CompuServe Thread

David, you can't sell the manuals legally either. Read the license agreement again. It covers not only the application, but also "… the accompanying documentation." I have a proposed solution, which would also be a P.R. coup for Autodesk: why not allow old products and versions which are no longer being sold to have their licenses transferred to new customers, provided that (a) it is understood that the new licensee has no upgrade rights, but must pay full price for newer versions, and (b) any such transfer must be accompanied by a donation to a charity from a list of Autodesk-approved charities? The minimum donation may be set at, oh, say, 10% of the original MSRP of the program in question, so that a program that sold at $495 must be accompanied by a $49.50 charitable donation in order to be considered a proper license transferral? The benefits to Autodesk are getting their products out to a wider customer base (albeit older versions), and the P.R. that backing charities brings — especially if Autodesk also decides to match any such contributions upon receipt of proof of contribution! There is also the benefit to the environment of not throwing out old manuals and disks just because we cannot legally do anything else with them (well, they could be recycled…). Autodesk wouldn't get any actual new revenues from the products directly, but then again, they've already written off getting new revenues by discontinuing those products, so they're not losing anything.