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They aren't punishing, they are monetizing. Switching to another commercial product would just be repeating the mistake on your part. There are no (i.e. zero)

by blihp 6y ago

They aren't punishing, they are monetizing. Switching to another commercial product would just be repeating the mistake on your part. There are no (i.e. zero) for-profit companies that aren't trying to sell you something at some point. The reason companies do these multi-year 'free' services is to eliminate as much of the competition as possible and/or build a brand. If you want something that will stay free, you really should be looking at Open Source/Free software and either be prepared to roll up your sleeves and periodically help out or donate money to fund ongoing development/support.

VBprogrammer 6y ago
How many people are really able to spend that kind of money on Fusion 360? Fair enough if you are one of the lucky few with thousands of pounds worth of CNC equipment in your garage. I'm afraid this will be one of those clever MBA stories where someone comes in and looks at the number of personal users and thinks, gosh damn, if only we could monetise half of them at $800 we'd be rolling in it. I guess they are lucky that people can't just do what they did with Photoshop in the 90s; yay for the cloud.
- mywittyname 6y ago
  This is probably it. They see all those free users and think of them as "potential customers." They just don't realize/care that their "potential" is like $20-40 out of maybe 10% of them. And well, it's pretty hard to sell a product the the public for $20 then turn around and sell it to enterprises for $20,000. Adobe at least offers lower cost products for their less sophisticated users.
  - feteru 6y ago
    But this IS the less sophisticated version. They still turn around and sell Autodesk Inventor to enterprise for way more than the $500/year for F360.
StillBored 6y ago
I don't have a problem giving them $360, I have a problem giving them $360 again next year to tweak a design I made last year. Software subscriptions for hobbies are crazy, because who knows if I'm even going to use it ever again, yet all my effort is lost if I'm not paying them. The old permanent license model is much better for hobbyist, if you need a new feature, then give them more money, but they aren't holding your creativity hostage if you only spent 10 mins messing with your hobby for 6 months.

by blihp 6y ago

VBprogrammer 6y ago

How many people are really able to spend that kind of money on Fusion 360? Fair enough if you are one of the lucky few with thousands of pounds worth of CNC equipment in your garage. I'm afraid this will be one of those clever MBA stories where someone comes in and looks at the number of personal users and thinks, gosh damn, if only we could monetise half of them at $800 we'd be rolling in it. I guess they are lucky that people can't just do what they did with Photoshop in the 90s; yay for the cloud.

mywittyname 6y ago
This is probably it. They see all those free users and think of them as "potential customers." They just don't realize/care that their "potential" is like $20-40 out of maybe 10% of them. And well, it's pretty hard to sell a product the the public for $20 then turn around and sell it to enterprises for $20,000. Adobe at least offers lower cost products for their less sophisticated users.
- feteru 6y ago
  But this IS the less sophisticated version. They still turn around and sell Autodesk Inventor to enterprise for way more than the $500/year for F360.

StillBored 6y ago

I don't have a problem giving them $360, I have a problem giving them $360 again next year to tweak a design I made last year. Software subscriptions for hobbies are crazy, because who knows if I'm even going to use it ever again, yet all my effort is lost if I'm not paying them. The old permanent license model is much better for hobbyist, if you need a new feature, then give them more money, but they aren't holding your creativity hostage if you only spent 10 mins messing with your hobby for 6 months.