Autodesk Subscription Concepts Changing

If you were at Autodesk University last week (I wasn't) or at least watching the social media feed from the people you follow on Twitter, Facebook etc. you probably saw something about Autodesk changing how subscription will work in the future. This is anticipating more cloud based software use.

Scott Shepard shared (with Autodesk and blogger for "It's Alive in the Lab") a transcript of a Q&A session regarding what these changes are likely to mean to Autodesk's customers.

This is the text he shared within his blog post:

I (Scott Shepard) attended an internal Autodesk OnAir presentation where VP of Industry Strategy & Marketing, Andrew Anagnost, provided additional information. Here it is in question/answer form:

Q: What does "moving away from perpetual licenses" mean?
A: We will stop offering customers the option to purchase NEW perpetual licenses of Autodesk software. Customers will continue to have several other purchase options, including Desktop Subscription.

Q: Why are we making this change?
A: We are ahead of most of our competition in harnessing cloud and mobile to give customers superior user experiences and to provide more potential customers access to our products through lower prices for many of our products and term payments.

Q: What will be the impact on existing customers?
A: Customers who are on Autodesk Subscription will not be impacted by this change. Customers not on Autodesk Subscription will need to purchase Desktop Subscription to access the latest Autodesk software releases.

Q: What does this mean for customers on Maintenance Subscription?
A: Existing subscribers will continue to have the option to renew their Maintenance Subscription contracts and receive access to the latest Autodesk software releases and other Subscriber benefits. Any new software received as part of a maintenance contract will have perpetual license rights.

Q: What are we taking away?
A: The ability to buy NEW perpetual licenses.

Q: Does this mean customers will lose their perpetual rights?
A: No, if the customer previously bought a perpetual license in the past, that license doesn't go away.

Q: When will we stop offering perpetual licenses?
A: We anticipate it will be sometime in the next 12 to 24 months. Details will be shared as decisions are finalized.

He (Scott) then provided a few additional statements from the Autodesk PR team:

"We are aware of multiple conversations regarding Autodesk’s ongoing business model transformation and move to Subscription. In an effort to provide clarification, we would like to provide some specifics about changes in the sale of perpetual licenses."

"Over the next 12-24 months, Autodesk is planning to gradually discontinue sales of NEW perpetual licenses, and will make NEW seats of our software available through Desktop and Cloud Subscription only."

"Existing customers with perpetual seats will be able to continue using those products per the terms of those licenses. Customers with perpetual licenses that are current with Autodesk Subscription will continue to benefit from product updates and other benefits of Autodesk Subscription."

"We recognize that these changes will impact our customers and that you will have many questions. We plan to provide additional details about our plans as the information becomes available and will provide sufficient advance notice so you can plan for these changes."

2011 Subscription Advantage Pack posted at Autodesk Subscription

I could have prepped this message in advance but I wasn't positive it would be released on the date they hinted at on Monday. The hint was accurate. This means that you can visit the Autodesk Subscription site to download the Subscription Advantage Pack for 2011 Revit Architecture, Structure and MEP.

Quite a few other bloggers have announced this already so I hope this isn't reaching you for the first time now. Robert Manna (don't think: Do Revit) mentioned some information I've not seen repeated so I'm echoing it now.

Autodesk is working on a beta Wiki

Robert's post included links to three different topics of the wiki, they are:

Revit Server Installation
Revit Server Administration
Conceptual Energy Analysis (This link isn't working yet)

Revit Web Update 2 Posted - Build 20100903_2115

The web updates for each Revit version became available while I was "winging" it back to the west coast. The Revit Clinic made the announcement initially and several other blogs are echoing the announcement to get the word out. Me too! Note that this is NOT the Subscription Advantage Pack I was writing about over the last couple days. That is still forthcoming. See the notes at the end of this post.

Click these to visit the download pages, choose your language.
Revit Architecture
Revit Structure
Revit MEP

Notes:

• Web Update 1 (WU1) is included with Web Update 2 (WU2) - It is not necessary to install WU1 first, WU2 will take care of it.
• The Subscription Advantage Pack (SAP) that is imminent will require WU2 so there is no redundancy to install WU2 now and then the SAP when it goes live.
• It will be necessary to visit the Subscription site to get the SAP when it becomes available.

Revit Server

I've been patiently waiting for some real information on this concept since I first heard a little birdie mention it at the end of last year. In my previous post I listed the bullet points I saw during our presentation but I didn't really explain the problem that this feature is intended to solve.

Fundamentally a firm with more than one office is at the mercy of their internet connection between offices when attempting to collaborate on a single project file. The existing methodology for Central and Local files passes too much data back and forth to be practical. As a result many firms have invested in server computer and hardware based WAN acceleration like offered by Riverbed. This technology does improve the situation and in many cases turning an unacceptable situation into a viable one. Revit Server is both a server computer based application and optimization within Revit itself to improve the project file relationship further.

Do you need Riverbed? Maybe. If you already have it you are primed for further improvement. If you don't you could evaluate it (Revit Server) and then decide whether investing in Riverbed is warranted, it may still be beneficial. The bandwidth available between offices is the critical variable.

• The first hurdle, if your firm doesn't have a server this solution won't help you. Hopefully a firm with more than one office isn't in this situation?
• The second hurdle, the imminent release is limited to your intranet/domain which rules out collaboration with external project teams that can't be permitted access to your domain. EyeTee talk for allowing other people in other firms to access your project folder(s) from outside your computer network. This rules out multi-firm collaboration unless you can work with EyeTee to provide a common domain for the whole team. Remember this is the first release and they clearly understand the desire to accomplish the broader collaboration between external firms

The user interaction is described well on David Light's blog because he captured images of various dialog boxes. From the user's point of view there isn't much difference. They create a local file just like before but they choose a project from the Revit Server instead. This is exposed via a drop down option on the Collaborate ribbon's Synchronize panel.

On the management side the firm must choose a dedicated server (choose an office location) for Central Files and the Revit Server software is installed on this server. The Revit Server Administrator application provides access to the Central files for each project as well as other maintenance items. If you browse the network using Windows Explorer it won't see the Central Files on Revit Server. They will only be accessible via the Revit Server Administrator application.

I wrote earlier about Globalscape's WAFS application and to me they seem quite similar. The most notable difference is that a company with active Autodesk subscription for Revit gets Revit Server for the subscription fee (or if you prefer to think of it as "free"...no additional money). Globalscape's solution will cost about 3K for each agent software initially with a yearly subscription fee thereafter. You'd need two agents to accomplish sharing between two offices, more agents for more offices naturally.

Robert Manna and David Light both shared network charts that explain the relationship between computers. They both have had the benefit of using the technology during early testing. I mentioned earlier that Robert is conducting an AU Virtual session about their implementation on an ongoing project.

Part of the technology includes a reworking of the user permissions that used to be collected into individual files (eperms). A new database is now used to manage user borrowing to provide a more robust monitoring and control system.

Back to workflow, all changes made to your local file are saved to a central file that is on a server located in the same office as your local. The changes to this central file are passed to the central file that exists on Revit Server. Changes made by others are also passed to Revit Server and these changes are passed to each other's local files via the Central files that are on their own office's servers. During the presentation yesterday it was stated that 100 milliseconds seems to be the threshold at which synchronization delays are perceived by a user so that is the threshold they are seeking to avoid, faster not slower than 100ms.

Some observations:

• Language is going to be a difficult transition, the word server, central and local all get used in an overlapping manner. For example, I'm saving my local file, it synchronizes with the "local" server which synchronizes with changes at the Revit Server installed on the master project server.
• If your firm has servers but doesn't have dedicated EyeTee staff this may seem "hard".
• The minimum requirements (see previous post) may deter your EyeTee staff if they are not ready to deal with the implications of deploying a server operating system that is newer than your current domain is using.
• It has always been a good idea to use a dedicated Revit server but getting that budget approved if it isn't already set up this way may be another hurdle.
• Spontaneously deciding to put a project at a specific office because the majority of the staff is in that office might contradict the single Revit Server location chosen. For example a project using teams in Phoenix and Tuscon might not enjoy the best results if the Revit Server is located in the Dallas office. It is technically possible to provide a Revit Server in multiple locations but each is blind to the other and teams can only access one at a time. The simplest implementation at this time is to focus on a single location to use Revit Server and this location provides access for all other offices.
• Worksharing monitor will be replaced with a Autodesk Bluestreak based solution that requires users to join this additional Autodesk technology and that might be a deterrent.

I encourage you to read both David's post and Robert's post as they have been using this tool for awhile now. They both offer worthy insight that should help you decide how well it will meet your needs. Keep in mind that this, like many other developments, are a stepping stone toward further developments in worksharing.

Added: Lachmi Khemlani's AECBytes has a new article based on an interview with Autodesk and Robert Manna. You can read it HERE. The article also discusses the new Conceptual Energy Analysis tool.

[Added March 30, 2011] Jame Wong has a couple videos on his blog to guide you along with installing and setting up Revit Server.

Revit MEP - US and UK Content Extension - Subscription Only

Received word that there is new content available to subscription customers for Revit MEP 2010. David Pothier posted at Inside the System this morning.

US Content and UK Content

Hotfix Pending or Posted

Word is a Hotfix will be out soon or already to address the Subscription Advantage Pack issue where the Structural Settings dialog is inaccessible unless you enable the old UI to get to it. Check the Hotfix shortcut links to the right side bar of this blog to see if it is posted already or soonish anyway.

Autodesk Subscription - Follow Up

I fairly well blasted Autodesk's new Subscription site the other day. It is often said the bad news runs on Page One and the retraction runs on Page Six. Well I don't need to retract anything because it wasn't working and it still isn't according to the information I was sent by the subscription team. I CAN however at least access my account using my old credentials, more on that in a bit.

I can say that they have been very responsive. I received email support from their support team. I also received an email from Michael Hall, Senior Program Manager, Global Subscription & Support. He followed that up with a phone call that I missed because of a conference call. He and his team have been very supportive and receptive of the "bad news" and my temporary "Captain Attitude" mode. I wasn't at my best and I'm grateful they didn't take it badly.

Now I could be cynical and say my blogging contributed to this response and truthfully it did help escalate the issue. However I'm confident that they'd take similar criticism in any form with an equal resolve to work through it.

Mike's exact words to me when I apologized for "moaning" on my blog were,

"As for groaning, it can be surprisingly effective and the fact is, the more we understand the experience of the user, the better we can serve that user. All feedback is welcome."

I realize it might make Michael uncomfortable a bit to see me quoting him but I think this is indicative of the attitude of practically every Autodesk staff member I've ever come into contact with.

The issue at hand is that during the consolidation of customer accounts there are some who just didn't get resolved fully. Mine was one. Some of my accounts were successful but the subscription account was not. Naturally the new consolidated login information I received like many others led me to believe that I just needed to log in according to the instructions. Reasonable response. Now we know otherwise. The short term fix is to use my old credentials and I'm back in business.

Now that I've been able to poke around the new site I must say it is much improved. I was able to use whichever browser I felt like and this is just the beginning. This is part of the reason Michael called, he hoped to share some of their longer range goals with me. So I'll take him up on his offer to chat and if I can share what I learn here I will.

If you are encountering issues with subscription, let them know. You should also just try to use your previous credentials as that may resolve it for you too. At least until they get the remaining accounts consolidated.

Thanks Michael and thanks to support for figuring it out! Thanks for taking my criticism in stride! It is a bit cliche but, usually, "what we do" when mistakes are made is far more important than the mistake itself. Okay that's enough...starting to get "preachy"...