Still missing the point I’m afraid. Which straw (textbook, software subscription etc) breaks the camels back. To you and I, $60 is akin to nothing. What percentage more of a cost is it over Autodesks Edu versions of $0.00
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This currently plays into it. Props to software companies making it free to students. The BEST investment they can make in their company imho.
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Apparently it’s SketchUp, according to you. It’s pro level software, akin to any teaching material that costs something, and you are saying that it should be free. I’m arguing it’s so close to free it’s almost literally pennies per day, but I guess that isn’t actually fully free, so it’s too expensive. If that’s what you’re arguing, then there’s really no point in this.
@monospaced I think you’re the one missing the point here. There is no arguing that $60 per year isn’t all that much, but compared to a competitor that charges zero, well you do the math which will be the more popular choice. That is point being made. If you still don’t get it, then any further discourse with you is futile.
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Here is a different perspective to consider. If SketchUp is competing with a free software, they have incentive to make sure it’s worth paying for. Everybody wins. Market forces are magical.
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At education level, I suppose they are competing with free. But once a student is out in the real world, SketchUp is much cheaper. For example, while AutoCAD is free for students, it’s $200/month or $1,610/year. That’s many times more expensive than SketchUp. In the long run, using SketchUp at education prices and then as a Pro is still cheaper than AutoCAD in both the short and long terms by any calculation.
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Note that Autodesk has made Student versions of their software that are not file compatible with their paying versions and put a watermark on all output. It would be OK with me if SketchUp did the same.
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I believe I’ve made this point several times but let me give it one last shot. Sure SU pro is cheaper then AutoDesk Vectorworks et al… But that’s not the issue here. The stark reality is those big expensive programs are the industry standard despite what SU enthusiasts want to believe and the students know this. So take the textbook analogy. Say pre-med students know that in Med School they will be expected to own a copy of Grey’s Anatomy. But the bookstore also has a copy of Trimble’s Anatomy, a nifty shorter version of an anatomy book but its $55 while the bookstore is giving away copies of Grey’s. When the students ask their professors which book has more content and is more widely used by doctors, they will have to honestly say Gray’s. Sure the professor could require them to use Trimble’s but why would they? Just because the publisher gives them a free desk copy? And sure once the students graduate and become doctors they will have to pay $500 for new editions of Grey’s but so what? They will be doctors at that point they can write off the cost and maybe their employer will even pay for the book.
What we have lost with the “inevitable” end of Make is that many students that maybe weren’t sure they wanted to go to Med school could have picked up that user-friendly copy of Trimble’s Anatomy and discovered that they really are interested in medicine and TA made it much more accessible than the big scary GA. Some might even adopt TA as the book they regularly use in practice esp with so many independent authors providing supplementary info that could be added to the book.
Yes, $55 is cheap. But if its so little why has Trimble decided to put this barrier in the way of students when the industry standards are free?
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not being file compatible or at least showing an info message that the concerning document was created w/ an educational license maybe including the licensees name and serial no could be a feasible way to hinder commercials to use them for servicing a commercial license.
A watermark on the output may lead to results not being accepted by instructors/teachers.
Of course not. There are watermarks on other software my students use. Why would a watermark on student work be rejected by teachers? And SU Free is doing that already by baking the logo into the corner.
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In Poland price of SketchUp for students is ~360PLN. Same price is for living in dormitory (month).
I think it difficult to compete with Autodesk when they are giving licenses for free for students and universities. I tried to buy new SketchUp licenses with my University, but there is a lot of strange procedures when universities wants to buy something with public funds. So we failed.
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Exactly, they (AutoDesk) have done this for years. Nothing new since early 2000’s if I recall correctly.
Form Z SE (student edition) has NO watermark FYI 
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I’m pretty sure nobody here who reads these forums on Trimble staff has a say it this matter anyway, some probably agree with the views but for obvious reasons cannot agree on open forum, some may try toe the company line, but none can change anything anyway.
It is sad, and it will bite Trimble on the ass in years to come when the user base dwindles to niche.
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everyone I know who uses sketchup is saying the same. but now blender 2.8 is out they are dabbling to make a change even from the sketchup pro version. Seems like trimble don’t have a vision.
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The day I can draw in Blender like I can in SU it will be over. As of today I can’t but who knows what’s around the corner. I think some of that proof is that Tremble dropped their MEP SU plugin to focus on Acad and Revit plugin
SU’s ease of use has not been replicated…yet.
" Trimble apparently dropped SketchUp in favor of AutoCAD, AutoCAD MEP, and Revit.
Trimble SysQue and Revit"
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Like I said before you are comparing apples and oranges. Autodesk is a giant entity that can easily offer free versions of their software in order to hook the industry into paying their outrageous prices once the student becomes the professional. They make that money back in 3 months. Do you really want SketchUp to follow that path…”here’s your free license, oh you graduated, great that’ll be $1600/yr…thank you!”
Sketchup’s Plan is different, and it makes sense.
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Except AutoDesk isn’t the only one doing this. It seems that Tremble is the “odd man out”. Why would they charge $1,600/yr for SU?
Form-Z
IronCAD
SolidWorks
Bently
ArchiCAD
OnShape
PTC
Siemens
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Why wouldn’t they? Solid works, Bentley and Archicad are all expensive also.
With all due respect, SketchUp is the least costly of all of them and SketchUp users are not exactly the most welcoming group for price increases. What if SketchUp went free for students? Would all of you then except a price increase for pros without complaint? I’m taking a guess the answer would be “no” given the response to the last format change.
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Because it’s smart business to do so? Is that trick question? Form-Z is not that much more than SU and they do it. They also allow the student/free versions files to be used across platforms with NO restriction on business/personal usage. Using “price” as an excuse seems a little like straw grasping to me.
I honestly don’t care if they, SU, raises their price, if it makes the product better. You act as if SU is the ONLY product Tremble has in it’s portfolio. Tremble could give SU away and still be in the black, it’s their product and can do whatever they want with. We the users choose either to use it or not. I also think paid users have the right to voice their concerns and opinions. I’ve been using it since v2 and will continue to do so as I enjoy using it and it keeps me employed. It’s price certainly doesn’t come out of my pocket. It’s also not hard to justify the prices we pay for software in order to do business, including my AutoDesk AEC collection subscription. It’s a drop in the bucket to the other services we uses. Yes, not all businesses are the same before you correct me on it.
I think users were upset with a charge for little more than “dashed lines” in their eyes. Not every one uses Layout and don’t benefit from it’s updates. All users are different you know
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It’s smart business when you know your customer base. While you in particular may not care what it costs, SketchUp for years offering a free version outside of education set up a price expectation. For better or worse, there are numerous complaints on the cost.
You are correct all users are different and SU better than any of those other softwares exemplifies that. But to negate cost as a factor when discussing business decisions is somewhat disconnected.
It’s “Trimble” by the way.
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