4 ms·
The whole approach of making software unsellable is very American. Here in Europe we have a guaranteed right to sell used software. For example, Autodesk turne
by fxtentacle 7y ago
The whole approach of making software unsellable is very American. Here in Europe we have a guaranteed right to sell used software.
For example, Autodesk turned their 3ds max from $5k once into a $6k annual subscription. As a result, people started buying used perpetual licenses to avoid the overpriced subscription. Autodesk is denying those used license transfers in the US, but they have to tolerate it in the EU.
As a result, advertisement, movie and CGI studios in Europe gained a competitive advantage over US companies because the weak US laws failed to protect their own studios from predatory pricing.
And for a CGI animator making $3k monthly, those $6k in annual software fees really add 16% to the gross price, so enough to drive customers elsewhere.
- anovikov 7y agoAnyone actually pays those exorbitant prices? I thought they were just for bribery-fueled wholesale deals, everyone else just pirates them. Know a lot of animators and no one ever paid for those.
- __m 7y agoI doubt that. Maybe they don’t have a license personally but the studio they work for sure has, or they are just one disgruntled employee away from getting a friendly reminder from Autodesk
- anovikov 7y agoLOL i know a media rendering farm, a big one, that uses pirated Adobe software of all kinds. Asked how do they deal with licensing they just say "but well we are a Russian company, we are not concerned with this, licensing is a Western concept". The notion of "registering an app" ("зарегистрировать приложение") in Russian means "finding a crack".
- retSava 7y agoIt's a lot of money, but if you are making a living professionally, in such a specialized profession too which can warrant charging more, you should pay for the tools you use. A plumber has the choice of buying the MegaPlumberPlus (making it up) for a high price but that makes them 10% more efficient, or weld together their Plumbathon. Doesn't matter what the cost of the MPP(tm) is, it can not justify stealing (pirating in sw) it. Not in a moral, nor legal way. For a private person doing private stuff on their own computer perhaps many would say morally this is grey, but if you live from it? Pay'em or don't use it.
- gambiting 7y agoYep, we just bought a second-hand Microsoft SQL Server 2016 licence for like ~$1000 for a 100-user licence, just because a company migrated to 2019 and they are legally allowed to sell their old licence. The licence activated with MS after a quick phone call and we have all the invoices etc. No problem at all.
- ianai 7y agoYour company is in the UK?
- gambiting 7y agoNo, Poland, sorry.
- rchaud 7y agoJust as well. After the Brexit transition period ends on 31/12/2020, those laws may not cover UK consumers anymore unless the Parliament creates an equivalent law for the UK (unlikely).
- Symbiote 7y agoBritain is keeping all existing EU law, so they will have to actively decide to repeal it off they want that.
- mam2 7y agoWhy dont they just hack it.. ?
- sjg007 7y agoHuh... the US has a first sale doctrine so it should be legal to transfer a license.