Announcing SketchUp Shop

Almost nailed it but you forgot the Commodore 64 bit.

1 Like

The Commodore was the development machine for the AI that created the virus that was used to install the screen scraper on the break room Pong computer.

I stand corrected- you are clearly able to imagine very complex business systems. Now add to that “…review and approval by the professional legal, tax, finance and accounting teams of a $2.5b publically traded international corporation that does business on every continent in the world.”

Anyhow, I think the main point here is that I recognize the value of what you’d like us to do. But I don’t have anything new to announce today.

3 Likes

@jbacus, does SketchUp Shop solve this issue ?

4 days ago in another thread requesting an iOS tablet edition, I postulated this scenario …

The same thoughts hold for Web browser editions. Many desktop users will not need Shop edition and would not want the cost of Pro to rise to cover Shop maintenance. The funding for maintenance must come from someplace. If not a separate subscription, then the price and subscriptions for Pro desktop would have to rise.

Keeping the subscriptions separate is better because the choice is entirely up to the customers.
Pay for what you use, not for what you don’t.

I’m not surprised at all that the Trimble beancounters want new beans to balance the scales after all the development.

And now it is there (SketchUp Shop), obviously funded with SketchUp Pro ‘beans’ , let’s hope they have some beans left for maintenance releases for Pro version and LayOut!

4 Likes

SketchUp Shop does not add the “Light”, “Dark” or “Use Sun for Shading” settings on Shadows. Stay tuned for future developments, we’re releasing new features all the time.

Our commitment to desktop client development, particularly for our SketchUp Pro customers, remains steadfast. The beans that matter the most to this project are the coffee beans that fuel our development team.

6 Likes

:shushing_face: And here lies the real reason Trimble employees can’t tell us what the future holds! If they drank tea, they’d have tea leaves which they could then read to tell the future. But alas, no tea → no tea leaves → no telling the future. :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

5 Likes

First, a big THANK YOU for hearing the feedback and providing a new middle tier option.

EXCEPT, why make this a web based application? Can’t this be downloadable like Sketchup Make or Pro. Just as I would never do my taxes online, I would not use this type application online either. My 2 cents: with a downloadable program, it’s yours, with your approach I feel like I’m inside someone’s “computer” at their mercy and in addition to privacy concerns it means I have to be connected to use it. Many place we travel to have no internet period. Can you PLEASE just make this a download. I will buy it the second you do!!!

1 Like

In addition, if it’s just about getting the recurring subscription, then make it a higher price for the download (e.g. $150-200) with a smaller annual maintenance fee (e.g. $50).

Good I hope you can discuss it internally. I understand the business choice to split it out from Pro and not bundle it together but I think it makes sense to include it with the maintenance subscription. It would mean that I don’t have to lug my workstation between different sites. I would be keen to trial it regardless so please let us know when the trial subscription arrives, would be great to stress test it with my desktop projects.
SketchUp is almost $1000 in Sweden so it gives some added value to the base product.

Cheers

I’d like to make one more argument for providing existing Pro users free access - at least for a year - to SketchUp Shop:

Support in this forum!

Most, perhaps all, of the Sages, and many of the Learned Ones took the time to familiarize themselves with SketchUp Free (and it’s beta form, my.sketchup) in order to better answer questions from new users - users who might not have a computer, just phone, tablet, or chromebook.

How are these helpful people going to familiarize themselves with SketchUp Shop in order to provide assistance?

I’m not going to get a trial use which expires in two weeks, do a few long days to familiarize myself with the new version, then try to give help once my trial expires - as the details of the feature implementation can change at any time, and since I my trial is expired, I can’t learn this!

And I’m not going to pay for the Shop license until I have a critical need for it in my hobbyist workflow.

Thus I’m not going to try to help when Shop users start to post here. At most, if I see a question where the answer might be: “You might be the perfect user for SketchUp Shop”, I’ll answer it with a link to the details of Shop features.

So if Trimble wants to continue to rely on this forum community for many of the user issues that otherwise would take up their staff time, then they need to find a way to let the users of this forum (at the very least, the Sages) use Shop for free.

3 Likes

Your sentiments makes a lot of sense.

If nothing else - Trimble should acknowledge the individuals who are helping others with free access to Sketchup Shop for as long as they keep supporting new users.

I agree that experienced SketchUp users would probably pick up the Shop version very quickly. I wouldn’t expect Trimble to give out licences for free though. SketchUp Pro users get help here from other users that have paid for a licence. The only difference with Shop is that it’s new. If it takes off then there’ll be experienced users of Shop here to offer help.

If Trimble wants to give me a free licence I’ll delete this post.

1 Like

Who knows what sages are allowed by Trimble. The vast majority of Pro-users don’t help anyone on the forum.

Which is why I explicitly called out the Sages as the ones who should first be considered for free access to Shop (with a weaker, but similar implied case for people with the Learned One badge). There are the people who have proven their ability and desire to help others.

Maybe it’s best left to private treaty rather than some official position. There is mention of a “sages program” but I don’t really know what all that might mean. I’d assume Trimble makes some effort to help sages be all they can be.

These are the people who least concern me regarding their ability and need to get help. It’s the new users - especially ones whose first exposure to SketchUp is through web use - and most especially ones with no computer that can run SketchUp Make or Pro (their only computing devices are phones, tablets, or Chromebooks) - who will, I expect, need the most help.

I am definitely missing something in this whole discussion/topic. If I am a Pro user, why would I want a Shop license?

If you are a Sage (which I am not) who regularly answers questions in this forum to help users who have the Shop version, then I think that Trimble should help them out with a license. However, that is strictly between the Sage and Trimble and the arrangement does not have to be disclosed to the public. JMO :slight_smile:

4 Likes

The “meta”, exceedingly generic case:

Until the debut of Shop, the Pro user had access to all variants of SketchUp applicable to their hardware. So with a Pro license, a user has their choice of platform to the limits inherent in the platform. (I’m ignoring network licenses of SketchUp since it has no functional difference to single license Pro, and SketchUp for Schools which has, admittedly, minor differences with SketchUp Free)

My more specific case:

I’m a Pro user, but I’m not a professional user. I’m a hobbyist. I want a Shop license so that, while I’m working in my woodshop, I can refer to - and CHANGE plans on my Android tablet. Free can do most of this - and I’m already using it for that purpose, but there are added features in Shop (like Solid Tools) that would be useful to me.

I’m also designing a tiny home on wheels that I eventually intend to build. I frequently go to gatherings of friends, family, and tiny home enthusiasts and I take my tablet in order to show off my progress. I’ve occasionally had suggestions to see how a different material will look. Shop would allow me to immediately find/create that material and try it out in my model, with immediate feedback to the ones who suggested it.