ORIGINAL: CoosBayLumber

You guys might be walking into a trap on the Educational softwares and the Free ones.

I have to take refresher classes at local school. They get the flyers for discount Acad also. The vendors aren't stupid, but the version being sold has a time limit implanted. According to the License agreement, it is good for three years only, one loading too. Or good for two years past the introduction of some new version. As the school buys a few new educational versions each year, they do not know what happens when the expiration date occurs. I don't know if you loaded the educational software on to several new hard drives at one time if you then could get extended use or not.



The other situation being, and this was brought out about two years ago. Is that one of the CAD software companies has an Anti-competition bug implanted in to their version. If you install their software on to your hard drive it will over write and otherwise make useless any other brand of CAD software on that hard drive. You work with them or no one. Then, to make matters worse, if you do not decide to send in the card for a registered version, within a couple years, they will overwrite any attempt to load on a CAD software other than their brand.

As the fellow pointed out, if you have Brand Y on the hard drive now, installed via freeware or bought and wish to install Brand X, this creates a poblem. For Brand X will over write and make useless anything to do with Brand Y. Then in a year or so, if you purchase or otherwise obtain Brand Z CAD software, it will stop the installation. It will let you know that per the license agreement, you cannot...... Somewhere along the line it also ships you a pop-up beginning at about one year from installation saying you've had it long enough, they presume you then like it, now cough up for a registered copy. You only have 300 more days of use before it goes dead. This begins and does not stop for next year or so. Oh, and you cannot simply do a Uninstall, for the bug was planted and takes hold and alters the Boot sector on your hard drive such that it will not stop until you reformat the drive. Even if you remove the CAD software with the Uninstall, it will remind you of how good it was and that you need to send in $$$$. The makers of TurboTax were doing this and each tax season the reminder would come up iff'n you wanted their software of not. I think other software firms then took hold of this idea.


Wm.