Everlasting, uninterrupted, lasting, unending, long lasting, permanent, eternal, continual, constant, enduring, undying.
I paid you Trimble up front a number of years ago for my perpetual license. What makes you think that you can now change the rules to suit yourself? Fine for new comers to this wonderful application to go subscription model, however you should be honouring your life long customers with the annual maintenance contract. Shame on you…
You bought a Perpetual License for the specific version you bought. The rules have not changed and you will always have exactly what you paid for. The only thing ending is the ability to buy new versions and maintenance contracts in that way after Nov 4th 2020. It is likely to keep working for a few years but Windows is unpredictable. OpenGL is probably going to be an issue at some point.
As a non owner I will tell you this. Even I knew this was coming so don’t get upset now, get upset last year or pick a random day. Other than intention to use it commercially soon I knew this was the year I was buying Sketchup because it was unlikely that perpetual licenses were sticking around. I used 8 for a long time and only switched to Make 2017 designing my wedding venue because of the performance issues. I find it the simplest to use for what I plan to do so buying 2020 soon is still my move. I will just have to use it for years to come.
There is an argument to be made for keeping maintenance contracts available for current holders. But only Trimble is capable of looking at their finances and deciding if that is right for them. If the majority of their customers are not currently subscription based and they need the development capital then allowing contract extensions will not generate the revenue as planned and they will need to scale back development plans.
If they scale back development any further then there will probably only be annual recompiles with the install path changed together with the version number.
They claim to have multiple millions of users, yet the exact figures and distribution amongst their various offerings are not available because they won’t make them available. For maths’ sake let’s say they have 5 million SU Pro users all with previously purchased licences and currently on M+S (to minimize the revenue from this product line), that’s $600m annual income just from that product. That seems reasonable to keep what is purportedly a smallish team (again no numbers are known, but reference was made in the past to being a small team) more than afloat while showing the business good profit, no? Add onto that the revenue from their other offerings…
It was said that part of the reason for them discontinuing the classic licence with M+S was so that they can deliver a better product with more updates more often. That may be so for an online only version, but for the desktop version (subscription) which is currently the only one that can run extensions, something Pro users rely heavily on, they still need to code and compile every version for it to be able to be installed. So where’s the difference between that and the perpetual licence?
I think the only reason they won’t abandon the desktop client for the web version is it would actually alienate their customer base. The web version was nice to do quick sketches on my chromebook pro but the majority of customers need the extensibility. I haven’t seen any signs of things beyond basic extensions that would likely eventually exist in some form on the web version making it. My workflow will include V-Ray for example.
Yeah, if that is their active paying base then there is a huge problem here and it isn’t money. Unless you are the customer lol. I am putting $40 a week aside until I can buy it. Chances are by the time I need whatever comes next I will be on Blender.
from the page you refer to:
“Trimble Connect’s open API enables data-flow to and from a variety of applications and allows users to customize workflows by integrating with existing enterprise solutions. Users can access project files stored on Trimble Connect directly through a wide range of solutions, including Tekla® Structures software, Trimble Access™ field software, Trimble FieldLink™ layout software, SketchUp® 3D modeling software and ProjectSight™ construction management software as well as third-party applications.”
Thus it isn’t a clear indicator for SketchUp per se as it serves multiple software platforms.
I’m happy for them that Trimble Connect picked up so well, I’ve never needed it. I’m also guessing it’s sudden uptick is lockdown related.