Altium "Free Maintenance Updates" for 3 years. Were you advised?

[DerekG]

I'm just attempting to determine if current Altium Subscription Customers were advised of the free option of "Free Maintenance Updates" for 3 years.

This is discussed in the Altium Forum here:

http://blog.live.altium.com/#Blogs/subscription-vs-maintenance-and-altium-designer-14.4

It is being discussed in the thread below, but it is off topic there (so please post back in this thread):

I asked one of the companies I contract to as to whether they had received any information from Altium regarding the "free bug fixes for 3 years". They keep everything from Altium in a file which includes both mail (via post) received plus copies of emails received. I could not locate anything in the file that mentioned this, so perhaps Altium is keeping it relatively quiet from their subscription customers on purpose?

Other current Altium customers might be able to shed more light on this.

[Kean]

Nope, not a word of it, and unlikely to be something they'd "promote".

I was recently offered an extra month subs if I renewed early - which I took as they renewal date each year was always in the same month as many other expenses.

[mstevens]

I don't think it is FREE... I believe the paradigm is this...
 
You still have to be on subscription, but now, instead of Altium working on and supporting only the CURRENT version, they will continue to support previous versions with bug fixes. And, you can continue to get fixes for previous version for up to 3 years as long as you are on subscription.  At least that is how I read the release info.

I could be wrong. My latest subscription is about to expire shortly so I'll know soon.

[Kean]

I should clarify...
I did receive the "October 2014 Review" subscriber newsletter email in late November which linked to an Altium Blog article about the new maintenance model that provides ongoing bugfixes/updates for the previous two Altium releases (starting with AD 14).  Nowhere in that blog post, or on the Subscription Overiew at http://www.altium.com/subscription/overview does it mention that these update are available fo free (i.e. without subscription), just that they will continue to support and release updates for previous versions for 36 months from initial date of release.

I thought @DerekG was talking about something like comliance with the Australian Consumer Laws, which require a product to be fit for the purpose for which they were sold.  Not that those laws likely have any meaning to business or international Altium customers.

[Omicron]

Coincidentally I talked to my local Altium distributer today as I'm thinking about buying a license. They confirmed that you need to be on a subscription to receive bug fixes. What the new scheme means is that companies that don't want to upgrade to the newest and greatest release can continue to use the previous one and still receive bug fixes for it.

[DerekG]

What the new scheme means is that companies that don't want to upgrade to the newest and greatest release can continue to use the previous one and still receive bug fixes for it.

That is how I understand it.

Not that those laws likely have any meaning to business or international Altium customers.

Altium Ltd is an Australian company & must abide by all Australian Laws. There is now a new Federal consumer protection code that international users could threaten to use. It could only be used for major bugs that made a basic expectation of the software unusable.

Nowhere in that blog post, or on the Subscription Overiew at http://www.altium.com/subscription/overview does (does) it mention that these update are available for free (i.e. without subscription), just that they will continue to support and release updates for previous versions for 36 months from initial date of release.

You are quite correct.

But wouldn't everyone who had paid for another year's subscription simply upgrade to the latest version on offer?

If you had to pay for bug fixes to an up-to-3-year-old version, Altium's offer is senseless.

[Kean]

What the new scheme means is that companies that don't want to upgrade to the newest and greatest release can continue to use the previous one and still receive bug fixes for it.

That is how I understand it.

Me too!

Not that those laws likely have any meaning to business or international Altium customers.

Altium Ltd is an Australian company & must abide by all Australian Laws. There is now a new Federal consumer protection code that international users could threaten to use. It could only be used for major bugs that made a basic expectation of the software unusable.

What I meant was that I wasn't sure business purchases were covered by our *consumer* law.  But I just read up on that, and they are now (as of 1/1/2011).
http://www.consumerlaw.gov.au/content/Content.aspx?doc=fact_sheets/business.htm

Nowhere in that blog post, or on the Subscription Overiew at http://www.altium.com/subscription/overview does (does) it mention that these update are available for free (i.e. without subscription), just that they will continue to support and release updates for previous versions for 36 months from initial date of release.

You are quite correct.

But wouldn't everyone who had paid for another year's subscription simply upgrade to the latest version on offer?

If you had to pay for bug fixes to an up-to-3-year-old version, Altium's offer is senseless.

No, I think it could be useful if a business wanted to keep running a known "stable" version like AD14 for another 3 years, don't mind paying their subscription, and need some fix down the track.
Honestly though... I know a few companies that will continue to pay maintenance, but do not under any circumstances allow updates to certain "production" software - especially something like Altium which may have induced much swearing from past employees.  But it is much more common that they just stop paying maintenance.