Moral/legal question

I use ACAD 2004 at work.

I would like to now purchase a copy for home for off-hours consultancy
work. My system is a W98 system that works fine and for reasons not
relevant enough to go into here, I do not want to upgrade it to WinXP
at present.

Can I purchase a copy of ACAD 2004 and install instead a pirated copy
of Acad 2002? I have tried obtaining a copy of 2002 but all the
AutoDesk distributors in my country say it is not available. My copy
of 2004 would then just sit on the shelf and would not be used on ANY
computer. What is the legal or moral position of what I am proposing?

All viewpoints welcomed.

 

From a legalistic point of view ....no.
But from a realistic view..... go for it. You'll have a legally licensed
copy on hand that you own, so your covered in my book.

 

I am sure that upgrading your OS is going to be way cheaper than buying a
copy of Autocad...
do you listen to what you say?

 

Let's see. It has just cost me $AUS 3,300 to upgrade my operating
system by the time all the other hardware that needed upgrading was paid
for, and then it has taken me just short of a week getting all the
software transferred/reinstalled and configured. All up I am looking at
around $AUS 5,000.

 

I'm glad I don't pay Australian prices. Here (US), for that kind of money, I
could through out the old system, buy a new system and a new copy of Autocad
LT.

 

We had 21 computers running Win 98 and Autocad 2002. Crashes were common.
Minimum of four per day usually more. I kept mine going by rebooting three
times a day. Upgraded one PC to Win 2000. Solid as a rock. Upgraded the rest
to XP. Not as good as 2000 but much better than 98. Some have said that they
got it to run fine on 98 but many people have had the same experience as we
did.

 

Well, if I had to do that as well, that would be another $AUS 6,000!

That is with the $AUS 1 = $US 0.72.

 

CW wrote:


Isn't it possible to install the same version on two computers unless you
make 100% certain that only one of them is being used at the same time? If I
understood the AutoCad Licencing Model correctly - and the meaning of the
Licence Transfer Application that comes with ACAD 2002 - it shouldn't be a
problem: You export the licence from your PC at work to a disk, import it to
your machine at home and so on. That's how you could use one licence on two
or more machines as long as you make absolutely sure that only one licence
is being used at the same time.

If that isn't possible, you'd be illegal with only one licence

100 % ACK. ACAD on Win98 sucks - personal experience: Win98 sucks altogether
regardless which applications one uses on it. Use NT or 2000 instead and
you'll be working as happily as a pig in sh...


Kind regards,
Olaf

Use "reply to" address for e-mail, please.

 

Until the latest upgrade we have always been a version or two behind
with the new version in a cupboard. Because we purchased bit by bit as
we could afford it (9xADT, 1XLDDT and about 40 LTs) we ended up with a
vast range of different versions.

We got our dealer to get Autodesks agreement that we could do this, a
prime example was we were still operating on Window 95 and could not
run the latest version until the network and the PC's connected to it
were upgraded..( you could get away with this with LT 2000 because it
did not need the autorisation code )

Now finally we have all copies at a common version (2004) and have
PC's that will run them.

There was a German court case where a user with a licence got away
with using pirate software because of the down time taken to get a
replacement dongle or code in the old days.

The judge ruled as long at the user of the pirate copy had a licence
to cover the event, then he should not be put in the situation where
he could not work because of the delay in the admin.

 

Can I purchase a copy of ACAD 2004

If memory serves me correctly I had 2004 working just fine on a W98 system
AMD 900 so try it and see before buying an old 2002.
CGH