New Subscription Model From SoftwareKey

[REAL!]

Hi,

This post is only relevant for those who license a product using Protection PLUS 4 and SOLO server from SoftwareKey (the "advanced licensing" process in the tutorial pages).

You may have seen that SoftwareKey have changed their business model to a mainly subscription based one, you should have received emails about it if it affects you. Initially I didn't take any notice of them as I assumed it wouldn't affect me, until I received a "final warning" that my monthly subscription was going to increase from $10 to $22.25.

The reason for this is that they are saying that you need to have an active software maintenance subscription for the Protection PLUS software in order to use the SOLO server service. This, apparently, is to improve security (a cynic may say it is to improve their financial security!).

I took objection to this and emailed asking for more information. At first I was just given the standard company line about it all and that it was a take it or leave it choice. After doing a bit of research I then emailed back in slightly stronger language, asking why I should pay a maintenance subscription for a software product that hasn't been updated in the last 18 months.

After a bit of time I received a reply that said that because I was using the officially recommended software for use with LabVIEW and TPLAT and that NI offered support for TPLAT I wouldn't need to pay the extra monthly fee.

So in summary, if you have been told that you need to pay more per month, email them and explain that you are using it for LabVIEW and TPLAT and they should let you stay on at $10/month.

Hope this helps someone to save a bit of cash.

Cheers,

Darren.