Edited to clarify: I do not believe Dassault is abandoning SW, only that they are forcing my hand to look into alternatives.
Dassault has made several changes this year that negatively affect us all. I've noted them below in no particular order and will update this post with any changes that I left out. The result will be that I will take these points and write a justification letter to purchase a copy of either SolidEdge or Inventor next year to help prepare to transition over if necessary. We will probably need to drop a license of SW, but we'll manage.
Please feel free to comment on any changes you have seen and I'll include them. And let's keep it constructive, I don't want this thread to be locked.
- Discontinuation of the HUL. I taught myself SW mostly at home using the Home Use License. I still model things at home and use SW for hobby 3D printing as well as to do things like study for certification tests, or explore functionality I don't use at work. But, if my hard drive goes out or I lose the computer, I will no longer have access to SW at home (and Dassault could turn my HUL off at any time). I'll just transition over to SE or IV at home with their HUL from the license we purchase. I'm going to have to teach myself whichever we choose anyway.
Here's a link to that discussion - Decision to not include SQL Server in the cost for PDM Pro. While this doesn't affect me directly because we currently use PDM Standard, this is a very costly decision they've made, should we decide to upgrade. I've seen in the thread by at this could increase the cost by upwards of $20k/year depending on your setup.
- Charging for Draftsight. It was understood that Draftsight was free because SW didn't do 2D. They should have at least allowed SW users to have a free license when they decided to charge for it.
Here's a link to that discussion - Forcing us onto the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. This year they've moved the Top Ten List over to that platform. I won't be surprised if they try to move the forum over there. Regardless, it looks like they expect us to iron out all of the issues with their platform, without compensating us.
Here's a link to a discussion on the matter (there are plenty more, if you send me links, I'll include the ones you want) - Replacing Solidworks World with 3DEXPERIENCE World. This coincides with the point above. Where they are taking Solidworks is uncertain, but they have made it abundantly clear they are making Solidworks part of the 3DEXPERIENCE. The users didn't ask for this, but it is being forced on us. Generally, when changes are forced from management like this, the user suffers because their concerns and needs aren't considered.
I think 's answer sums it up pretty well at .
There's also an article over at The CAD Insider: SolidWorks. - They raised the maintenance fee this year. No additional services or benefits were added, and they've cut a lot (see the other points).
- They dropped the support for video cards to three years. Working for a state government, it is a difficult process to justify and purchase new video cards. My current video card works just fine, but is no longer supported.
There's a thread about this at
Edited at 12:20pm 12/2/19. Jeremy Riedel called to speak with me about this issue. He is giving a presentation in part about this at 3DXWorld, where things should be made more clear. Here is a link to the training session: Hardware Certification - Comprehensive Overview. I will provide a link to the presentation if it is made available after the event, as well as clarify this point accordingly as best I can.
If this is of concern to you and you are attending the event, please go to that session and post back here. I am not attending. So I will be relying on others to help me clarify this point.
Each one of these points taken by themselves may not be that concerning depending on your setup and workflow. But when you consider that all of these changes happened in one year, it raises a lot of uncertainty about where SW is headed. As I've posted in another thread, if all this happened in 2019, what does 2020 look like? That is the reason for this thread. I think we all need to evaluate our options and prepare for a change if necessary.
I'm going to ping some users because I'm posting this on the Saturday before Thanksgiving and I want constructive input: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
I included just the top 20 (I think I got everyone in the top 20, but if I missed you, sorry). But, I want everyone's input. And I know there are a lot of people that will have some constructive input. For instance, Grant isn't in the top twenty, but he discovered probably the largest problem on the list so far.
Edited at 4:47pm 11/23/19 to add links to each point (except about the maintenance fee being raised, I couldn't find a specific thread about that one).
Edited at 9:30am 11/24/19 to fix an egregious spelling error on the title.
Edited at 9:50am 11/25/19 to clarify what I mean about abandon.
Edited at 12:20pm 12/2/19 to address video card support.