones later, or stay on it, whichever works.

[Frederick_Law]

For any given version, do I need to Download all service packs starting at SP0?

If you're going off sub, yes. Get everything before you have no access.
The full install you can download in portal is SP0. So you'll need all updates to SP5.
SW usually release incremental update: 0-1,1-2, 2-3, 3-4, 4-5.
If you ask while you still have sub, var can get you link for full install on each SP.
Just tell them you have trouble install the update and want to uninstall and reinstall.

[AlexLachance]

If you're going off sub, yes. Get everything before you have no access.
The full install you can download in portal is SP0. So you'll need all updates to SP5.
SW usually release incremental update: 0-1,1-2, 2-3, 3-4, 4-5.
If you ask while you still have sub, var can get you link for full install on each SP.
Just tell them you have trouble install the update and want to uninstall and reinstall.

It's not really a need. If he's at SP5, there's no going back to a previous SP. He can simply download the SP5 of the latest version unless he uses multiple versions at the same time or if he wants more variety he can add SP5 of the other previous versions. No need for SP0 to 4 if SP5 is out.

[Frank_Oostendorp]

Whatever you plan, you don't know how the rules might change. What's the effort of downloading a full install set of all service packs? These are in my library and cost nothing extra, or maybe a HDD of €50.

[Frederick_Law]

It's not really a need. If he's at SP5, there's no going back to a previous SP. He can simply download the SP5 of the latest version unless he uses multiple versions at the same time or if he wants more variety he can add SP5 of the other previous versions. No need for SP0 to 4 if SP5 is out.

If you can get SP5 full install.
SW download is SP0 full, incremental for each SP.

Until he need to reinstall and off sub.
Also do the same for the old versions.
We've got a few asking for installation.

Of course, all software can be download from YouKnowWhere

[HDS]

Be aware that some things like Visualize and CAM only work while you are on subscription.

[jcapriotti]

Meh. We'll see. I may switch to Inventor anyway. I can get bundle pricing with AutoCad.

Which are subscription only now. Stop paying and it stops working.

[bnemec]

If you're going off sub, yes. Get everything before you have no access.
The full install you can download in portal is SP0. So you'll need all updates to SP5.
SW usually release incremental update: 0-1,1-2, 2-3, 3-4, 4-5.
If you ask while you still have sub, var can get you link for full install on each SP.
Just tell them you have trouble install the update and want to uninstall and reinstall.

I'm going through the process of getting the SPs downloaded. Had to ask VAR for the 2019 stuff, which they kindly provided links to all the SPs. For downloading from the customer portal, the SPs ask what sp we're updating from:

So which way do you recommend to do download, all the SPs from 0 or consecutively? Or all of the above.

I see what you mean about carefully naming them. Default name is SolidWorksSetup (1).exe for all...

[Frederick_Law]

VAR should have full install for each SP. Not sure why DS don't put them in portal.
You probably know which SP you'll use. So get the full install for that one.

Portal has SP0 or SP0.1 full install.
So you can get 0-1, 0-2, 0-3, 0-4, 0-5.
This way you don't need to install each SP.
Make sure you name them properly.

[AlexB]

If you download the SP5 (or whatever SP you want) installer and run it, it will download all of the installation media to your PC for that SP. I've never downloaded them in order and applied them in order just to get installation media.

[Damo]

I have been off-subs since march this year. The only difference for me now is that my var won't actually try to help at all.
Whereas previously their help amounted to little or nothing anyway. (But calling my var, a var, is reaaalllly stretching it..)
Tho, I do regret not getting all the service packs for this latest version I am on.. (2022) but, they were not all available at the time anyway.. Meh.

But just beware if you ever need to go back, they will charge "by the month" for backdating.
And as of Jan 3023 I am informed that SW will only be offering 4yr sub terms. (Doubtless, A ploy to seduce/compel users to the 3DeXploitation)
This will be a hefty payment, to be sure.

I was fully prepared to never be on subs again.
But, as sometimes happens in life, the unexpected can indeed occur. I am now back on subs until December 2025.
Our VAR eventually offered a deal that amounted to almost half price subs, for the next 3 yrs and backdating fees virtually waived entirely.
I feel it was too good a deal to turn away from..

Yay ... I guess..

[gerard]

I was fully prepared to never be on subs again.
But, as sometimes happens in life, the unexpected can indeed occur. I am now back on subs until December 2025.
Our VAR eventually offered a deal that amounted to almost half price subs, for the next 3 yrs and backdating fees virtually waived entirely.
I feel it was too good a deal to turn away from..

Yay ... I guess..

Wow.

That's interesting.

I'd love to know why they offered that deal.

[Frederick_Law]

I'd love to know why they offered that deal.

They're hurting.
Is there sub for VAR on Online version?

[Damo]

Wow.

That's interesting.

I'd love to know why they offered that deal.

I honestly couldn't say.
What I can say is that I have made it quite clear to them that they would need to pull a miracle outa there a$$es before I would ever agree to part with another penny for them. I guess that is close to a miracle as I'm gonna get from them.
I have been VERY vocal with them about my dissatisfaction with their service to date and had been looking at a possible replacement VAR.
(These guys really are not "Value Added" !!..)
And, I do not know what the implication of VAR statistics for customers-on-the-books vs active subs relative to their accountability to DS

Perhaps some money is better than none.
I can also say, that the only reason I even considered going back on subs at all was to gain access to the SP's for my current version, and since my update to SP5, I've actually had an issue that required their assistance. (I lost my bend-lines in DXF output.> )
And so far our reseller has lived up to my expectations. 5 days now and no help at all yet..

Seems like they took what they could get and are giving as little-to-nothing as possible..

Meh. I can have updates until 2025 tho, so, that's good, right.?

[AlexB]

I can also say, that the only reason I even considered going back on subs at all was to gain access to the SP's for my current version, and since my update to SP5, I've actually had an issue that required their assistance. (I lost my bend-lines in DXF output.> )
And so far our reseller has lived up to my expectations. 5 days now and no help at all yet..

I remember seeing someone post about this issue previously and their fix was to restore the registry to default. Not really a great solution, but a solution...

Just as a thing to check, the export settings are saved in the registry at this location:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\SolidWorks\Solidworks 20##\Export Settings

Is the property "DXF/DWG Remove Bend Lines For FlatpatternToDXF" set to 0? It should be 0 in order to show bend lines.

I can't reproduce your issue, but I also can't find where this is set in the options menu so who knows how it affects things behind the scenes.

[SPerman]

Here are a few threads on the Bend Line topic.


viewtopic.php?p=25451&hilit=dxf+bend#p25451

viewtopic.php?p=24905&hilit=dxf+bend#p24905

viewtopic.php?p=21087&hilit=dxf+bend#p21087

[gerard]

I honestly couldn't say.
What I can say is that I have made it quite clear to them that they would need to pull a miracle outa there a$$es before I would ever agree to part with another penny for them. I guess that is close to a miracle as I'm gonna get from them.
I have been VERY vocal with them about my dissatisfaction with their service to date and had been looking at a possible replacement VAR.
(These guys really are not "Value Added" !!..)
And, I do not know what the implication of VAR statistics for customers-on-the-books vs active subs relative to their accountability to DS

Perhaps some money is better than none.
I can also say, that the only reason I even considered going back on subs at all was to gain access to the SP's for my current version, and since my update to SP5, I've actually had an issue that required their assistance. (I lost my bend-lines in DXF output.> )
And so far our reseller has lived up to my expectations. 5 days now and no help at all yet..

Seems like they took what they could get and are giving as little-to-nothing as possible..

Meh. I can have updates until 2025 tho, so, that's good, right.?

My experience with my VAR in recent times hasn't been much better.

Last year I filed 4 support requests. That's about 4 more than normal. Normally I only have to call them when SolidWorks won't activate.

3 of the 4 they wiffed on. Completely and totally.

1 they provided help with, but only after a major push back from me. My login cred's got FUBAR'ed in the website transition and I could no longer log into my account. They told me to call SolidWorks, and I responded, that's what I'm doing. Don't slope shoulder this onto the users. Finally they relented, and it still took 2 weeks, because according to their contact, they had never seen this type of thing.

Which I know is BS as there was someone here that went through the same process.

So what, exactly, am I paying for guys?

[Frederick_Law]

So what, exactly, am I paying for guys?

High blood pressure, shorter life, highway to heaven.

[Damo]

Here are a few threads on the Bend Line topic.


viewtopic.php?p=25451&hilit=dxf+bend#p25451

viewtopic.php?p=24905&hilit=dxf+bend#p24905

viewtopic.php?p=21087&hilit=dxf+bend#p21087

Thank you mate.

I have read these and I have rectified my issue with the assistance of this forum and not our reseller.

[XHawkeye]

[Frederick_Law]

"We need to increase Cloud subscription for next 2 years."
"Add it to new sub and make them 2 years."
"Done, and you got a raise!"

[gerard]

Wow. That's awesome. Just another nail in the coffin as far as I'm concerned.

I'm retiring at the end the month and the gravy train of my employer covering the cost of subscription to my personal seat of SolidWorks will end as well.

So, come February, I'll be off of subscription as well.

[RichGergely]

You have got to love it.

The best way to get people to pay subscription is simple offer a great service with a better product than the competition.
What we have instead is the latest blackmail subscription incentive = if you don't get back on before July 1 this is what will happen.

I was warned today by my VAR from July 1st that things are going to get more expensive unless I pay now and return to subs. I'm not sure it's the best way to win people over...................

[zxys001]

yep... they are openly saying it out loud. Bend over and take it because we don't care what you want!

[Cadmonkeychris]

I failed to renew subs last October. Since then I have a brief email exchange with the VAR who tried the old "development penalty" tactic to get me back on board (didn't work) but otherwise nothing.

I have had my own license since 2006, on subs since 2008, upgraded to premium and I am quite happy to walk away from it. I reckon 2018 was the last good release and since then there has been nowhere near enough development to justify the continued expense.

I have clients that use 2018, 2021, Fusion 360 and those that really don't care what format I provide, as long as the data can be read by whoever is fabbing the design. The SW-using clients are likely to jump ship as well. Two years in advance isn't going to wash with them. If owning your own license is going to be a thing of the past, as seems to be the industry push, then there are other rental options available out there.

I may yet be going permanent (I made a series of posts about cleansheeting with NX a while back) in which case someone else is picking up the tab. They're not impressed with DS' tactics, so that is likely to be another SW loss.

[SPerman]

I reckon 2018 was the last good release and since then there has been nowhere near enough development to justify the continued expense.

I agree 100%.

[Frederick_Law]

What we have instead is the latest blackmail subscription incentive = if you don't get back on before July 1 this is what will happen.

SolidWorks become Disruptive Ransom Innovation on the Cloud.

[bnemec]

You have got to love it.

The best way to get people to pay subscription is simple offer a great service with a better product than the competition.
What we have instead is the latest blackmail subscription incentive = if you don't get back on before July 1 this is what will happen.

I was warned today by my VAR from July 1st that things are going to get more expensive unless I pay now and return to subs. I'm not sure it's the best way to win people over...................

Why don't sales and marketing understand that scare tactics just make them sound desperate? It's rather pathetic.

[Frederick_Law]

Why don't sales and marketing understand that scare tactics just make them sound desperate? It's rather pathetic.

Show that management are bullies.

[Cadmonkeychris]

Nothing instills confidence in a product like desperate looking moves like this, a thorough push behind another product in their stable and obvious executive hatred of the old product.

[Brian-M]

Let's be real though, Solidworks is big in the CAD industry, they've done some shitty things, and made some significant mistakes, but they will remain a big name in CAD for the foreseeable future. This two year subscription thing upsets me less that some of the other things they've done in recent years. It's not blackmail or desperate, it's a calculated a policy change which isn't totally unreasonable or unprecedented. Two years isn't a long commitment for a business-CAD relationship, and it's not going to phase their medium to large customers. It'd be nice if 3DS though of the little guys more, but you know that isn't the recent trend.

Raising the price to add cloud services could certainly be unpleasant (I haven't seen how much the price is going up). But they are committing more fully to the cloud based 3DExperience services, which I think will actually end up being pretty good, especially if you time travel to 2025 or later. Integrated and easier cloud based PDM is a hole that this will finally (probably) fill.

If you want to go off subscription you can. That's good it's still an option. If you want to change VAR, you can.

By the way, you only need the final service pack for each year, but you may want to save out multiple years - sometimes there is a case for working with an old version with a certain customer, or old computer.
Use the installation manager "option to Download and share all files . . . the full version and service pack are contained in one install" https://help.solidworks.com/2022/englis ... edc152#Pg0

[doobes]

By the way, you only need the final service pack for each year, but you may want to save out multiple years - sometimes there is a case for working with an old version with a certain customer, or old computer.
Use the installation manager "option to Download and share all files . . . the full version and service pack are contained in one install" https://help.solidworks.com/2022/englis ... edc152#Pg0

Assuming you can actually log into your account.....

[jcapriotti]

Raising the price to add cloud services could certainly be unpleasant (I haven't seen how much the price is going up). But they are committing more fully to the cloud based 3DExperience services, which I think will actually end up being pretty good, especially if you time travel to 2025 or later. Integrated and easier cloud based PDM is a hole that this will finally (probably) fill.

Not if you are using another PDM/PLM system like Windchill. The increased subs just means I pay for something I don't use. Why not just offer a sub without cloud services and sub with cloud services? Because they want their huge user base to foot the bill for their cloud development costs. It would be easy to give the customers a choice but Dassault management decided to be greedy instead of customer focused.

[zxys001]

Not if you are using another PDM/PLM system like Windchill. The increased subs just means I pay for something I don't use. Why not just offer a sub without cloud services and sub with cloud services? Because they want their huge user base to foot the bill for their cloud development costs. It would be easy to give the customers a choice but Dassault management decided to be greedy instead of customer focused.

Hopefully these greedy bastards get it in their heads... a subscription program which is pay as you go/need or levels of use during change/demands would be ideal!

[SPerman]

I'm not typically optimistic, but I have hope, in the long term, at least.

20 years ago the music industry got itself in a bind with bad practices. As a result, more people stole music than paid for it. The industry eventually sorted itself out, and the world for consumers of music is now in a really good place.

A few years ago all of the major players in TV decided they needed to have their own streaming service and keep all of the content/profits for themselves. They are now figuring out that there aren't enough consumers who wanted to pay for 20 different streaming services to keep them all alive. It hasn't worked itself out yet, but I'm confident it will in the next few years, even if it means several of the streaming services fail, or merge with other service providers.

IMO, we are at the very beginning of the curve in the software (Or at least CAD) industry. Right now everyone is rubbing their hands and planning European vacations on all of the new revenue generated by subscriptions. Eventually it will be too expensive for a company to hire a new employee, because a new employee means another $10k in subscriptions alone (M365, acrobat, quickbooks, solidworks, photoshop, etc.) At some point, the market will be forced to adjust. There will be cheaper alternatives, or companies will just decide to get by with less. It may take a decade for this to run its course, but eventually, there will be a correction.

[mp3-250]

In the end we will be forced to a suboptimal cloud service that will ask for even more money and efforts to keep our data from breaking down. As I said many times, Solidworks as it is, means DS paying royalties to Siemens for the Parasolid 3D engine and the sketcher engine (formerly from Dcubed that was introduced in the NX series IIRc) inside SW and probably other stuff I do not remember at the moment.

This is why SW has apparently 2 kernels (PARASOLID and ACIS) that can be activated inside the registry. Ditching Siemens components is a priority for DS, but they have to make a good excuse to make us trash our legacy parasolid data... IMHO cloud is a nice chance for them.

I want say that it is not going to end well for medium sized company with PDM as SW PDM and their cloud thing are not even compatible...

[SPerman]

I wonder if the brains at DSS are doing the math comparing an increased file size to increased storage revenue.