Autodesk Further "Simplifies" Its Upgrade Policy
Today I received this email from an Autodesk reseller.
Please find the below changes in Autodesk Policy from Jan 2013 on wards , please upgrade your existing product and Save up to 20% before the policy change by Autodesk.
From Jan 7, 2013, Autodesk will simplify there upgrade policy model. Currently, Autodesk offers different upgrade pricing, depending on which previous version of the product a customer is using.
For example, the multiple upgrade paths that are offered today to customers on older versions of our software include the “Upgrade from Previous Versions” path for customers on one to three previous releases (Release 2012, 2011 and 2010) and the “Get Current Upgrade” for customers on four previous releases and older (Release 2009 and older).
These upgrade options will be consolidated into a single “Upgrade from Previous Versions”, and will only be available to customers only few releases.
The Subscription Retroactive model will also change and be merged into the Upgrade model.
Consequently, the Subscription Retroactive offering will be eliminated in place of the single ”Upgrade from Previous Versions” model available for all products.
Autodesk Subscription will continue to be available for any upgrade purchase as it is today.
To which I replied:
After 7th January 2013 what will be the price to upgrade from AutoCAD 2013 to AutoCAD 2014. Will it be 50% of a new license of AutoCAD 2014?
The reseller offered this reply.
If you are in current platform then please renew your subscription plan or get new subscription to save the upgrade cost. If you have any below 2013 version then please upgrade now to save the cost for upgrade because after the policy change you need to pay 20% more from current price .
Back in 2009 I commented about “Autodesk’s New Upgrade Policy” where I quoted the following:
Autodesk is introducing a new upgrade pricing model that will go into effect on March 16, 2010. After that date, all upgrades, from any release level, will cost 50% of the price of a new license. This is a departure from the way upgrades have always been priced – which has been based on the “coming from” release level. For example, after March 15, customers upgrading from AutoCAD 2008, 2009 (or 2010) will all pay the same price: 1/2 the cost of a new license of AutoCAD.
So assuming that this policy has been in effect since March 2010, it follows that the cost to upgrade from a previous version to the current version is going up by 20%. Now whether that is 20% of 50% or 20% of the list price I’m not sure. Either way, it is going up.
I must say that Autodesk is aggressively persuading customers to get onto subscription. We have a few commercial licenses of Autodesk software and all are on subscription even though we don’t use or need the latest versions. It just makes financial sense to be on subscription, which I believe is the point of these routine “simplifications” of Autodesk’s upgrade policy.
I think its only a matter of time where the Autodesk upgrade policy will be “simplified” out of existence and all customers will have to be on subscription. Problem solved. 😉