License renewal shell game?

So I have a question for Colin. I have a 2016 Pro version I’m just a hobbyist, 60% off for a new 2021 SketchUp Pro license? Or will this be a yearly subscription?
Not really interested in paying a subscription but would like to have the latest 2021 SU update then go along and not receive any more updates or participate in subscriptions, do I have this correct as my choice? Thanks John

From 4th november 2020, you can no longer get ‘perpetuals’, only subscribe. So the 60% off is the first year, after that you will pay 299 p/y. If you don not renew the subscription, you won’t be able to use the 2021 anymore. ( The Free Web-based modeller could be enough for your hobby-needs?)
You get to keep the 2016 license, though, and the Trimble Connect extension works in that version, too.
So you could use the extensions you currently have running in 2016 to create stuff, and then upload to the Cloud to model in the web based modeller.
Start a trial first of 2021 and then decide if it would be worth the cost!
(Live components are available in the web, too)

Wait, I just subscribed with the two-year discount. Are you saying that, when that subscription expires and I choose not to renew, whatever current version I am using will cease to function? Tell me this is not the case, please.

Correct - the subscription-based product will cease to function when the subscription expires.

If you have an install of an earlier version which was activated via a classic perpetual license, that older version will continue to work (assuming that the computer and operating system you are using at that time still permit the old version to execute and behave correctly), completely independently of any subscription or lack there-of.

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Oh, that’s rather grim news and I was not aware that a terminator gene was part of the deal. That means I would be unable to open any older files created with SketchUp. They would essentially cease to exist.
Having just come to terms with losing my classic license, I am struggling to retain some equanimity here, my outrage meter is in the red. Better leave it at that.

After a subscription expires, the files could still probably be opened by SketchUp Free on the web for browsing (if the files are ~100MB or less I think) and possibly for editing (depending on whether extensions are needed for edits, for example).

You might also prepare before the expiration by back-saving important files to an earlier version of SKP format, for example to a classic perpetual version (2016, 2017, etc.) that you have. Then you could open and work on those files with the older classic version.

I am currently running Pro 2020, version 20.1.228. Is that one that will terminate with lack of subscription?

As much as I possibly could, I’ve been telling people who had support for some time into the future to wait until that support runs out before migrating. My worry at the time was that if you migrated ahead of the release of 2021, your license would be marked as not upgradable, because you had migrated.

Fortunately, in the end we upgraded anyone whose license was under support after November 4th. So, although you migrated on November 9th instead of the April 14th that you could have done, that didn’t make you lose your upgrade to 2021. I just had the license system send you your 2021 license, in case you didn’t have it.

If after two years you decide you don’t like subscription, you would fall back on your permanent 2021 license. Before the end you will have done a Save As files that you want to be able to continue working on, to make them be 2021 format files.

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Thanks

Thank you Colin, got it, that helps.

Colin this is not the case!
I upgraded by SketchUp M&S in May 2020, before 2021. I cannot use my existing 2020 m&S licence details to add a perpetual licence to my installation of 2021. It is wanting a licence number that starts with a W and not the V licence issued in May 2020!
Trimble also seems to have forgotten my existence, would not allow me to log on with my old password, did not recognise my email when asked for a reset and I had to create a new account.
I have been paying annual subscriptions since @last version 3 times, so this is irritating to say the least!!!

I checked, and you did activate a 2021 license today (meaning the 28th), so I’m hoping that you figured it out later on. I will send the 2021 license just to be sure.

Your spaceworx email seems to be good as a Trimble ID as well. I sent a password reset for that one, but of course ignore the email if you have worked out what your password is.

Sorry, Colin, but a couple more question, and I apologize if you’ve already answered them a zillion times. My M&S expires 1-2-21, so I’ve downloaded my 2021 Classic and am thinking to take advantage of the discount on migrating. If at the end of the two years I decide I don’t like the subscription, I understand I can just use 2021 in perpetuity. So here are the questions: 1) Are 2021 Classic and 2021 Subscription two separate versions? 2) If so, will my 2021 Classic have all the same updates as the 2021 Subscription, or will there be some incompatibilities if I use the 2021 Subscription version and then Save As to 2021 Classic? Thank you for helping us sort through all this.

The application is the same, and one nice thing in the 2021 version is that it’s future proof. In two years or so, if you have made something nice in the 2023 version, but decide to stop subscribing, that file should open in your 2021 classic license application. You won’t need to do a Save As.

Subscribers do get some extra features, like importing of Digital Globe tiles at a higher zoom than the current zoom level. And VR headset support, AR included for mobile apps, unlimited cloud storage. You would lose those things, but anything that works now in your 2021 desktop version will still work at that time.

Great! Thanks a million.

Thanks Colin, More digging lead to success and thanks for the email with the 2121 licence. Getting your system to find me again took a while with the little wheel spinning. I had to re-boot for an update and when I came back after about 30min I once more my main account existed?!? not sure what was going on?
This will be my last M&S subscription as I cannot use software that is stops working when a date passes. I have supported a lot of companies over the years and still use some very old software for specific tasks where the company no longer exists or has been purchased by a bigger one as a defensive move where the customers are then given unpalatable options.
SketchUp is a ‘nice to have’ for our work processes and while it was good to stay up to date it is not critical. We will then retain the 2021 perpetual/classic licence.

Hi Colin, Thanks for helping. BTW Where is my SketchUp pro licence registered? I have opened bith of my accounts and neither lists a pro version of SketchUp. Both of them have only the free version and neither will allow access to PreDesign which I wanted to investigate!

Your classic licenses is on your spaceworx email address. There is a PreDesign menu item in the File menu, but I’e been told that only subscribers get to use that. You could start a 30 day trial to check that out. Maybe it will be enough for you to reconsider having a subscription.

Your current support lasts until May 2021, you would still be able to get the two year, 60% discount then.

I am having difficulty getting logged onto the spaceworx address. Send a re-set, get that cleared and then the next time I get an error. Re-set twice now. Need to do some work so I will leave it for now. I am using two different PC and two different browsers so I do not know if that has anything to do with it!
Will leave the 30 day trial till next year when I have some time.

Colin, Say I just updated one of my computers with the new 2021. Does that mean it is a subscription version and will stop working? I had thought it too would remain perpetual Just like my 2020 version, and I could continue to use it til I die without paying any more as long as I did not subscribe. Am I missing something here? I thought it was perpetual, just like my last version, since I am paid up on my S&M until next July.