Dongles

Who owns the dongle as used in the UK, SolidWorks or company that has bought
the license to use the software?

 

Probably SW. Why do you ask?

 

I have upgraded our pc's and the new ones do not come with a parallel port.
This means our parallel port dongles do not work. Who should be responsible
for unlocking the software, me or Solidworks?

 

We had a similar problem. We had to send some money to our VAR to
exchange dongles....

Steve R.

 

You can get a usb dongle.

 

Yes this is why I have started this. We too are being asked to buy new
dongles, but considering the price is pretty high I want to know my rights
before purchase. It's just another bitter pill to swallow, the software is
more expensive than in America and they don't not have to deal with dongles,
in fact I believe that they are allowed to install a copy of SolidWorks for
home use!
I have kept up our subscriptions for all seats since we started with SW98+,
surely I don't have to spend another £400 just to continue using there
software!

Simon

 

You can also buy a cheap PCI parallel port card and use the existing
dongles. A quick Froogle search shows them less than US$10.

Art

 

They are Dell M70 Laptops!

 

Oops! Didn't know that. How about a USB to Parallel adaptor:

http://www.isellsurplus.com/product.asp?c=3&s=26&ID=10306&P=F

 

Perhaps a compromise could be worked out between you, and your VAR. IE.
you agree to pay for the dongles, and they agree to credit that same amount
towards next years' maintenance. That would be a win-win for the both of
you.

 

Oops! Didn't know that. How about a USB to Parallel adaptor:

Watch out for those. We tried one for our M70, and I think it "smoked"
the parallel dongle. The dongle didn't work after that.

Steve R.

 

Double oops. I hereby retract all advice

Question: Is piracy is more prevalent outside the US? Does a dongle give
any better IP protection than a password? It certainly makes life more
difficult for people who need to travel with the software or work at
home. Judging from the spam, there seems to be a crack for everything.
Locks on doors keep out "honest" people -- real thieves go through them
without breaking stride.

Art W.

 

I never quite understood the price differential. I know Europe taxes
things quite a bit more than in the U.S.A.

I hope that is 400 quid for all your seats. The VARs in the States are
charging for all kinds of services now as well. The parallel to USB
changeover has been around for some time, but it is SW that is
protecting their property, not you. Since they won't let you sell SW
to another I would kind of think that it is up to them to eat the cost
of upgrading with the subscription renewal.

 

I am not sure if piracy is more prevalent outside the US or not, but all off
the cracked software that gets offered to me are US versions and have no
reference to dongles or how to crack them.
I always promote SolidWorks and on several occasions been asked by my VAR to
talk to potential SolidWorks customers to answer specific questions. I have
also put people in touch with my VAR which have resulted in a sale for them,
but here I sit, just after spending £3000 on subscriptions and not able to
use my software! I am a little peeved to say the least.

Hello SOLIDWORKS, call NTCADCAM and let them know your decision.

Simon Miller
SGM Design Ltd T/A Cube3

 

When I last enquired about a yaer ago the going rate to replace a
parallel dongle with a USB one was GB£135

I wanted this to use on a Shuttle PC which did not have a parallel port
- fixed this by adding a parallel port that just plugs into the MB -
cost me GB£3.50 been working ever since.


Kev

 

I think in Simon's case he has laptops so that is not an option. I had
thought of that option too and it is a another good reason to go with
these mini-mini case computers systems.

 

I absolutely agree with you Simon. As far as I can see it has nothing
to do with piracy and everything to do with another revenue stream for
European resellers. I have had this conversation with my reseller
because I wanted the USB dongles (of course I would rather have none,
and have the home use policy of the US) and when they offered them for
a fee I refused. Needless to say, I do not have USB dongles yet.

In my opinion, we use dongles because SW wants to protect THEIR
product. Therefore they should make it easy for users to do just that.
I see no reason I should have to pay more to change their locks when it
is their interest to let the software function on whatever hardware the
users need to use. If there is more piracy of SW in europe, it is
because of poorly planned policies like this one.

As for the comment on European taxes - that totally depends on the
country. However, the first and most annoying tax is the artificially
inflated price that gets applied simply because it is Europe. In the UK
one pays 17% VAT! That is painful when added to the previous "old world
tax". Here in Switzerland, taxes are about the same in the US, but we
get clobbered the the "oh-its-switzerland-they-must-be-rich" tax. Of
course there are other costs in Europe relative to translations, and
such, but the market is dense and efficient, so it is really hard to
see that it justifies the kinds of price increases that are applied
here.

I will have to cross this dongle bridge when I replace my PC... but I
hope they will finally change this very negative policy.

daniel

 

In answer to your first question, yes, as far as I am aware - much more so.

http://www.nationmaster.com/red/graph-T/cri_sof_pir_rat&int=-1

And the second, probably not - but dongles are very handy. They are
portable, work anywhere - and the only real issue is if you happen to get
half way to work and realise you have let it at home... Personally, I like
them. We are looking at a "new improved" system of software activation.
Personally that scares me - I can see a whole stack of folks just pirating
away. Not because they are "real thieves" but because they can, it is easy,
and they don't see it as stealing...

I can see that the only folks who will actually pay for a second, third,
fourth... licence will be those (like me) that are just too damn honest for
their own good...