Vectorworks Cyber Monday Deal

jstroming

Active Member
I got an e-mail from Nemetschek offering me a $1,428 upgrade to VW2016 Spotlight w/ Renderworks (I use 2010 currently) but I would be on a "recurring billing structure" where after 2 years I would be charged $714/yr to continue using the software. The upgrade fee to buy it outright from VW2010 is $2,434.

I'm by no means a power user, I figure out what I need to do but really don't use most of the software offerings. I'm actually happy with 2010, but being that my CAD workstation is 5 years old I was thinking of going to 2016 and getting a killer workstation and laptop to go with it (most of the time I use it I'm on the road). I don't use renderworks (I only use Fast & Artistic rendering) and 95% of my drawings are 2 dimensional. I've only a few times had a project slow down on me because of a lot of lines. I do use Vectorworks religiously. I have it open every day and it is a huge tool in my day to day operations. I would love to learn all the advanced features but don't have the attention span.

Should I bother with the "Pay as You Go" plan or just buy 2016 outright? I can also get itWITHOUT renderworks upgrade from 2010 for $2,021. I'm kind of against the Pay As You Go plan, partly because I'm old school and think they're holding me hostage but mostly because I've used 2010 for 5 years and don't really HAVE to upgrade. But then you factor in updates (which I'm guessing are free), and it might be worth it. Any thoughts? Has anyone switched to this billing method recently with Vectorworks?
 
We upgraded my Spotlight version in late 2012 from 12.5 to 2012 with the yearly upgrade contract. We immediately received the 2013 version free (it was late Sep. so at the next release date) .

I believe we purchased from Novedge in San Francisco and paid I believe about $800. The yearly update contract runs $300 or so, might have gone up as I just forward the bill. The contract gives me VW tech. support, which is useful on occasion.

My experiences with the VW dealers has been very positive and is cheaper then buying direct from Nemetschek the 2 times I've upgraded an older version, so I'd recommend checking them out.

I too got the notice but have zero use for Renderworks, so passed.

As comment and an annoying thing I am seeing, is the yearly upgrades are often "some" product enhancements, that I've yet to fully utilize, rolled into bug fixes. Often they have not fixed bugs from 2 years prior, they are very poor at fixes, IMO. But as I too am using the program about every day, I deal with it. If they were charging me nearly $800 a year for bug fixes I'd skip the yearly update.
 
I think it probably is worth upgrading one way or the other. Even if you're not a "power user" there are usability upgrades that are very worthwhile. (This from a guy who's still on 2012, but planning an upgrade soon.) The "snap loupe" feature (kind of a quick zoom) probably saves me an hour in every day of drafting. Plus, they don't support new operating systems with old versions, so if you upgrade your computer, one day it's going to stop working. Maybe.

I'm unclear whether the service select subscription includes upgrades as long as you're on it. Is that true?

And I'm not positive, but I think you need renderworks to have fast and artistic rendering. Without it, I think you just have drafting views and open GL or polygon for 3D.

Also, sadly, I think that deal was really only on Monday.
 
Yes it was for Monday and I e-mailed Monday but didn't get a response until mid-week due to high volume of people requesting and just received the documents to sign yesterday.

I e-mailed back asking about the upgrades, that would probably be the deciding factor for me. I would imagine it has to include the full version each upgrade, $720/yr seems like an awful lot for only customer support by phone and the ability to use software that's 2 years old.
 
I've never seen software licensed on a periodic basis that did not allow the user to upgrade to new versions as they come out. For users who like to keep on the latest version of software, the subscription model is usually cheaper.

I can only think of two reasons to choose full standalone versions over subscriptions:
  1. You don't care about the upgrades/plan to skip a few versions between upgrades (4+ yrs between upgrades).
  2. You can't bear the risk that the subscription price will increase significantly or that the publisher will stop offering the subscription. (Not likely, but also not impossible)
 

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