Re: Dolphin December Offers

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, Mike Payson <mike@...> wrote:

>
> Tim, I agree the way they handle things is weird and pretty dumb in my
> opinion. That said, one nice thing about their policy is that once you have
> a feature in Alibre, you never lose it even if they remove it from your
> current license level. I have features in my $99 copy that I would need to
> pay $1000 for now (such as full import/export capabilities), because shortly
> after I bought it they changed the features that were included in each
> level. This holds true even though version upgrades, if you had a feature in
> v12, you will still have it in v2011 (guess they are scared of v13)
> regardless of changes in their license levels.

Mike,
You are certainly correct. But my experience with having an Alibre licese for about 5 years is the number of depricated features you get to keep is far less then the ones that are added and you have to pay for even with maintaince. Plus over the long run the features that are dropped eventually go away as the software advances over the years. I would say you are pretty safe on import/export, but many of the more esoteric items have either gone from usable with other programs to tightly locked to Alibre only or just plain disappear. For instance design check is going away based on the e-mail I got. The higher quality rendering add on (can't remember the name exactly but it was something Shot) is reduced in functionality and now bound only to Alibre which is not what I paid for.

Again, this is not to take away from Alibre. I think it is probably the best value in a true 3D solids type CAD program and they have good support an training materials that you can easily get the hang on your own. I do feel there is better (SolidWorks, Inventor in my personal experience), but the cost is considerably more.

Tim Goldstein
A2Z Corp
A2Z CNC division
3955 S Mariposa St
Englewood CO 80110
720 833-9300
Toll Free 877 754-7465

www.A2ZCorp.us/store
USA made accessories for desktop mills & lathes.