Maintenance Fee increase

[gcode]

This popped up on Mastercam.com

It got locked pretty quickly. Frankly I'm surprised that it didn't get deleted.

Both my personal sim and my employer's maintenance is due for renewal soon and I called hoping to beat the increase. Sadly that ship has sailed. June 1 was the cutoff.

The increase is 2%, which doesn't sound bad but they are also removing multi seat discounts which will hurt
companies with multiple seats.

There are also no discounts for bringing expired seats back into maintenance.

The increases have come straight from command central at Sandvik.

I was told the pricing structure and policies for renewal are designed to push users into subscriptions.
Eventually subscriptions will be the only way going forward, not just for Mastercam, but throughout the industry.
 
 

[neurosis]

I like how they gave a generic response and then locked the topic.   

[JParis]

The increases have come straight from command central at Sandvik.

Well, they ARE Mastercam at this point...regardless of how it's been presented, they(Mastercam) are no longer a private entity. They are Sandvik and Sandvik is Mastercam

[JParis]

With the extra seats we've purchased this year....

I can see having a problem getting it done this year....

[gcode]

They are Sandvik and Sandvik is Mastercam

and CGtech/Vericut

I thought someone mentioned Vericut maintenance was up too.
I suspect the same push towards subscription service over maintenance is in effect with
Vericut as well.

[JParis]

Conversation this morning..a lot of it hasn't been written in stone yet, so how it affects everyone???

If you ask me a Subscription plan will kill a chunk of their business.

So many people already don't upgrade version to version for a variety of reasons...they push a yearly or out, I think they are going to find a lot of those users will opt out...time will tell that story I guess.

#fuckautodesk

[neurosis]

If you ask me a Subscription plan will kill a chunk of their business.

So many people already don't upgrade version to version for a variety of reasons...they push a yearly or out, I think they are going to find a lot of those users will opt out...time will tell that story I guess.

If they went to or pushed toward subscription plans we would drop maintenance immediately.

I'm not sure how that would affect things moving forward? They are moving as many people to a software license as possible these days so technically, they could just turn off access to the software at any time?

[gcode]

With a shop like this they've really got you by the short and curlies.
We have been a Mastercam shop for 25+ years and have thousands of Mastercam files ins the archives.
To switch CAM vendors is a massive undertaking as the boy genius who tried to convert us to a CATIA shop found out.

If you stop upgrading when they make subscriptions the only option you are OK to a point.
You could stay on X2026 for years...but what do you do when you buy a new machine and need a new post?
What do you do if an existing post needs a turn up?


Once you are on a subscription service, they own you, like a slumlord owns his destitute tenants.
You will pay the rent or GTFO .. when the subscription expires your software expires.
You've got nothing going forward and your existing CAM library is useless.

[gcode]

I'm not sure how that would affect things moving forward? They are moving as many people to a software license as possible these days so technically, they just turn off access to the software at any time?

I have no idea what the time frame may be.
I think they will approach it like a dope dealer grooming new clients.
They will make the subscription service cheaper than maintenance until they reach a critical mass
of customers on subscription, then tighten the screws.

[Jeff]

I like how they gave a generic response and then locked the topic.   

That's about all they could do really.
But I don't see how talking to our reseller about Sandvik raising the cost will solve anything.

[SuperHoneyBadger]

I remember the sabre rattling towards Adobe and Autodesk for the subscription model. The sad truth is there aren't enough people who care to make a difference. Adobe knows they have the best solution for 80% of the photo and video market and everyone just pays. Autodesk bought and bought until folks couldn't unbuy because they didn't have another option, or felt the 'gold standard' was worth it.

The practices are predatory and anti-customer. The board is making more money than ever before, and of course, if you don't make your Q3 projections you've lost money because you already leveraged against the anticipated revenue. The corporate world is in its own universe, rampant and unchecked, gobbling up as much as possible to everyone's detriment.

The worst part is, aside from not paying, there isn't anything we can do. And as a vocal minority here, we don't have the ACTUAL sway to move the pillars. I doubt they will even lose 5% of their total customers, which is sad. Sandvik knows we won't migrate 1000's of programs and train programmers on a new product, on top of the startup costs per seat, and posts, and proving out programs, tool libraries, time lost... The list goes on. It's a punch in the gut to an industry that's hobbling along trying to find the way forward. There's money to be made, and our responsibility as financial data points is to shut the fuck up and pay.

[gcode]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Cliff Notes  = pay up bitch!

[Jeff]

Adobe knows they have the best solution for 80% of the photo and video market and everyone just pays.

Adobe fucked up big time when they changed it's "terms of use" that says "your content is our content".
Or something to that affect.
Shit tons of backlash.adobe backlash


"Last week, Adobe sparked backlash online after filmmakers and artists raised concerns that Adobe's new language gave the tech giant sweeping license to "access" and "view" user content and "analyze" it with AI tools. The terms didn't make it clear whether user art would be fed into a massive dataset for AI training. The language also raised questions about how, when, and to what extent Adobe is viewing its customers' work in apps like Photoshop."


 Then they responded again to lessen the blow so if you're still against it, then you're a predator.



"In response, Adobe said last week that its new terms were actually rolled out to legally allow it to better identify and combat the spread of child sexual abuse material and stop it from being processed through or hosted on its apps."

[SuperHoneyBadger]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Cliff Notes  = pay up bitch!

Bit of a manifesto, I know. See something, say something - I'm a firm believer. 

[SuperHoneyBadger]

Adobe fucked up big time when they changed it's "terms of use" that says "your content is our content".
Or something to that affect.

I keep myself out of the loop, but I am not surprised by that change. The language and image model systems are wildly disruptive to our notion of creativity, learning, ownership and 'doing work' in general. It's McDonald's art - sterile artifice at it's core. It can't be new by definition. But it can me MADE, and made fast as hell.

Speaking again to all our activities becoming a data point. Very disappointing direction