Perpetual Licenses No Longer Available After January 1, 2018

[TomU]

For those who haven't seen it yet, PTC has officially announced that perpetual licenses will no longer be available for purchase starting January 1, 2018.

"...effective January 1, 2018, new software licenses for its core solutions and ThingWorx platform will be available only by subscription in the Americas and Western Europe. Customers in these regions may continue to use their existing perpetual licenses and renew support on active licenses."

Yes, this includes Creo, Windchill, etc.  The only exception is Kepware.

Additional information available here:

• PTC Subscription | PTC
• PTC Accelerates Subscription Business Model in Select Regions | PTC

[Marco_Tosin]

Thanks for the information Tom.

[Inoram]

So the new user base is going to slow in growth after that.

[BenLoosli]

It already has slowed!

I'm just glad I have extra license that only need maintenance renewed to bring them up to date if we hire more designers.

[jnelson]

I just want to thank PTC (sarcastically) for doing this, of course for my benefit (as a VAR recently stated).

I don't know why I am (a little) surprised that PTC would follow along what other vendors are doing instead of staying on a path that give customers the option to do subscriptions or not. Does anyone else remember the days when PTC was the "leader" of the market where others would follow there lead?

Subscriptions MAY have some benefit to the large customers with hundreds of users, but, for the small businesses (at least mine) I see NO benefit AT ALL! My company would rather pay the over priced initial purchase to "own" the software, along with the over priced maintenance each year, instead of the subscription renewals. Speaking of yearly subscription renewal, the last I was told it was going to be year to year (or multi year), so what is the difference from the perpetual renewal? Whatever happen to the slogan PTC kept using when CREO was first introduced, ANY SOFTWARE, ANY TIME, ONLY PAY WHAT FOR WHAT YOU NEED WHEN YOU NEED IT?

Subscriptions FORCE me to pay at renewal or else I cannot use the software anymore, but, at least with the perpetual I have the option of saving money each year by skipping maintenance, especially if there is no new release worth switching too... Again, my company would rather pay the over priced up front cost.... PTC, do you really understand your Small Business customer needs? Do your VARs, and are they telling you what customers say or what you want to hear?

Ideally I was hoping for a combination of perpetual and subscription at the same time. For example my base package license to be perpetual and any additional module (app) would be subscription, such as PRO/CABLE, since I may not need/use that for more then 6 months at a time.

Thanks PTC. You just gave my management another reason to question why are we use PRO/E and Windchill (and don't even get me started on Windchill and how it is NOT A SMALL BUSINESS solution for CAD PDM)

[346gnu]

"Ideally I was hoping for a combination of perpetual and subscription at the same time."

Yes, so was I.

PTC observes but does not comment.

Consequently my feelings about this forum have changed too. (Not the contributors I hasten to add)

I, as others am keen to help here but now I am disinclined to participate any more. To me it seems PTC have withdrawn their input (presumably made them all redundant) as I assume they see the users performing the support function themselves, at their own time and expense and in exchange for kudos points.

Users who advance therefore find themselves lonely and eventually the only purpose of maintenance is to get software updates. I think PTC use this forum and our accumulated knowledge to benefit their bottom line and fail to support more advanced users in return.

Although this may seem somewhat oblique to the original thread, it is not. It offers up something immediate.

One possibility is that users simply stop using this forum and convene elsewhere in private to provide mutual support. Somewhere PTC can't ‘leverage’ (their favourite word). But that is a huge amount of effort and someone would have to organise it …

Alternatively, if everyone simply submitted a post once a day entitled “we do not like the subscription only model, why won't you listen?” or similar and stop answering technical questions we will upset someone pretty quickly. Even in the short time between now and Christmas.

It is well known that Corporates only begrudgingly listen when the bottom line is affected. I am unlikely to get the shareholders antsy and Jim Heppelmann is not going to phone me and ask me to stop it. But life could be made uncomfortable for some middle management who has failed to control what’s happening and has missed some metric based on forum stats as a result.

[anewbauer]

Take a look at Solidworks. You can buy it or have the option to use it on a 6 month or yearly subscription.

A lot more user friendly than CREO. 

[bmüller]

How is the pricing?

6 months > 1 year > buy (including Support)?

[anewbauer]

https://store.cati.com/Catalog/Software/ProductList/2

Here is a link from the reseller that my company uses.

Hope you find it useful. 

[bmüller]

but can you mix it? 1 subscription with support and buy 20 licenses extra?!

[anewbauer]

We have 5 Perpetual licenses. however you can mix it up in anyway you want to.

[anewbauer]

Also if you don't want to update you don't have to once you pay for it once.

There is no penalty for not updating if you wait 5 years or something like that.

[BenLoosli]

My understanding of the new license policy is that once maintenance has expired, you will not be allowed to renew it but forced to get a new subscription if you want to update to a newer version of Creo.

If you have perpetual licenses, always get a new license file when you renew your maintenance.

[bmüller]

Hi,

are Perpetual Licenses really no longer available? Is it country depended? 2 resellers tell as there are subscriptions only and one still offers both.

br Bernhard

[TomU]

You can no longer buy new perpetual licenses.  You can continue to pay maintenance on the licenses you already own.  You are not required to convert any existing licenses to subscription.

[MartinHanak]

Hi,

it is country dependent. In Czech Republic, customers can buy perpetual license until the end of 2018.

[DeanLong]

I run both Creo, SolidWorks and a couple other codes and, in my opinion, SolidWorks is a good code. With all the work I have done with it, where it counts...down in the trenches...in daily use...with real work...it's no faster or easier to use than any other code. All codes have their quirks and unique things to contend with. However, the SW marketing play has been brilliant over the last 25 years getting their message out there and convincing many their brand of Vodka is "better" than the rest. Bollocks. Again, in my opinion, it is no better or worse than Creo, Catia or NX...just different. I am not knocking your research at all. For 90% of the work done on the planet...it will do just fine just like all the other codes would. It's what you become great at working on is what makes the real difference...90% of the time. In other words, a Rock Star CAD monkey on either SW, Creo, NX or Catia will reach the finish line within seconds of one another with no perceptible difference.

The issue I have is paying a subscription each and every year for a code that does not have value to me nor that I will be using. The big boys in the user base (the ones we do work for) have buying power and clout that small businesses like us cannot contend with. They will be able to negotiate year 2/3/4 for their license renewals where we will not. I will eat your hat if you think John Deere or CAT are going to be subject to their codes shutting off day 365.1. Those organizations of that size with global sites and hundreds of millions of dollars in licenses and data out there are not going to be quiet about this when IT hits the fan. I digress....

Since I have a choice, I have chosen to standardize our company on something other than Creo or SolidWorks because of the subscription model that benefits PTC shareholders first and customers last.

[DeanLong]

Anyone know if PTC will allow access to a perpetual code that I already bought years ago when my computer eventually dies? I do not have active maintence. This whole subscription deal simply stated...sucks. I have 2.0 on my laptop and ZERO of my clients run 3 or 4 so there is/was no real need, nor does it help me to upgrade. So, I simply will have to bite the subscription bullet when and if my client base moves up. But, I already paid for 2.0 and would need to continue to run it until I am forced up by clients. Anyone know if I will be able to get my 2.0 access without being fleeced by PTC?

[TomU]

Yes, you can continue to access and use any perpetual licenses you already own, PTC just isn't selling any new ones after the beginning of the year.  Going forward you can continue to pay maintenance on these perpetual licenses, just know that the yearly maintenance increase will be much higher than the subscription increase.  I would expect that eventually the annual maintenance on existing products will cost more than what a brand new subscription costs.

Also keep in mind that with a subscription license, if you stop the subscription you lose the ability to run the product at all.  With perpetual licenses you do not have this same loss of access to your intellectual property.

[DeanLong]

Thanks Tom,

Yeah, I suspected the same thing. Being in the Pro/E game since 1987 I have seen the slimy side of sticking it to the customer all too much over those three decades. It's easy to see, eventually, PTC would drive the cost to buy/maintain so high in a couple years that it will be a fools errand to use anything else but a subscription. So, after year 2/3/4 depending on the functionality required in each license, the software will cost more each year to use making the shareholders quite happy, no doubt. It's just the way it goes as the price of doing business.

But on a good note, after much contemplation (and a delicious Thanksgiving dinner) over the weekend, I have purchased a competitors product that does not require a subscription that allows me to do everything I need to for my design work. PTC, you have competition and I purchased one for substantially less money than yours. The best part is, it was knowing nobody's hands will be in my pocket next year looking to keep their gravy train rolling. Sure there are a few hurdles to contend with...but that is well worth the cost savings to me.

[bchapman]

Dean Long, what product did you buy?

[DeanLong]

Email directly and I will share.

dlong@neutechnet.com

[DeanLong]

Tom,

I guess I should have asked my question a little differently... Do you know if one has to be on "Active Maintenence" in order to get access to the perpetual license already owned? In other words, since my customer base and I are on 2 with no plans to move up any time soon, say my machine dies tomorrow and I need access to my 2 but I have not paid maintenence since I bought 2 back in 2012/13, what can I expect? I am unable to access the Portal because I am not on maintenence...do you expect PTC will stick it to me requiring back maintenence to 2012 in order to gain Portal access to the code I already own?

I ask it this way because I have received a hansome quote (all sarcasm implied) comparing "getting active" vs. the "subscription trapdoor" and it's laughable. Hmmm, choose between a flesh eating quick death or a slow gangrenous infected death? Now that's a good position to be in.

[BenLoosli]

My understanding has been that if you have a perpetual license and are not on maintenance, PTC will generate a new license. There may be a nominal charge for the new license, but it will be less than maintenace.

[MartinHanak]

Hi,

(valid for now) if you do not pay maintenance and your PC dies then you can move your perpetual license to new PC for free.

[346gnu]

The urge to be sarcastic is almost overwhelming. But I have kudos points and last time I looked I was a Spaceman or Moon Rocket or something. So I have to be grown up.

I've been on about this for months

PTC have shown no evidence that they care about small companies.

I have reopened my case

13878078

Can anyone confirm or correct the following?

• If you are 1 day late with your maintenance then you are off perpetual and onto subscription.  Zero lattitude.
• PTC have rescoped the standard license so it does NOT have contact. Anyone studying assemblies must get the Advanced subscription. Anyone wanting finite friction for the extra money will find it doesn't work.
• Perpetual licenses will NOT receive new functionality. To get this one has to change to subscription.
• PTC will increase maintenance cost unreasonably so as to make it difficult not to move to subscription
• PTC have not acknowledged that small business carry much greater risk. The incremental subscription costs as a consequence of delays to projects outside their control could damage or even sink them.

[BenLoosli]

---

Perpetual licenses will NOT receive new functionality. To get this one has to change to subscription.

 This has always been true. You bought options X and Y. Then they develop option W. Option W is an extra cost module you need to purchase separatly.

In some rare cases PTC has included new functionality into an existing package.

PTC introduces new packages which include new functionality, and offer a reduced upgrade charge to change out your license. Not sure this will still be possible with the new subscription licensing in place.

---

[DeanLong]

Ben,

Are you referring to Build Codes (I.E. M060, M080, M220)? In other words, if M080 was purchased then that is what will be given? I would assume if Maintenece was included in the purchase price then the last build code of that particular Rev will be given.

Thanks

[BenLoosli]

All purchases include 1 year maintenance, I think that is still the case. so that entitles you to all maintence build releases during that year. If m080 was the latest when you purchased, that is what you got. M120 comes out after 10 months, you are entitled to receive a copy before the year is up. After the year is up, your access to new builds is blocked unless you pay for another year of maintenance.

What I am referring to in my prior post is functionality. PTC enhances existing functionality and includes it in a build, you get that for 'free'. PTC releases a new option, that does not get added to an existing bundle, except in rare circumstances.

Functionality is not tied to M-build releases.

[346gnu]

Ben,

I agree. A while back when discussing the then up and coming Creo additional functionality I did ask whether there was going to be an additional level of license but there wasn't; it remained 'advanced'.

Now though it logically follows that those on maintenance will receive fewer and fewer bug fixes and 'free' enhancements within the purchased scope of entitlement until PTC decide not to support that release anymore.

You then have no choice.

We would be paying maintenance for an increasingly aging product. Our maintenance is up to date, we pay it to get updates and little other benefit.

So now if you want any new functionality you will need to be subscription regardless of currency of maintenance. This is disappointing and a mixture of subscription and perpertual is better.

atb