POTD- PROJECT OF THE DAY: What Did You Make In Your Shop Today?

[brino]

Win 11 package needs a $$ upgrade to run VM anyway

What? How could they justify that? It's robbery.

Any decent OS should run VMs without add-ons.........

Brian

 

[pontiac428]

What? How could they justify that? It's robbery.

Any decent OS should run VMs without add-ons.........

Brian

You need the professional license to run VM ware on the OS, it's been like that since Win 7. I had a Win XP VM running for some old legacy electronics projects, and tried to use a VM for SW 2009 back then (on a Win 7 host), but it was slow and I doubt it's very efficient considering the low hyperthreading (cpu), memory allocation/VRAM sharing, and DirectX and OpenGL (VGA) hardware support in virtualization.

I did dome digging and found out that it is indeed the SolidWorks developers who are responsible; they want to sell subscriptions. They have been dropping dominant OS support in favor of the next gen since Vista was announced. I think I will try the $100 /year license (or $50/yr with EAA membership). Unfortunately, they neuter out all of the useful stuff that I've previously had access to: libraries, materials, FEA, CAM plug-ins, flow sim, schematics... on and on. In other words, the stuff that makes the software good and useful to me in the shop.

Looks like I'm going to be stuck with a "2014 box" on a dedicated machine if I want to continue using the software that I know and own. Not a big deal, but I was hoping to model on my new machine and just use the Win 7 machine on the shop floor. Waah, software is just as critical as being able to source correct inserts. It's no longer a matter of simply having a 127 tooth gear to change standards, you have to do a full retro PC restoration build in today's shop to use "outdated" tools that were produced to be sold as one-time solutions. We're on a completely pay-to-play economy now, monthly subscriptions are required to use these tools. Hardware you still own outright, but what good is it without software?

Subscription for Windows versions, subscription for CAD, subscription for CAM package... everything with an expiration date, whether it still does the job for you or not. This isn't fun anymore, guys. I want to go back to the days of CD-ROM, when ownership was permanent.

 

[dkemppai]

Subscription for Windows versions, subscription for CAD, subscription for CAM package... everything with an expiration date, whether it still does the job for you or not. This isn't fun anymore, guys. I want to go back to the days of CD-ROM, when ownership was permanent.

Don't start! I come here to avoid this garbage! I get it at work, at home, at my family get togethers. I really don't need to be ****** off reading stuff on this forum. This is my Zen time. At least let me have this!

Then add Autodesk garbage to the mix. I've seen them kill enough software to make you puke. If they don't kill it they make it subscription only. They'll outright tell you, "No, we aren't going to make this subscription only", and in 6 months that's exactly what they do.

Solid works, at least the last time I checked does offer purchase models. Just saw the bill for 1 year of updates on two seats (one premium and one professional). I paid someone to rebuild my lathe for less than that... So, I think if you made the jump to 2023 or something, you would still have an installer and not be subscription, but you might be into that upgrade for a few grand.

For home, I'm running a few versions old version of ViaCAD. (Just haven't jumped at the upgrades with Covid). It does exactly what I need it to, but it's getting more expensive every year. (Actually we use it at work, in place of where a lot of guys would use regular old AutoCAD). Might be something to look at. You own it, at least last time I checked. ViaCAD Pro 12 will set you back about $700 right now. (Some guys buy an older version, install it and buy an upgrade, might get you there for quite a bit less...)

Dan

 

[Gaffer]

You need the professional license to run VM ware on the OS, it's been like that since Win 7. I had a Win XP VM running for some old legacy electronics projects, and tried to use a VM for SW 2009 back then (on a Win 7 host), but it was slow and I doubt it's very efficient considering the low hyperthreading (cpu), memory allocation/VRAM sharing, and DirectX and OpenGL (VGA) hardware support in virtualization.

I did dome digging and found out that it is indeed the SolidWorks developers who are responsible; they want to sell subscriptions. They have been dropping dominant OS support in favor of the next gen since Vista was announced. I think I will try the $100 /year license (or $50/yr with EAA membership). Unfortunately, they neuter out all of the useful stuff that I've previously had access to: libraries, materials, FEA, CAM plug-ins, flow sim, schematics... on and on. In other words, the stuff that makes the software good and useful to me in the shop.

Looks like I'm going to be stuck with a "2014 box" on a dedicated machine if I want to continue using the software that I know and own. Not a big deal, but I was hoping to model on my new machine and just use the Win 7 machine on the shop floor. Waah, software is just as critical as being able to source correct inserts. It's no longer a matter of simply having a 127 tooth gear to change standards, you have to do a full retro PC restoration build in today's shop to use "outdated" tools that were produced to be sold as one-time solutions. We're on a completely pay-to-play economy now, monthly subscriptions are required to use these tools. Hardware you still own outright, but what good is it without software?

Subscription for Windows versions, subscription for CAD, subscription for CAM package... everything with an expiration date, whether it still does the job for you or not. This isn't fun anymore, guys. I want to go back to the days of CD-ROM, when ownership was permanent.

You qualify for the military discount too. It's $50 per year, perhaps less - I forget, for the student version - the stripped-down version you mentioned. It took SW a while to become compatible with Win 11, but it's good to go now.

 

[WobblyHand]

Or you can try FreeCAD and not be captive to commercial considerations. It's probably not the same as what you are used to, but at least they won't be nickle and diming you to death for eternity. There's no free lunch anywhere, but at least it's open source. Runs on newer and older systems. For whatever it is worth...

 

[pontiac428]

What does it say about me that I'd be willing to pony up $1000 for a working license for a 10 year old version of the tool if it were a true one-time fee? By the time you add up all the software licenses for add-ons, that would be a cheap option. I still haven't even typed the word "MACH3" up to this point, either. Also a subscription.

Rent-to-own is a scheme, but this is something even more predatory. It's rent-to-oblivion, where if you don't pay your rent, your tools disappear into oblivion. I do not like...

Edit: FreeCAD is probably my next step. Even though Fusion360 is accessible, I don't want to use Autodesk. Native parametric modeling is my preference, Autodesk is a mess of legacy modeling styles that I want little to do with navigating. It's another language as far as I am concerned.

 

[Gaffer]

Mach 3 is a purchase. I've had it for a few years and haven't had to renew a subscription. It's gone up in price to $175, but you'll own it.

 

[Gnpenning]

This reminds me of the "Right to Work" issues with equipment. At what point should you OWN it.

 

[Shotgun]

What does it say about me that I'd be willing to pony up $1000 for a working license for a 10 year old version of the tool if it were a true one-time fee? By the time you add up all the software licenses for add-ons, that would be a cheap option. I still haven't even typed the word "MACH3" up to this point, either. Also a subscription.

Rent-to-own is a scheme, but this is something even more predatory. It's rent-to-oblivion, where if you don't pay your rent, your tools disappear into oblivion. I do not like...

Edit: FreeCAD is probably my next step. Even though Fusion360 is accessible, I don't want to use Autodesk. Native parametric modeling is my preference, Autodesk is a mess of legacy modeling styles that I want little to do with navigating. It's another language as far as I am concerned.

I was a fan of the ProE modelling software. They had a version for private use that was "free". Then they killed it. Along with it went a year of time I had spent learning it and all the models that I had built.
Never one to learn from mistakes apparently, I jumped onto Solidworks via the EAA bandwagon. Free with my yearly EAA dues. Then Solidworks decides to throw in an extra $50 charge for the pleasure. At least this time, the learning curve wasn't as steep, due to the experience with ProE.

So, do I pay the $50 ransom to get at the models I drew, or just start again with FreeCAD?

 

[Gaffer]

I was a fan of the ProE modelling software. They had a version for private use that was "free". Then they killed it. Along with it went a year of time I had spent learning it and all the models that I had built.
Never one to learn from mistakes apparently, I jumped onto Solidworks via the EAA bandwagon. Free with my yearly EAA dues. Then Solidworks decides to throw in an extra $50 charge for the pleasure. At least this time, the learning curve wasn't as steep, due to the experience with ProE.

So, do I pay the $50 ransom to get at the models I drew, or just start again with FreeCAD?

I used SW briefly and then upgraded to Win 11, not realizing it wasn't compatible. I was past the time to revert to Win 10, so I dived into FreeCAD. FreeCAD is pretty awesome, and Jocko Engineering on YouTube has fantastic tutorials.

Edit: I'm still a rookie with it, but liked it enough to throw them a $25 donation.