#Version 3
6 messages in this thread
To whom it may concern:
I'm an engineer with a civil engineering firm in Redmond Washington
that uses 3D modelling very heavely in our design work. About 2 weeks
ago I received my first version of 3DStudio 2 and have been slowly
working my way through the tutorials. Convincing our company
management to purchase this piece of software was difficult at best.
After 6 months of asking, I was finally allowed to purchase version 2
with a couple of IPAS routines from Shreibber Instruments for about
$3000.
*********** *** POW *** ***********
I open my copy of Infoworld today and find that version 3 of 3DStudio
will be released in 2 months with an upgrade price of $500!
Question: Will there be any special upgrade price for those boneheads
like myself who didn't expect to get shafted with an upgrade so soon?
This question is important because of the extreme problems I will have
in asking for an upgrade of a recently purchased product. Kind of
like trading in your car after 2 months on the road for the new
model.
Don't get me wrong on Version 3, it looks fantastic and I'm looking
forward to getting it. I also understand you can't pre-announce this
product because sales of Version 2 would die a quick death while
people wait for the new version. I would, however, like a little
special treatment for purchasing Version 2 so close to the Version 3
release date. (Other software companies offer deals like this so
that sales will not stop altogether before the release date)
As a corporate user that has purchased close to $60,000 worth of
software from your company, I would appreciate a response as soon as
possible.
Sincerely,
James Swanson Systems Manager RH2 Engineering Columbia Engineering
Anyone who purchased 3DS version 2 after the announcement date of
August 2 with a valid receipt will get an upgrade to version 3 for no
charge.
>> As a corporate user that has purchased close to $60,000 worth of
>> software from your company, I would appreciate a response as soon as
>> possible.
I think you have a serious gripe, not with Autodesk, but with your
dealer! Anyone who has purchased anything through us, much less
$60,000 worth, would have been told of this upcoming release and the
Autodesk policies!
But what the heck, you received $250 worth of our IPAS routines with
your purchase, didn't you? <g>
Greg Pyros
Greg,
Outside of my near sided dealer's stupidity (he already knows how upset I am
about this), I attended a 3DStudio seminar put on by Autodesk in June that was
heavely pushing the product before the end of July with various incentives.
This seems like a cruel marketing joke by Autodesk to the people who wanted to
buy the product. Just because I received extra software doesn't make it easy to
go back to my boss and beg for another $500.
While you ought to convince your dealer to eat at least SOME of the
upgrade price (IMHO), from what I've seen of r3, that $500 upgrade
will pay for itself right quick w/ the productivity increases you'll
get from r3!
Tom:
>> I attended a 3DStudio seminar put on by Autodesk in June that was
>> heavely pushing the product before the end of July with various
>> incentives. This seems like a cruel marketing joke by Autodesk to the
>> people who wanted to buy the product.
Well, depends on how you look at it! The incentives were to
compensate you for buying the product before the release date, and
also, remember, you have the use of the product for July -> October,
four months, figure $125 per month for having the program!
Not too shabby, you should be able to make it pay off much more than
$125 a month! You will have learned the program and been using it
and making money long before the new version starts shipping!
I hope Autodesk listens to your comments and applies that logic to ALL
their upgrade policies. We, the AutoCAD faithful, were shafted
severely when the upgrade policy for R12 was announced. They better
not do it to us with R13.