Why is Trimble ripping off their customers?
They are taking away our 2015 licenses 60 days after we activate the 2016 version. That’s outrageous. We already paid for the 2015 version and are entitled to it. This wasn’t the case before 2015, when we used our network license server in house. Sometimes software problems arise, and when our employees are on a deadline, they don’t have time to wait. They need the ability to open up their files in 2015 and 2016 so they can continue to be productive.
I’m not sure if I understand your issue, but I’d like to help clarify how the process currently works. You had purchased your SketchUp Pro Network Licenses and paid for the Maintenance & Support Plan which upgrades your SketchUp license to the newest version when it becomes available. We also set it up so that you have a 60-day grace period to start switching users over to SketchUp Pro 2016 from version 2015 starting when you first authorize SketchUp Pro 2016. This prevents users from having twice as many license-seats of SketchUp as they have paid for. We think it’s fair that customers are able to use the number of licenses they purchased. If, for example, someone bought 15 seats of SketchUp Pro 2015 license, they should really only be able to use 15 seats of SketchUp Pro 2016 – not 5 seats of each version. If you aren’t ready to start using 2016, your SketchUp Pro 2015 licenses will keep working until you authorize SketchUp Pro 2016. We understand that switching between versions takes time, and that’s why we implemented the 60-day transition period. Some companies want to be very careful about adopting a new version. And that’s why the 60-day transition period - where both version 2015 and 2016 can run simultaneously – doesn’t begin until a computer is authorized with the new 2016 license. Again, the transition period does not begin until the SketchUp Pro 2016 version of the license is used.
For details on this policy, please check out this article in our Knowledge Center: https://help.sketchup.com/en/article/3000300
Other software with a maintenance/support plan that I have experience with has their licensing built so that the newest serial number is additionally valid for 2-3 older versions of the application. With projects going on for more than a year it is often best and safest to keep from upgrading a project that may also be dependent on other parties or other applications, sometimes unknown. It is of course especially important with BIM applications that usually don’t even have a feasible system for saving to an older version. With shared projects, the version that must be used is mostly decided and “locked” at the start of the project.
Anssi