Same SketchUp you love, a new way to buy

Wake up Sketchup People they are many many places in the world where connexion is à mess is this 3d for every one ? You loose.

As I understand it, having read the FAQs at the SketchUp website, for me…

My M&S expires Feb 2021 and my interpretation is that my M&S will be valid up until that point and I will be eligible for any 2021 release as per the terms of my perpetual license/M&S.

If my M&S was expiring before Nov 2020 then, as I understand it, if I renewed before that date then my M&S would be valid beyond Nov 2020.

As for your other queries, I don’t know.

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I would also like to know the details as my M&S expires on 12/15/20.

If I renew before Nov 4th do I get the 2021 version or not?? Not clear, the following is from the FAQ on the new system.

Please be advised: if you purchase a Classic Perpetual License or renew your Maintenance & Support license prior to November 4, 2020, you will not be able to upgrade and access additional features on that license every year as you have in the past.

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Have you read the FAQS at SketchUp Classic License | SketchUp Help ?

For sure, that extract from the blog post is vague but the FAQs, to me, appear clearer…

Thanks Paul,

Yes, that is clear, 2020 will be my last version with the perpetual license.

This is a huge disappointment for me as I have kept SketchUp current dating back to the original release. $300 a year I cannot justify as a casual user. I just hope SU 2020 will work for a number of years into the future.

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The “Pro Light” idea, at a reduced price without all the unneeded fluff might be a decent compromise … but still a compromise!
But if Trimble is really so strapped for cash to keep SketchUp going, why can’t they just charge a little bit more (only a little bit please!) for the Classic Perpetual License option, rather than getting rid of it completely?!
Come on Trimble, be creative!

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I share your disappointment.

But I use it to earn a living, and as @colin mentioned in a previous reply (somewhere), if my business can’t generate the extra £s to pay for the subscription…

If I do move to subscription it does mean that I will have to be on top of making sure (along with all my other expenses) that I have the £s to renew annually. Last year my M&S lapsed and I could still work with the latest version until SU 2020 came along when I had to pay the extra fee for reinstating the M&S.

There are some aspects of your question that are more complicated than you might think! We (in Support) have a meeting on Friday morning with a colleague who will know the answer. I’m collecting a list of questions to ask, and will include your situation as an example.

Please message me if I haven’t come back with definitive answers by Friday afternoon.

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It would be much better if the questions and answers would be public. Would it be possible @colin?

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My plan is to come back here Friday morning and post the answer. The message part was to make sure I did that. Even if I do get such a message, I will reply here with the details.

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I am very disappointed to learn about this.
I do not agree with the new system and I do not think it is legitimate to claim it is much easier to bring changes to market / put up a new version. It is a bit insulting actually…all you are doing is putting up a version on a server so the world can access that version. It seems no different so I think you should be more honest about the deal, and just say we want more money form our client base, and this is a way we can make that easier to swallow.

I think it is just as easy to keep the Classic or Maintenance licenses as they are and removing them is just a simpler way to extract more money, without necessarily expanding the product offering to far per year, which is not the same as having a published program of development that shows clearly where things are going and in what sort of timeframe.
It feels slightly yuk.

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Thanks for your perspective as someone who sells the software. You dismiss many of the points listed by the group here as only older people and a very vocal minority. I don’t have that stats by segment and channel to comment on the insignificance of users like me. I don’t think your dismissal changes the fact that this new pricing model is effectively a price increase that may alienate many longer term users for whom this approach does not make sense. Moreover, it has been pointed out that Trimble has done a pretty poor job of adding value in updates and that many are not confident that they will raise their game going forward. They have also communicated it in a way that is not effective for many people - frankly kind of insulting. Finally, it was pretty clear to me the perpetual license option was less accessible on the website and not so clear to understand because it is not the preferred option for Trimble. This is the case for many software and app producers who want annuity income. Maybe this is easier for you to sell now to your target segment but the value proposition has changed for the worse for many longer term users regardless of age. Thanks again for your very relevant perspective as a seller.

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I knew this was coming but the shock is still there as I will be forced to a subscription model. And worst, I do NOT want any web integration, I do NOT want LayOut (drawings & presentations look like they were produced 10–15 years ago), and I do NOT even want Style Builder. All I want/need/use is SketchUp pure and simple.

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So does this mean that offline licenses for future products won’t exist? Some machines can never be connected to the internet on initial install, let alone every 28 days for validation as the subscription model states in the FAQ:

Do I need to be online to access my desktop apps?
The desktop applications in SketchUp subscriptions, such as SketchUp Pro, are installed directly on your computer. Once the applications are licensed, you don’t need an ongoing Internet connection to use them.

An Internet connection is required the first time you install and license the products in your subscription. Your license will need to be validated at least once every 28 days after that, which will require an Internet connection.

That’s a serious bummer, 2020 will be the last maintenance package I buy if that’s the case.

with respect to all the pro and arch users of SketchUp, I don’t think it is fair to compare a Revit or ArchiCAD for that matter with a SketchUp. Revit is vastly different and 10 times + more efficient for building design and document production and other things but I don’t mean to hijack this thread. SketchUp has its own delights and uses and perhaps I am shocked at the licensing news, and really brassed off about the licensing changes more than the cost changes. the sub model like this is not necessary for the firm to earn more from the product as it ramps up development.

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Where did you get that idea from?

I can assure you that the construction drawings/presentations that I, and many others, produce with Layout are not as you suggest!

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We do get cases where someone has a subscription, but also a good reason to never be online. For those we would make an offline license that expires when the subscription ends. I generally make it last a little longer, then they have time to get in touch so I can update the license file for the next 12 months.

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Excellent, that works for me. Thank you!

As a full time SketchUp developer, SketchUp has become my bread and butter or at the very least is at the core of what I do.

Yesterday and today I noticed an immediate dip in sales of my plugins, I thought it was probably related to the recent riots but now I’m beginning to think it is probably related to this new licensing paradigm.

I’m really hoping that this doesn’t signal an end to what I’ve been doing with my various plugins for the last few years now. Working with SU and the API is amazing and to be honest is the funnest and most satisfying job/business I’ve ever done.

I’m not going to try and argue with the powers that be (Trimble and SketchUp), I’m sure they’ve read my comments and arguments when they decided to discontinue Make and I was direly opposed to that decision. I still believe a desktop Make at a reasonable price would be a good decision in many respects.

My objections to the discontinuation of the perpetual license will probably fall on deaf ears. In the big scheme of things, developers like myself are small potatoes, even though I do believe our contributions and tools help sell more SketchUp licenses.

We will see how this plays out, I can see already that there are many who are not happy with a subscription only option. This is the reason why I eventually decided against it with my own plugins, even though it would be much more lucrative for me personally (easily double my income).

In the end all that I ask is that SketchUp carefully weigh both sides of the balance and do the right thing. On the one side you have the business itself to consider and on the other hand the customers. You need to keep both sides happy/healthy otherwise it all goes away as quickly as a waft of smoke.

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Does this mean You will be maintaining two different types of SketchUp? Like 2021.x and 2022.x versions at the same time, or are just just waiting for everyone to fall off of the m&s program to change the version number?