Maintenance

[Jeff]

Just a head's up:
On our maintenance invoice I noticed that they want to charge us $99 for access to their YouTube videos.
I told the person that pays it to NOT pay that.

Oh and the invoice is structured in a way that if you pay by date x it's this amount but more if you pay after date x. No problem there, standard "late fee".

But the total dollar number in bold at the bottom was for the added fee AFTER date x. Which is sometime in February, about a month from now.

Axsys here in Michigan is our reseller and they can go fuck themselves for trying to fuck their customers especially long time customers like us.

[JParis]

Axsys here in Michigan is our reseller and they can go fuck themselves for trying to fuck their customers especially long time customers like us.

lol, sorry Jeff but I laugh at this portion.

It's frustrating, I know, went through this in September.

That said, your "reseller" is currently in name only for the time being. This ALL comes from the home office, make no doubt about that...

It really is simple at this point, you pay or you don't.

The length of time any of us has been a customer is not relevant, the CNC Software we all knew is all but gone.

As I have stated publicly previously, my personal inclination was to drop Maintenance. The decision to submit the bill was not about my personal feelings, it was about what is best for the company. The "company" determined to pay the bill and not bat an eyelash.

Yes, many of us have felt personally slighted, that though, that's "our" issue. Mastercam is something else now and you either want to maintain the professional relationship or you'll end up buying something elsewhere.

It really is that simple

[JParis]

Here's how I have to think about it...

We're not a small shop, I would imagine that a small shop with a couple of users and a few machines, the process of change is much easier to manage.

6 - M3D
3 - M2D
4 - Lathe
1 - Wire
3 - MT
2 - X5
3 - MT environments

and we have more users than that list of licenses allows.

I would need to go through ownership and justify not only the cost of a new software but all of the ancillary things that go along with that and when all was said and done and the root cause was brought out that our Maintenance cost went up nearly 45% and that "I" felt that was outrageous....

I think we can see where this conversation would go...especially when factoring in the "large" view.

I would need a DAMN good reason and my feelings wouldn't be near enough to justify it.
We are set to double in size over the next 5 years and I need to base my decisions on what is best to support that growth.

[gcode]

I've had a relationship with CNC Software and my dealer since 1997.
That relationship is gone. Now I am just one more line item in a data base to be milked for
maximum revenue.
I'm sure my employer will continue to pay maintenance, but I'm thinking
they will price me and my personal hasp out of the market before long.
My dealer has yet to be assimilated but I suspect in time there will be no more Mastercam dealers, just corporate regional service centers.
This quote from last week's PR says it all

Lesane's background in developing and implementing Customer Success and Client Engagement programs will lead this critical area as Mastercam grows their direct sales business.

I read the 01/21/25 PR and wonder, what do these people actually do, other than add some big numbers to the monthly payroll, which we fund via our maintenance payments.

[gcode]

We do have a canary in the coal mine signal about the new regime.

MC2026 Tech Preview 2 expired at the first on the year and there is no TP3 yet.
I have been a beta site since 1998 and this is the first time this has ever happened.
I attribute this directly to the new management.

[Dylan Gondyke]

Apologies for that Tom, the end of year build was not something ready for external release and this year there is a bigger gap than usual (Though in the last 5 years there have been a few times where we have a gap). I'd like to point out that we've been working hard the last few years towards doubling the frequency of Update releases for each version and deliver them in faster increments, as well.

I'm not a sales guy so I have no input on what Axsys (external channel partner) is doing here but I did pass it on. The youtube videos are not corporate training- are they private videos and you get the links distributed to you?

[JParis]

I'm not a sales guy so I have no input on what Axsys (external channel partner) is doing here but I did pass it on. The youtube videos are not corporate training

I stand partially corrected

[Jeff]

are they private videos and you get the links distributed to you?

I don't think they are private.
Here is the channel, can you guys view the videos?
https://www.youtube.com/@axsyscadcamsolutionswebexp7031

[gcode]

yes.. I can see them and run them

[JParis]

Yes

[Dylan Gondyke]

Hm. Perhaps they have private/unlisted videos in addition to those public ones shown on the channel. Either way, strange.

[Jeff]

Regardless, I told her to not pay that part of the invoice.

[gcode]

Apologies for that Tom, the end of year build was not something ready for external release and this year there is a bigger gap than usual (Though in the last 5 years there have been a few times where we have a gap). I'd like to point out that we've been working hard the last few years towards doubling the frequency of Update releases for each version and deliver them in faster increments, as well.

Don't mind me, I'm just an old man shouting at clouds. 

[Dylan Gondyke]

[[I'm the cloud in this analogy]]

[gcode]

[[I'm the cloud in this analogy]]

no, that cloud is in Sweden
truth be told, you are probably shouting at clouds too... in private