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software extortion

7/6/17       
CV user

Anyone else get their extortion letter from Cabinet Vision yet? If you're not willing to pay for annual support, they will no longer help you in any way, shape or form. Furthermore, if anything ever happens that would require you to buy a new dongle or ask for their help in any way, you will be expected to pay the FULL cost of the software as if you were never a 20 year customer in the 1st place.

I run a 3 million dollar a year company, so it's not the $1,200 a year I have a problem with. It's the extortion. I'd rather pay $100 a minute for tech support.

7/6/17       #2: software extortion ...
Pdub Member

If you're talking about the same email I just got, they're saying that if you have a version from 2011 or earlier that they won't be able to help you with your license, dongle or PC.
That's 6 years ago and I think there have been about 5 versions (and many other updates) since then. I doubt the 2011 version would even run on a current PC?
I don't think this is unreasonable. When you install a cabinet in someone's house and they have a plumbing leak 6 years later that ruins your cabinet, do you go back and fix it for free?

7/6/17       #3: software extortion ...
Ivanka Putin

This isn't just CV. Software in general is moving in this direction. I looked into upgrading AutoCAD 2004 to a newer version. I think it's close to $200/month per user, and you can't own it. You just lease it.

I know CV is more powerful than the KCD software I have, but I love that I bought it outright in 2011 and haven't paid a dime since then.

7/6/17       #4: software extortion ...
cabinetmaker

are you running a business ? or, what ?

I would try to run my shop on anything less than CV 8 It all has a cost

How about the 100k bander with a design flaw in the buffer mounts and the .......holes on the other end of the phone think you crazy because the bounce causes the corner round cylinders to send a signal to the plc to shut down.

I am crazy, to buy 1/2 mil of machines and be told I'm wrong, until the service tech shows up and tells me, " ya it's a flaw, got a tig welder ?"

7/6/17       #5: software extortion ...
Picasso

It's a shame so many cabinetmakers never learned to efficiently draw by hand and are now dependent on software. They've read too much into those industry magazines and think software and cnc are a necessity to be successful in the industry. Don't get me wrong, it has its place if you cut circles or signs all day but in reality the majority of people that are now dependent on it use it primarily to cut rectangles.

7/6/17       #6: software extortion ...
cabmaker

I too am faced with this conundrum.
I run Vectorworks CAD, Sketchup, Filemaker, Lightroom & Photoshop.

At various times one or more of these applications is outrunning my current operating system. I continuously have to make a choice about whether or not to upgrade the application or upgrade the box. I don't obsess too much about it because I regularly lose a couple thousand dollars a couple times a month in missed opportunity cost or just plain bad construction decisions. It's simply the price of being in business. The cost for any tool is what it costs you to not have it at your disposal.

I needed to get a new 4 foot level because my old one was unreliable. I stopped by the local hardware/gift store and was slightly annoyed at having to pay $80 for it. I used it on two jobs that day so by the time I got home my true cost was $40 per trip. In another month it will be down to $10 per trip. At $10 per trip I can afford to leave it at the jobsite if I forget to put it in my car.

I may, however, have inadvertently come into some good fortune. A couple of years ago I bought a pair of completely juiced up iMacs. These have 32gb of ram with 3TB solid state/fushion drives that can rip through twenty 30MB Raw photo files.

I learned today that these drives can be partitioned to run two or more Operating Systems. This means I can stay with my old perfectly good CAD program while utilizing up to date operating systems for other applications.

Important lesson: Vectorworks sent me an email just before the holiday telling me I could get 30% on an annual subscription if I would commit for one year. I could get 50% off if I would commit for two years. I was interested. I wanted to buy. I sent the guy an email and called his number a couple of times but no response.

I wanted to buy. What I needed to know was how much it cost after the price break. I went online three times and googled every combination of "Vectorworks-Subscription-Pricing" I could imagine and no where did the monthly cost show up. I still don't know what is is.
Hell is probably going to freeze over before I get around to doing my research now.

The important take away is how many sales do we lose because our pricing is not transparent?

7/7/17       #7: software extortion ...
Steve

If it makes you feel any better, my distribution software company does the same thing. my annual fee is approaching 12K per year. I used to not pay the fee, but every 2 or 3 years when the upgrades had cool features I could use, I had to pay all the way back to the last maintenance fee.
They changed that now. If my maintenance lapses, I'll have to pay for a new installation - north of 40K!

They have figured out how to smooth out the revenue and not live on new sales. Wouldn't it be cool for me if I could get a monthly fee for you using my sanders, or if YOU could get a monthly fee for people using your cabinets?

7/11/17       #8: software extortion ...
Derrek Holland

"so many cabinetmakers never learned to efficiently draw by hand and are now dependent on software. They've read too much into those industry magazines and think software and cnc are a necessity to be successful in the industry. Don't get me wrong, it has its place if you cut circles or signs all day but in reality the majority of people that are now dependent on it use it primarily to cut rectangles."

Sorry, while handrawing is nice and definitely a special skill that takes years of practice to get right, software is so much more than a picture. The cost is an investment in my business that saves me hundreds of hours of labor a year, untold mistakes of creating cutlists, time in front of a machine generating code or coming up with work arounds to doing it by hand. Not to mention the 3D capability is a huge plus in selling a project.
Do I think CV is over priced? Absolutely, just like gas, insurance, labor and just about everything else I buy is over priced. Just like most of my customers think its a lot for what we do. I pay it though, because the 1500 a year I pay for support that I rarely use is worth every penny of it when I'm down and need that help to get it done. Could it all be better, absolutely but all that improvements takes $ and you cant expect them to support your version 3.5 forever

7/12/17       #9: software extortion ...
Pdub Member

I wholeheartedly agree. I took multiple semesters of hand drafting whilst in school way back when. So I know my way around a pencil and drafting board. However, I would never go back to that from CV. Drawing on a computer in parametric form has so many advantages, they are impossible to count. Mainly, it allows me more time to focus on other things, like spending time with my family instead of being up all night revising a set of drawings where the client wants to change 1 dimension that affects the entire room.
Picasso, you're living in the past. If that still works for you, I think that's great. However, CV and my CNC have allowed me to stay competitive in my booming area and triple my business and profits.

7/14/17       #10: software extortion ...
Logan G

Whining about a 12 to 15 hundred dollar support fee per year? Really? Aren't the least bit tight are ya? Boss here pays 70k + to keep us in the latest software and updates that's one of the reasons you haven't grown, thinking too small.

7/30/17       #11: software extortion ...
David Buchsbaum

Website: http://beaconcustomwoodwork.com/

If you read the fine print it only says that they won't support any computer issues with the older version of the software. It doesn't say anything about not answering questions about how the software itself works. As long as you keep using your 10 year old software on your 10 year old computers you're fine. But staying up to date is going to cost you one way or the other.

2/8/18       #12: software extortion ...
Chevy

Website: http://keysoftwareservice.com

Let me know if I can help anyone


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