To renew or not to renew...

[MattP]

My SW subscription is about to expire and I am faced with the decision of renewing or not. I am a one man operation and the main reason I subscribed in the first place was to stay current with a high volume client. That work dried up almost immediately after subscribing.

Now I have the 2006 upgrade and I guess before my subscription ends (10/21/05), there will be a couple of SP's out. If I don't renew, is it a safe bet that 2006 will be stable enough at that point?

OR, should I not even upgrade to 2006. I am pretty pleased with 2005 SP 4.0. It seems pretty stable.

OR, should I pony up and renew. (doubtful)

Thanks for any advice,

Matt

(Insert witty signature line here)

 

[MadMango]

As a one-man shop, I'd suggest sticking with SW05 (and SP5) if it is working for you. By upgrading to SW06, and having your subscription run-out, you may find there is a future SP that you might need.

[green]"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."[/green]
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.
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[CorBlimeyLimey]

If you can afford to, I suggest you subscribe. In 2 or 3 years time you will almost definitely want or need to anyway, just to be able to do work for other clients.

It will be much easier to learn the upgrades in small steps rather than one big one after several years.


Helpful SW websites every user should be aware of faq559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions faq559-1091

 

[GBor]

Hey, Matt,

I'm also a 1-man show. Been in your situation and made several wrong decisions, but either way you go you can't second guess yourself. IF you don't have a client that needs SW right now, and you're pretty happy with SW05...with limited funds, hold out on the renewal. Download or obtain the SW06 upgrade, but don't install it until you've heard some of the concerns. See if the concerns would affect you.

You can catch up on the renewal later if you need to. Most of the people I deal with are "behind the times" anyway. It may look good to be able to say "I'm current", but even sandwiches taste better than dog food!

Another option may be to see about an incremental payment. Most software companies will break up your renewal into 4 monthly installments or something similar. It's a little less difficult swallowing it this way.

Garland

 

[smcadman]

I believe Scott said on another thread that if you have a license, but you are not on the subscription program, you still get the SP's for your licensed software. If you have the 2006 upgrade, then don't install it untill SP 1.0 comes out.

Then you will have all of next year to have the "current version" with 2006. When 2007 comes out, you can debate on upgrading then. Depends on who you're clients are, but we still have some clients and vendors using ACAD 2000, so we are way ahead of them when it comes to software.

Flores
SW 2005 SP 4.0

 

[MattP]

smcadman,

I haven't found this to be true. When I first bought SW and didn't subscribe, I had to fight to get the most current SP at the time. They tried to give me a release with 3 month old SP. It has been my experience that SW makes it difficult to not subscribe.

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[ctopher]

To me it is worth it to renew. Also keep the 05 installed and use 06 for new designs. Keep your old installations just in case.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP3.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

 

[TheTick]

How fast do you want to scramble when your new client dumps a big SW2006 project on your lap? Are they even going to do so if you don't have SW2006 up and running?

 

[SBaugh]

thread559-134380

MattP,

That's unforunate that, that happened to you. Instead of going to SW contact your VAR. They should help you regardless, but the better of a relationship you have built with them, the less hassle you will have with them.

From my experience before I started working with a VAR.

I agree TheTick - what would you do if a SW06 project landed in your lap? I understand the Cost to stay a float, but lossing a good job, because you were not prepared for it hurts worse IMO.

Best Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376

 

[Theophilus]

MattP,

I'm in the same boat as you and I keep my subscription current. You need to count the cost of renewing a year down the road--there's often a lapse fee of something near $500 last time I checked, on top of the subscription fee.

Also, determine whether SolidWorks will be your tool of the job or not. If I were a mechanic, I would want reliable tools for my job. Having such would simply be a part of doing business (although Snap-On tools don't evaporate after a year of use).

I find ways to save money in other, less-crucial areas. In fact, I may not purchase MS Office products in the future (depends on what Open Office 2.0 looks like). I run many freeware applications--some of which are better or on par with their equivalent payware. There are also other areas you can save without sacrificing quality, such as computer hardware and other overhead devices. Put some thought into it and decide whether you're in this business as a SW user or not. Commit to your decision and you should be fine.

I do a great deal more than mere industrial design with my copy of SolidWorks. I've done machine design, injection mold tools, presentation renderings, engineering for manufacturing, animation, etc. If you're willing to take jobs and learn them on-the-fly, you can make the software profitable for you.


Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

Reality is no respecter of good intentions.

 

[MattP]

Thanks for all of the helpful replies. Just for the sake of conversation, lets eliminate the renew option. Would you upgrade to 2006 with minimal SP's or stay with 2005 with high level SP's? Forget about compatibility issues because none of my clients even own SW.

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[CorBlimeyLimey]

Stay with SW05 at the highest SP level. Upgrade to SW06 after a couple of SPs.

Having said that, it depends on whether using any of the new features of SW06 will make you more efficient.


Helpful SW websites every user should be aware of faq559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions faq559-1091

 

[MadMango]

I would stick with SW05... unless there was a drop-dead-must-have feature in SW06 that I needed to keep my doors open.

[green]"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."[/green]
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[Theophilus]

If you're doing industrial design or presentation, you'll want the 2006 features. Greatly enhanced.

My day-to-day bulk work is still being done with 2005, but I'll push toward 2006 for everything else soon (probably after SP 1 arrives).


Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

Reality is no respecter of good intentions.