Jump to content

10.5 License Conflicts


MikeN

Recommended Posts

We're running 5 workstations on a NT network all with VW 10 licenses. All workstations have all the VW licenses pasted into the VW prefernces so as to avoid license conflicts over the network. Since we've updated to 10.5, we're now experiencing said conflicts in the middle of an open session, thus causing the user to close the drawing and lose work. Is this a bug or is it something new in 10.5 that I can adjust?

Link to comment

Did you add the serial numbers using the Add serial number function in VW prefs, did you add them on one computer and export the Registry keys relating to VW and then import that to the registry of the other computers, or did you literally paste the serial numbers into the registry keys?

Link to comment

All serial numbers were entered individualy on each workstation using the Add Serial Numbers process within the VW preferences. So to recap; since VW 10, we've had five serial numbers entered in the VW Preferences on each of our five workstations. We never encountered this conflict with the serial numers with VW 10.0 through 10.1.2.

Link to comment

So far, all the computers in the office (5 mac lisences and 2 win lisences) besides mine are still using VW10.1.2. I'm being the guinea pig, I guess! I haven't had any other problems with it in my first week of using 10.5, so other users should start updating soon. I will let you if anyone else runs into lisence conflict after updating.

Kristen

Link to comment

Dave I don't believe you said that, you?re welcome to come to our office, and install this software and support it on 18 computers. Since we're in the testing phases right now, this is a failure in the testing process.

I support 18 client workstations with 15 licenses where we never have more than 10 concurrent users on the system at any given time. Once VW 10.5 opens it should claim the license number so VW 10.0 users shouldn't use the same license. VW should produce a patch for this without having to upgrade to VW 10.5 because for some firms it would take some time to fully upgrade all their machines.

We'll be waiting for you at our office to do these upgrades. Or until you're able to provide some type of patch other than upgrade to VW 10.5, which we're not ready to do yet.

Michael

Link to comment

We share you frustration!!!.

We have 8 x VW 10 licences (5 with Renderworks + 3 without)

We can only input serial numbers from either VW10 RW or VW10 series but not all eight.

Now we are faced with 5 machines using 5 licences legitimately and I get the dialog 'All Serial Numbers are in use' etc etc and after 3 times I get kicked out of Vectorworks!. Unbelievable!

These issues we expect from Microsoft not Nemetschek!

Link to comment

Thanks for your bright suggestion David!.

I guess you really missed the point.

I was trying to point out that features previously available in version 8.5 (our version before upgrade)have been removed.

We have 8 licences- most are used for straight out working drawing production. One or two (at most) would be used by people with rendering requirements.

When purchasing new computers for a business do you purchase top end machines with all the bells and whistles for all users ie cd burner, raid config, wireless etc? and install every piece of software that may ever be needed on every machine. Please!.

THE REAL ISSUE IS:

Now we are faced with 5 machines using 5 licences legitimately and I get the dialog 'All Serial Numbers are in use' etc etc and after 3 times I get kicked out of Vectorworks!. Unbelievable!

Translated:

We have 5 VW 10 with RW licences. When loaded on 5 machines with all 5 numbers as per the licence agreement, I get kicked out!!!. This is not about purchasing more RW licences!!!.

Link to comment

As requested by NNA Tech, i turned off ALL background programs in XP and this lisence conflict went away for two weeks. Without re-starting or revising any background programs, the issue has started up again kicking us out of VWA 10.4 four times today on two of our 6 valid licenses.

Anyone at NNA care to respond? Please email me and I'll send you our office number to call us.

Link to comment

The problem that was explained by Dave Bowman is related to a design decision made in VW 10.5 in regards to how Vectorworks will be handling serial numbers from this point onward. Once offices have updated to the same version of the software you should be able to alleviate the problem. As explained above you may also temporarily sidestep this by inserting isolated serial numbers for your 10.5 versions.

Similar situations in regards to Renderworks should be resolved by allocating particular machines to those licensed for Renderworks. Please note the following taken from our license agreement:

This program has been purchased for a single, specific operating system per serial number. It is licensed for installation on one machine for each serial number. Hope to help

Link to comment

quote:

Originally posted by MikeS:

Similar situations in regards to Renderworks should be resolved by allocating particular machines to those licensed for Renderworks. Please note the following taken from our license agreement:

This program has been purchased for a single, specific operating system per serial number. It is licensed for installation on one machine for each serial number. Hope to help

Some help. I hate to be the one to say it, but this particular comment is why people get frustrated with the likes of corporate software companies. What you've suggested is not a solution at all. All you're doing with a comment like that MikeS, is trying to make this problem go away.

If VW is designed for one serial number for each specific machine, then why bother designing the software to even accept multiple serial numbers? Why not have an individual license that unlocks each particular copy of VW. You originally designed the software to accept and adapt to multiple licenses multiple. This WAS NOT an issue in VW 10.1 and now you're basically telling us to deal with it on our own?

We're a small firm with six workstations and 6 VALID VW licenses and believe this software has a lot of promise. But if you're going to try to make us deal with this license issue on our own, don't expect us to hang around for much longer.

[ 10-03-2003, 01:08 PM: Message edited by: Runtime Error ]

Link to comment

Well!

I think with 10.5, nna has closed a nifty little door that was closed in vw8 but open in vw9. Since 9 and until 10.5, I could have two copies of vw open at the same time with one serial number while on a network. No need to report every single bug. I am the only one using the program here, but it was nice to be able to print from one computer while working on the other.

Would viewer let me keep this functionality, that is have two open files, one for editing and the other for printing?

I do understand nna's need to protect its property. And it does benefit me since product development, at least in theory, moves in proportion to revenue available for improvments.

It does sound like some changes have had unintended consequences. Maybe there could be a 10.5.1 to clean this up and the other issues that have been noted here on the discussion board.

Regards,

Donald

PS

Maybe a useful compromise would be to have a single license work on two computers. Next tier 6, etc.

Link to comment

So that is what it was about, I received for the first time the message as well and did not know what was going on until I realise :

I run another old computer on a network where we do simple daily taskes like word documents etc, e-mail etc, it has barely the power to run windows 95 much less a program like VW !

So I have had to pull out the connecting cable. [Frown]

This has only ever happened since 10.5

Link to comment

Donald,

The Viewer is exactly what you want. It's purpose is to allow people without the full VW program to view and/or print VW docuemnts.

If you are just using one computer for printing purposes, the Viewer should be installed on that computer.

Keep in mind, you cannot edit any part of the drawing while the file is open in the Viewer. All necessary changes need to be made in the VW program prior to opening in the viewer.

Link to comment

Runtime Error,

Allow me to explain the issue in more detail. There was a design decision made by NNA to ensure a more effective way for users to adhere to the license agreement which must be agreed to when running the Vectorworks software.

In the past the program was not as strict regarding the ability to copy preference files from one machine with all serial numbers entered onto other systems. With the evolution of the program also comes the added abilities to enforce the legalities involved in distributing software. It is a necessary step. The implications are realized and are currently being looked into regarding ease of use in a multi-user environment. At this time there is no scheduled 'fix' for this particular issue as it was a design decision and not an accident.

Link to comment

quote:

Originally posted by MikeS:

There was a design decision made by NNA to ensure a more effective way for users to adhere to the license agreement.

Mike

Again, I?m baffled by your response. With the above quote you've implied that NNA is willing to sacrifice the needs of its customers who abide by your licensing agreement in order to crack down on those who don?t. By effectively scuttling the multiple license ?design feature?, you?re forcing license-abiding and paying customers to lose time and money trying to troubleshoot your software for you rather than develop their own projects. Sounds like a pretty sound plan to lose some customers.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeS:

At this time there is no scheduled 'fix' for this particular issue as it was a design decision and not an accident.

This quote is most perplexing. If it was a ?design decision? to disable the multiple license feature in 10.5, why were we not informed of the change before the version was released and we upgraded? If it was a bug or hole in the software, I could understand this predicament, but you?ve made it sound like NNA made the decision and didn?t even want to tell us about it. So, instead of preparing each workstation to accommodate one license before upgrading to 10.5, we?re left to scramble every time we get booted from the open session because there?s a license conflict. Since you?ve said that there?s no scheduled ?fix? for this issue, again, NNA is forcing license-abiding and paying customers to lose time and money and putting NNA on a fast track to lose more customers.

I?m a converted AutoCAD user and think this program is light years ahead in some areas; multiple licensing was one of them. When the corporate response to issues such as this are stated like you?ve done, you can?t expect people to have much faith in your product.

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...

Hello All -

After reading though this entire thread, I have concluded that yet again NNA has made a bad design/business choice in its software package?s. In the previous releases of Vectorworks before 10.5 was released the software would search the network for an available license and then claim that license for itself so no other users on the network would have the ability to use it. Now with version 10.5, this feature has been disabled, or it sure doesn?t seem to be working properly. We have all valid licenses for Vectorworks and have now upgraded all our machines to version 10.5, where this licensing issue continues to be a problem even though we have all valid licenses. My original post on this matter was done on 9/24/03, which is above, and the purposed solution was to upgrade all machines to VW 10.5, which we did and it did not solve the problem. In the above posts from what appears to be technicians from VW they say to install only one license per machine, which would be fine if VW didn?t allow us to install multiple licenses in the first place from previous version and version 10.5 is an upgrade to 10.1.2 which worked and allowed multiple licenses with out a problem.

Keep in mind that in version 10.0 through 10.1.2 would search the network for an available license, and use it for the application and not let other users try to claim it, and if there were no licenses available, Vectorworks wouldn?t open. While doing some research on this problem I came across another technical support professional that is doing similar things as our company is and I?ve yet to see a solution provided for them either.

http://techboard.nemetschek.net/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=23;t=000055

Over the last years and a half since when 9 came out we?ve heard such things from NNA like do not save or open files to the network server, or plug your printer/plotter in directly to your computer and don?t use it across a network. This would be fine if there was only one or maybe computer in your organization. But since our company and a number of others this really isn?t an option because it would take the TOS for each computer from a average cost of $2,000 to $3,000 dollars per machine to $7,000 to $10,000 dollars per machine for hard disk space and plotters for everyone, not to take into consideration of the space required for all this equipment. When we start calculating these costs, AutoCAD becomes a more valued solution to our architectal design needs because Vectorworks has yet to provide a solution to the standard network setup.

I?ve worked with many programmers before, and understand the concept of working under a deadline, and trying to make a solution for its customers but for NNA to come out and say like it has in the above thread that it?s the customers fault for doing business as it has for the years past is totally outrageous, not to mention a bad business practice. If NNA wants to continue making money in the business market it needs to tailor its software to the business consumers needs and wants.

Companies work within network environments and most times have much more than two computers being used. With this said NNA should think about its business customers before making choices like the one?s they?ve made here. Vectorworks has taken these steps to destroy its business, and none to move it forward. Microsoft tried the same thing where it tried to force people to upgrade their MCSE?s and MCP certifications by telling thousands of people they would lose their certificates on October 1st of 2000 that they had worked so hard to get. They also did the same thing when they tried to implement software activations under Windows XP, and businesses stood up again and said no, so Microsoft came out with the open license program and enterprise licensing which a large number of organizations use to date and Microsoft is still able to control software piracy and the customer who makes them money (business) remain happy because they don?t have to continue to manage software licensing on a daily basic because you can deploy it to client workstations and it works. The customer is the people and primary backbone to business such as NNA and if it cannot tailor it business practice to its customers needs, then it should not be producing product.

Regards,

[Confused] Michael T. Cronin [Confused]

[Mad] 301-229-9380 ext 271 [Mad]

Link to comment

"Over the last years and a half since when 9 came out we?ve heard such things from NNA like do not save or open files to the network server, or plug your printer/plotter in directly to your computer and don?t use it across a network. "

Most, if not all of these problems have been addressed in updates.

Certain instances of plugging the printer into the computer were Operating System problems, NOT VW problems. There were problems with USB compatibility with OS X which has been fixed as of 10.2.6.

If you are still having problems with serial numbers and you have infact verified ALL computers are definately running VW 10.5, please contact Tech Support for them to assist you with the problem. You should not see this problem if all the computers are updated to VW 10.5.

As for the reference to the other post, I did answer the question. It was posted in Dec of last year- within the beginning of the VW 10 cycle.. New features, such as something like that are not implemented in updates, rather whole version releases. The next version where something new would be introduced like that would be 11. Of course, I have no idea if this is included in VW 11 or not. It IS on our wish list.

The other half of the problem, entering in multiple serial numbers was an OS problem and has been fixed by Apple.

If we did not have serial number checking policies in place, people could easily pirate the software for one, and could get away without paying for a product many people work very hard to produce.

Link to comment

quote:

Originally posted by Katie:

If you are still having problems with serial numbers and you have infact verified ALL computers are definately running VW 10.5, please contact Tech Support for them to assist you with the problem. You should not see this problem if all the computers are updated to VW 10.5.

As stated in an earlier post in this thread, we ALL our computers are runnung 10.5 and have valid licenses. We contacted tech support over 3 weeks ago and no one has yet to return with a concrete solution to our problem. On that note, you've provede a 1-800 number to purchase the software, how about a 1-800 tech support number?

quote:

Originally posted by Katie:

The other half of the problem, entering in multiple serial numbers was an OS problem and has been fixed by Apple.

Great. Now what about XP???

quote:

Originally posted by Katie:

If we did not have serial number checking policies in place, people could easily pirate the software for one, and could get away without paying for a product many people work very hard to produce.

Keep in mind it's also a product for which customers work VERY hard to pay you A LOT of money to produce.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...