I think it is best to take this opportunity to explain Autodesk’s methodology regarding their software support, lifecycle, and marketing. Autodesk maintains full support on up to four versions of their software at any given time. With 2008 as the current version, they continue to provide support for 2007, 2006, and 2005 users. This year around March or April, they will release a new version: 2009. In March 2008 they will retire all 2005 products, consistent with how they have always done things. As a courtesy to 2005, 2006, and 2007 users, they provide a discount price for upgrading to the latest version, in hopes that people will stay within this 4-year window of active products. That being said, customers do not have to upgrade if they prefer not to. Their products do not terminate, nor will they lose ownership of these licenses. Yes, it is true that if you wait more than 4 years you are buying new licenses if you wish to get current again. However, Autodesk still offer a 30% discount off of the “new” price under their Legacy Program on those "replacement" licenses provide that Subscription is purchased for the first year (in other words, Subscription is mandatory to get the 30% discount) that were never upgraded in the 4-year window. Hence you are still getting a break on the cost, even after all that time.
So when is the best time to buy if you are not current and are on the pending retirement version (2005)? Well, Autodesk has traditionally offered a Retirement Promotion every year which has always followed this structure:
Phase 1 – May to July (approximately)
20% discount off the regular upgrade price when purchasing upgrades with annual Subscription or 15% discount if purchased without Subscription.
Phase 2 – August to October (approximately)
15% discount off the regular upgrade price when purchasing upgrades with annual Subscription or 10% discount if purchased without Subscription.
Phase 3 – November to January (approximately)
10% discount off the regular upgrade price when purchasing upgrades with annual Subscription or 0% discount if purchased without Subscription(ie. Regular upgrade pricing).
From time to time, they will offer additional mail-in rebates promotions or special offers, but these really can’t be relied on; therefore, it would not be most advantageous to bank on these in any purchasing strategy.
Currently, at this time in the year (January), if you have 2005 products and you have not upgraded them yet this year, you are only left with Phase 3 of the 2005 Retirement Promotion to capitalize on. Really you should strongly consider upgrading them NOW before the January 15 deadline for the current 2005 Retirement Promotion, Phase 3. Please note that if you don’t upgrade your 2005 versions before March 15, 2008 they will fall into the Legacy Program as explained above (more costly to upgrade to current at that point than in the Retirement year)
If you have 2006 product, well you can upgrade today using a 2-step upgrade price or wait until the Phase 1 of 2006 Retirement Promotion this coming May. Which is better? General rule of thumb when dealing with Autodesk – the sooner you upgrade the better the deal is to do so. In a future post I will show an example of this price comparison.
Some years Autodesk offers a Legacy Promotion which follows a similar structure to the Retirement Promotion offering 45% with Subscription and 40% without Subscription in Phase 1, 40% and 35% in Phase 2, and lastly 35% and 30% (which is equal to the regular pricing but with no mandatory Subscription policy) for Phase 3. Again, please note that I stated SOME years they offer the Legacy Promotions; so be caution if planning around this one because it may not be there to capitalize on.
SO, ARE YOU CONFUSED with all this? Pretty crazy to keep tabs on all these promotions and dates etc. when you are not concerned with it on a daily basis. Let’s face it, you're busy designing for a living not trying to keep tabs on Autodesk’s promotions. Want to know how to deal with this the most effective way? Check out my next blog post…. A word about Subscription.
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