Messed up Licensing

[Intaris]

I have previously had a standard Developer Suite with RT and FPGA options with License number 1.

Now I have a NI Embedded Control and Monitoring software suite with License number 2.

I have just tried starting the web installer for LV 2015 SP1 with License number 1 and it isn't accepted (this worked only a few months ago).  If I enter License number 2 I can choose what to install but the list of available software does NOT look the same as it used to be with my License number 1 (I can no longer access my old list due to the web installer no longer accepting my old license, so no screenshots possible I'm afraid).

On THIS page, it seems to suggest that a migration from my old software to new software should have been possible with my old license number.  That seems not to be the case.  It also seems that my old license number can no longer be used for installing my old software.  It seems that I, for example, simply no longer have the option to install LabWindows CVI for older LV versions (which I was able to do up until a few months ago.....).  My Developer suite included this software for years and now I suddenly can't install the old versions which were covered by my old license.  This makes me wonder what else is affected.  In fact, the Link provided at the beginning of this post seems to suggest that exactly the same software would remain available.  To re-iterate:  I'm not referring to software delivered AFTER changing the license.  I'm referring to software delivered under the old (paid for) license which I was able to install for many years and which is simply no longer available to me.  It may turn out that the loss of CVI is not important to me but I question the user-friendliness of having customers pay for a license for years and then removing previously available versions which have already been paid for.  Or is NI moving towards a real software rental service where Licenses expire whenever an SSP is not renewed?  This was not the case until now I think.  Didn't the License agreement of the old Developer Suite not allow me to continue using the software even if the SSP is at some stage no longer renewed?  Isn't that now effectively the case?

This is a bit of a confusing situation.  Is there a simple side-by-side list where I can see what was all included in my old software license and what's included in my new software license and not only for LV 2016 but also 2015, 2012, 2011, 2009 and LV 8.5 (which we occasionally need for legacy support).  Trying to get this information from the NI website is a very painful exercise.

[Jacobson-ni]

So I would definitely follow up by calling in to NI but if I remember correctly, your SSP is what let's you download older software online. So you would be able to activate older software because the license is still good but can't download the software because SSP wasn't renewed.

[Intaris]

I can't license anything with my old serial number.

I can download whatever I want, that's not the problem.

I'm currently downloading CVI 2012 to see if I can license it.  My Old SSP (at the time 2012 was released) supported this, but my new License apparently doesn't.  We'll see what happens.

[Intaris]

So, CVI 2012 downloaded and installed (No License needed for this step at all).

Tried licensing with old license.  Not valid.

Tried licensing with new license.  Not valid.

Great.  So if I happened to be looking to work on software which was previously included in my Dev Suite SSP and isn't in the new suite, what am I supposed to do?

On the FAQ page for the Developer Suite it's written clearly:

Q: How long does my subscription to NI Developer Suite last, and what happens when it expires?

A: Every new NI Developer Suite purchase includes one year of Standard Service. Standard Service for NI Developer Suite includes access to software as updates are available, technical support, and free and unlimited on-demand online training. NI notifies you prior to your service expiration with a quote for the renewal. Once you renew, you receive an additional year of Standard Service, which ensures that you stay up to date on your software. If you do not renew, you can continue using your software at the current version, but you do not receive software updates or the other benefits of Standard Service.

[natasftw]

I'm not sure if the text you highlighted was intentionally vague.  But, it's not really clear.

It says you can continue to use the current version.  But, what does that even mean?  Does that mean you can continue to install it on devices (where it wasn't the current version?)  Does it mean you can use it only where it's already installed?  Does it mean you have a permanent license for that software?  Would you be able to re-activate a PC that crashed as it was technically the current version on that PC pre-crash?  With the ambiguity, it really could mean any of this is true depending on interpretation.

If you go to www.ni.com/activate can you see a list of products either SN will activate?

[stockson]

If you buy a license for, let's say, LabVIEW 2012, it is not time limited. The SSP expires, but you can install/uninstall/activate LabVIEW 2012 on different computers (respecting the usage policy).

So it means the answer is "yes" to all your questions.

I would really contact NI support directly - they will ask you for the serial number and check what's wrong. Here we can only speculate.

[michael.wagner]

Hi Intaris,

the statements you are posting are true in general. Typically previous versions of NI software can be activated with a valid serial number. But serial numbers may have a very individual history and the products they are working with can change over time due to a migration. So please call NI and clarify what happened to your serial number.

Best regards,

Michael Wagner

National Instruments

[natasftw]

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@stockson wrote:

If you buy a license for, let's say, LabVIEW 2012, it is not time limited. The SSP expires, but you can install/uninstall/activate LabVIEW 2012 on different computers (respecting the usage policy).

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You're confusing a couple of different NI products.  Your answer is accurate for buying LabVIEW.  In the original post, he mentioned a Dev Suite.

Dev Suites are an annual license that come at a discounted price.  They're what most of the alliance partners use.  By paying the 20% renewal, they'll get to upgrade to the new version the following year.  It'll always be much less than buying LabVIEW and all of those toolkits.  The caveat is you're essentially leasing the license for a year instead of purchasing the software outright.

I still think calling NI is the best advice offered here as the licensing will come down to how the word "current versions" is meant to be interpreted.

Michael, it appears he's not running into an issue where he's unable to activate an older versinon of software on his serial.  It looks like his Dev Suite was rolled from one Suite to another.  Each has different software included.  When he moved to the new Dev Suite, his old SN was deactivated/expired.  His new Suite doesn't have the software he's looking at.  He wants to know why he doesn't have access to "current versions."  That's not the same as installing an older version of the software on his newer Suite.

[dan_u]

We switched from Dev Suites to the Embedded Control and Monitoring Suites. The question is not about installing current versions. It's clear that we can only install the 2016 versions of what's included in the Embedded Suite.

Several years ago we bought the Dev Suites (with some extra modules like Statechart option) and paid the yearly SSP. We wrote software that we still need to support in previous versions (8.2, 8.5, 2012). We have been using the Statechart option, and we could also have used CVI.

So we still need to have a valid SN for these previous versions, but we don't. 

If you could only continue using the SW until your PC stops working that would be stupid. Either you rent software (like Adobe), but then you don't pay the full price when first buying it. Or you buy it, and pay SSP to get always the latest versions, but then you can continue using what you bought for as long as you wish.

So how can we install CVI 2012 or LV2012 with the statechart option? The old SN is no longer accepted, and the new one does not contain these modules.

I wrote to our local NI rep, but didn't get a response yet.

[Hooovahh]

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@dan_u wrote:

I wrote to our local NI rep, but didn't get a response yet.

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Possible they are off for the holidays.  I too am interested in how this all plays out.  We had the developersuite for a couple of years, and were then heavily encouraged to go to the Multi-IDE bundle, with a few add-ons and I haven't had a need to install the older software with the developer suite license yet, but it sounds like I wouldn't be able to if I needed to.  Were we just renting LabVIEW these few years?  Now that we aren't playing the SSP on the developer suite do we lose access to those older versions?