Hi,

I just upgraded from 7.01 to 2011 including subscription. The upgrade offer included the chance to have the license model be NLM at no additional cost, which my reseller advised me to do as it would normally involve an extra charge and it would always be possible to later downgrade back to SLM if I should wish to do so without additional costs. So now, I’m a NLM owner.

However, I can’t get clear what to do now, my situation is this:

I run Soft at my homestudio on a single commputer, no network.
And I run Soft, when I work for a client, on location. The computers there are in a network.

So, to install it at my homestudio, I’d need a SLM and at my client’s studio I could go either way.

What best to do? I’ve read on one of the Autodesk pages that some software SLA’s allow the installation of a second copy under SLM as long as only one copy runs at any time. But I can’t find if this applies to Soft.

And I’ve read about the home use license, which I’m eligible for as I’m on subscription.

I’d like this to be as transparent as possible, as I may switch workstation several times a week.

thanks,
Jasper

From the Softimage 2011 End User License Agreement:

3. PERMITTED AND PROHIBITED ACTIONS
3.1 Permitted Actions.

3.1.2 Use Away from Usual Work Location. 
(a) For Stand-alone (Individual) and Multiseat Stand-alone Versions.  If You have acquired a Stand-alone (Individual) Version or Multiseat Stand-alone Versions, for each Permitted Number of copies of the Software, You may Install and Access, solely within Your Territory, one (1) additional copy of the Software on a second Computer provided that:
(i) such second Computer is owned or leased by You (and not by another person, such as Your employee, if any);
(ii) such second Computer is either a portable Computer or a nonserver Computer away from Your usual work location;
(iii) the additional copy of Software is Accessed solely for the purpose of enabling You (or Your employee, if any) to perform work while away from Your usual work location;
(iv) the original and additional copy of the Software are used only by the same person, and only one (1) of the Software copies is Accessed at any one time; and
(v) both copies of the Software are Installed and Accessed exclusively with the copy protection device (if any) supplied with the Software. 

With a network license, if you are on Subscription you can request a Home Use license.
So the network license could be on your laptop, and the Home Use license (which will be a standalone) could be on your home computer.

Network licenses also support borrowing (eg you can borrow the license onto your laptop, if you had the license server on a workstation).

Standalone licenses have a License Transfer Utility that allows you to transfer the license between computers. Not sure I would want to do that every day.

Hi Stephen,

thanks for your fast reply!

It’s all pretty clear, I can switch my NLM to SLM and then install 1 additional copy under the restrictions mentioned. Just a few questions:

Under section (v) it says:
“both copies of the Software are Installed and Accessed exclusively with the copy protection device (if any) supplied with the Software.”

That’s what I do with my 7.01, which is on a spm-dongle. I understood that will no longer work with the 2011 version? So not applicable in my situation?

And: can you explain more about the laptop and the borrowing remark? If I put the network license on my laptop, what does that mean? Would I have to run Soft on that laptop or do you mean it would only run the license server and the actual Soft would run on a workstation connected to the laptop?

And lastly: switching from NLM to SLM is a one-way ticket, or can I revert later?

druitre 09 December 2010 02:16 PM

Hi Stephen,

thanks for your fast reply!

It’s all pretty clear, I can switch my NLM to SLM and then install 1 additional copy under the restrictions mentioned. Just a few questions:

Under section (v) it says:
“both copies of the Software are Installed and Accessed exclusively with the copy protection device (if any) supplied with the Software.”

That’s what I do with my 7.01, which is on a spm-dongle. I understood that will no longer work with the 2011 version? So not applicable in my situation? I don’t think any autodesk products come with a dongle as far as i know
And: can you explain more about the laptop and the borrowing remark? If I put the network license on my laptop, what does that mean? Would I have to run Soft on that laptop or do you mean it would only run the license server and the actual Soft would run on a workstation connected to the laptop? the license borroworing is a check out check in license only found with a network license if your going to use the home license on your laptop you won’t need to check out a licenseAnd lastly: switching from NLM to SLM is a one-way ticket, or can I revert later? you may have to talk to your reseller about this there will probably be addtional fees with this

druitre 09 December 2010 02:16 PM

Under section (v) it says:
“both copies of the Software are Installed and Accessed exclusively with the copy protection device (if any) supplied with the Software.”

That’s what I do with my 7.01, which is on a spm-dongle. I understood that will no longer work with the 2011 version? So not applicable in my situation?

Right, this section is not applicable to Softimage.

druitre 09 December 2010 02:16 PM

And: can you explain more about the laptop and the borrowing remark? If I put the network license on my laptop, what does that mean? Would I have to run Soft on that laptop or do you mean it would only run the license server and the actual Soft would run on a workstation connected to the laptop?

To use license borrowing, you start Softimage using a network license (so you connect to the same network where the license server computer is located). Then, from inside Softimage, you “borrow” that license from the network license server. After that, you can disconnect from the network and use the borrowed license to run Softimage.

druitre 09 December 2010 02:16 PM

And lastly: switching from NLM to SLM is a one-way ticket, or can I revert later?

I would think it would be a one-way ticket. To switch back you might have to pay a “network uplift” fee of about $750, if I remember correctly.

the license borroworing is a check out check in license only found with a network license if your going to use the home license on your laptop you won’t need to check out a license

drp281: I’m not going to use a home license on my laptop. Stephen said I could put my network license on a laptop and I’m wondering about what that would mean.

Stephen, can you still explain or make clear what I asked about, do you mean I install my network license on a laptop and then run Softimage on that laptop?

Or ...

To use license borrowing, you start Softimage using a network license (so you connect to the same network where the license server computer is located). Then, from inside Softimage, you “borrow” that license from the network license server. After that, you can disconnect from the network and use the borrowed license to run Softimage.

... do you mean that the laptop would be the license server computer? As in, not run Softimage on the laptop itself but use it as a mobile server, so to speak. Or as a very large dongle. :-)

You see, as I already suspected the uplift-fee would be quite hefty I’d much rather find a solution that involves NLM than having to switch to SLM.