Free one-year license for Fusion 360 (with Eagle 9.6 Premium)

[JohnnyMalaria]

Just thought I'd share something unexpected...

I have been using the freebie version of Eagle for a little while and, on a whim, visited the Autodesk website to look at prices. The first thing I noticed was that you get Eagle as part of Fusion 360 and there's a not unreasonable annual subscription. I decided to download a trial version of Fusion 360 and the next time I opened Eagle, it had magically become Premium. Puzzled, I looked at my online profile and, unknown to me, I had been automatically signed up for a free one-year subscription to Premium.

Wow.

Then I found this: https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/startups

The only information I provided was the name of my company when I signed up for the trial. I didn't see any mention of this.

[Doctorandus_P]

Anything to get you addicted.

After that they hold you hostage by capturing your data.

And you'll be paying them for the rest of your life.

[Mr. Scram]

Is the subscription stopped automatically after a year? But yes, I agree with Doctorandus_P, the software as a service industry thrives on sucking people into their ecosystem as deep as possible. Once you start relying on software the price isn't very relevant anymore, as getting out will also be painful.

[Doctorandus_P]

It is not only the mist stuff of the current internet, although that does make it worse.

Just think about exchanging data between different CAD packages.
There have been several attempts for some decent interchangeable formats but they do not go far.

Companies never make what customers want. It is just a side effect of making more money.

[CJay]

This:

https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/blog/changes-to-fusion-360-for-personal-use/#:~:text=If%20you're%20currently%20using,effect%20on%20January%2019%2C%202021.&text=There%20is%20no%20limit%20on,designs%20you%20choose%20to%20keep.

Is *definitely* worth a read.

Makes Eagle and Fusion a definite, hard NO.

[JohnnyMalaria]

Anything to get you addicted.

After that they hold you hostage by capturing your data.

And you'll be paying them for the rest of your life.

True. But I see this as a year to try the full version instead of either only using a limited version or a 30-day trial. A year is a long time for me to figure out whether it is going to be useful. My indicator of being useful is if I have developed my product to a point that just one person will buy it. If so, I'd be more than happy to pay the annual fee.

I have noticed other companies moving inexorably to the subscription model. Personally, I subscribe to Office 365 and to SAS' JMP. The latter is more expensive than Eagle/Fusion and, yes, it's a program I've become addicted to over the years. But it saves me hours of time compared to the other options. I am disappointed, though, that SAS no longer offer a perpetual license.