I talked to our rep about buying an used package and they told me that it would be my own risk because I wouldn't get the license transfered to me and my copy wouldn't be legal. They said that Altium has never had policy to transfer licenses and they didn't sell used packages.
Mira --- Abd ulRahman Lomax <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > At 11:38 AM 4/7/2005, Steve Allen wrote: > >I'm working with a customer that has interest in > purchasing his own copy > >of P99SE. I'm hoping some of you can help answer > some questions we have. > > > >1. I thought I saw a PEDA post that indicated that > Protel no longer offers > >upgrade discounts from P99SE to Protel 2004. Is > this still true? > > It looks like they no longer offer "upgrades" at > all. Rather, they offer > "legacy 99SE customers" an unstated (on the web > site) discount on the > purchase of 2004. I haven't had an opportunity to > call them since I noticed > this, so I don't know what the discount it. > > I might think that an upgrade price and a discounted > price were the same > thing; but if I assume that they are different, I > can only imagine: Protel > has long considered that an original license was > subsumed into an upgrade > license. So, for example, once a license was used > for upgrade, it was no > longer an independent license and could not be sold > unless the newer > license were sold with it. Actually, they claimed > that if the old license > were sold, they would consider that the new license > was also sold, they > would not transfer them independently. > > However, a "discount" in the purchase of a new > license, which is how they > stated it on the web site, would imply that the new > license is independent > of the old license. > > This might, under some circumstances, actually > increase the market value of > an older license, because some buyers might indeed > want two licenses, > albeit one for 99SE and one for 2004. Perhaps 99SE > could be used for > schematic entry and the creation of footprints, and > 2004 by another > engineer or designer for PCB design. And, should > they become surplus, > either license could be sold. But I haven't looked > at a recent 2004 license. > > Protel might still restrict the transferability of a > license used for > discount. Or there might be other nasty surprises; > it is a bit troubling > that the actual policies are not explicitly > published. Based on the > history, however, I'd be surprised if something > truly harmful to users has > happened. > > >2. Is there still a Protel 99SE resale market? > > It has never been very active. But there is traffic > on the list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] I don't > personally know of any recent > sales, but I'd not necessarily hear about it. > > >3. If so, what's a used copy of 99SE selling for? > > Before the policy changed, the last price I knew of > was $3500. Depending on > the details of Protel's new policy, the current > value might be higher or > lower than that. > > For example, suppose that the appearance is real, > that an upgrade right has > been replaced by a discount offer, in which event > the new license is > independent of the old and both of them are now > transferable, or, at least, > the older one is. And suppose that the discount is > $4000. The older license > would have a use value, which could easily be $2000, > comparable to Circuit > Studio 2004. If we devalue the discount by 25% -- > people expect some kind > of savings when they buy "used" licenses, though, in > the past, used > licenses have been quite the same as "new" ones -- > that would leave the > value of a 99SE license at $4000. In other words, it > is possible that the > market value of an older license has increased as a > result of the change. > > I would expect that Altium might refuse to allow a > legacy license to be > used for discount more than once. In other words, > after using it to get a > discounted price for 2004, they won't allow the same > user to use it again, > nor would they allow a purchaser to use it again. > This would be reasonable. > > There was one writer on protel-users-resale who > stated, without > explanation, that "It is not legal to sell a > license." When challenged, he > again did not explain, but effectively claimed that > what he had written was > based on a recent visit to the U.S. Altium office in > San Diego. He did not > elaborate at all. So I'd take this as an unconfirmed > rumor, single-source, > that Altium has changed its policy regarding > sellability of licenses. > > Altium, I have always said, may change upgrade and > discount rights at will. > However, I'd suggest that sellability is a different > issue from upgrade or > discount rights; and Altium may not convert > something legal and permitted > into something illegal unilaterally and arbitrarily. > The older licenses are > unconditionally sellable (provided that the seller > does not retain copies); > the 99SE license, as I recall, requires Altium to > approve of transfers, > *but* Altium assured many people, myself included, > that this was done only > to protect users from fraud and other abuses. Not to > arbitrarily prohibit > sales. So I'd be very surprised if they have > actually attempted to do it. > Rather, my operating assumption, until I'm able to > actually discuss this > with Altium reps, is that someone misunderstood > something. It's happened > before.... > > The fact is that software which is supposedly not > sellable is typically > sellable anyway under certain circumstances. For > example, I have a printed > circuit design business. Suppose I sell the > business. The license *may* go > with the business. Fat chance succeeding on a > copyright violation claim > against the buyer of the business if I included the > license, explicitly, > with the business! An Altium rep assured me that > PCAD licenses, supposedly > not transferable, nevertheless could be transferred > under circumstances > like this. I got the same comment from PADS sales. > > > > > ____________________________________________________________ > You are subscribed to the PEDA discussion forum > > To Post messages: > mailto:[email protected] > > Unsubscribe and Other Options: > http://techservinc.com/mailman/listinfo/peda_techservinc.com > > Browse or Search Old Archives (2001-2004): > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] > > Browse or Search Current Archives (2004-Current): > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] > > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! 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