Simplifying CAD Management the Autodesk way

Simplifying CAD Management the Autodesk way

According to Autodesk, one of the benefits of subscription (rental) is simplified administration. To prove it, Autodesk has provided a simple guide for CAD Managers called The Software Administrator’s Guide to Autodesk Subscriptions – How to Set Up, Install, and Manage Your Software and Users.

It’s 18.7 MB and 78 pages long.

Don’t worry though, this simple guide helpfully includes a simple guide on how to read it.

Among other things, this eBook provides handy hints on how subscription’s simplified administration regime for standalone licenses requires you to pre-emptively name all your users, set them all up with Autodesk accounts and define what software each is allowed to use. There’s a note to say that your Internet connection needs to be working at the time of installation (obviously) and also every 30 days (less obvious) or you won’t be able to use the software.

The guide describes how you can simply go online to Autodesk Accounts (assuming it’s up), and switch those permissions around when Bert is away on site and Ernie needs to hop on his PC at 6 PM to make a quick change before a drawing goes out. It mentions how Ernie will be sent an email with a link to follow so they can sign up before using the product. The CAD Manager is encouraged to check with Ernie to make sure it all worked, and check online to ensure Ernie’s sign-in went according to plan.

Make sure you get in early tomorrow morning before Bert’s shift starts so you can switch the user permissions back again. What? You planned to have the day off? Don’t you understand that your job has been redefined by Autodesk? I dub thee “not a team player”.

Don’t complain, because the new procedure is clearly much more simple than the old-fashioned perpetual license method. You know, the one which involved the far more complex procedure of Ernie logging on to Bert’s PC and using the software, then Bert logging on and using it the next day. How did we ever cope before Autodesk’s magnificent management enhancement?

If the huge job efficiency boost provided by this simplified new method doesn’t have CAD Managers throwing their perpetual licenses at Autodesk in a subscription-hungry frenzy, I don’t know what will.

Simplifying CAD Management is alive at Autodesk.

7 Comments

  1. Wonder who’ll register angryvillager.com to supply the USB powered torch & pitchfork empowerment packages. BrisCAD might subsidize the cost, or offer an equivalent licensing discount. Marketing brilliance for a dollar. – Bill

  2. I believe you can still run flexlm for network seats. They give you a lic code that expires when the term is up. The more I think about it, I would have been happy to pay adesk what they charge if civil3d actually worked for the industry they took land desktop from. Its the same thing though, civil3d requires careful management which is just not available for typical land development projects. Their idea of “graceful failure” is to erase anything that lost its parent. So its no surprise to see their per user account page game. Keep in mind though, it used to be flexlm, or standalone seats. It has never been convenient to pass standalone seats back and forth. So I don’t feel like an online system is worse, its just equally dangerous because of that “I forgot to switch the seat back to the other guy” issue.

  3. Christopher Wade

    I have said it before, here is what I want:

    – Setup my Autodesk Account with all of the licenses

    – Allow me the choice of installing the license manager or using an online license manager

    – If I install the license manager, it works as it does today.

    – If I use the online license manager, then my account and any other Autodesk IDs that I associate with it and allow to use the software should be able to pull from my licenses. When it runs out, it runs out, just as the network license manager does. This should be seamless to the end user as well. I shouldn’t need to reassign licenses from one person to another, this should be automatic based on the number of licenses I have at my disposal. Also, lets say someone opens Revit, then opens AutoCAD (both are part of our design suite), but then closes Revit when they are done, the license should switch to one of our regular AutoCAD licenses if available so someone else can use the Revit license.

    And no, this shouldn’t cost anything extra, it is still a single license used by one person at a time.

  4. The whole standalone seat situation has always been a problem. I cannot ask adesk “who shows as having activated a give serial”. I get the emails when they do, but its stupid that adesk does not just have a list. Also, I like the once a month check in thing. I want to cut off certain people and use their seat elsewhere, and cannot do it currently as things only expire once a year.

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