Alan B said:
That is their current policy. There is a risk that the investment you make in learning and developing designs in this complex tool may be wasted. From what I understand, the learning curve is substantial. That in itself is a substantial "cost".
All CAD programs are complex. Fusion 360's interface is designed with ease of use in mind. Online tutorials are plentiful. These things reduce the "cost" in terms of the time required to actually get something done. Maybe things have changed, but the free/open source CAD programs I found when I looked a while back had no where near the same level of "free" online assistance.
We've covered that policies can change. But they can also stay the same. Fusion 360s policy has been around as long as Fusion 360 has existed and it seems to be a core part of the marketing strategy. Investing time in any software involves risks. Given the plethora of online tutorials and the easy to use interface, the risk/reward ratio with Fusion 360 seems pretty low to me for the occasional/hobbyist user. But, of course, everyone must make that choice for themselves.
Alan B said:
I have read that that student and educational users are forced to jump through a number of "hoops" to qualify for the licensing. I wonder how one proves how his "small business" income is low enough. Do they want tax returns? What about next year when it needs to be renewed?
I've never read or heard anything like that except from you. To get the free hobbyist license, you simply click the appropriate option either when you install it or when the 30 day free trial is over. It ain't hard. If a person can't handle that, then CAD is probably not for them. As for what happens the following year, you simply renew your hobbyist subscription.
Did I mention that there are gobs of online tutorials? Well here's one that steps you through installing and optioning for the one year enthusiast option directly without waiting for you 30 day trial to expire. It takes about 6 minutes - and most of that is in waiting for the download/install.
[youtube]LcWSCoDTsxA[/youtube]
Alan B said:
I think it is important that people understand what they're getting into with "special zero cost access to commercial software". This has been a problem as recently as Eagle PCB software, leaving a lot of people stuck. Company policies change over time. I do see a number of issues when changing between student licenses, hobby licenses, startup licenses and free trials.
Yes, it is also important to distinguish between fact, speculation and hearsay.
Alan B said:
Over the years we have been bit a number of times by things like this. We need to support the developers of the low-cost and free software to ensure we will continue to have access to it. If we instead use free access to commercial software we deprive those developers of users, encouragement and support.
Support. How? By donating /paying and struggling to use software that simply is not as good? By putting up with ads? By volunteering coding. By having other software installed as part of the install process if you aren't vigilant? Suddenly this kind of "free" software doesn't sound so "free" if somehow it needs support from users.
Alan B said:
People should only use Fusion 360 if they are prepared to pay the actual cost of the product. If someone wants a free or low cost product, they should look elsewhere for one.
What are the alternatives you suggest? By all means, post links to other alternatives. I'm all for free software and having options as I'm sure others here are.
As for "only", that is hardly true. A person could be absolutely committed to paying no money for software and still reasonably choose to use Fusion 360 as a hobbyist. Given that the software has a fairly rich feature set, that the company appears to be committed to the hobbyist, that you can download and archive projects in standard CAD formats as wells as a Fusion 360 specific project, and that you can remove your projects from the cloud, the risks are low. BTW, as much as I am not generally a fan of "cloud based" computing and having software tied to the "mothership", I must say that it is nice to be able to work on a project at work and have it available at home without having to do anything other than start up the software.
As I said at the outset, Fusion 360 is a fine option for the novice part-time user. It is not the only one. But is an option worth looking at. I'd be more concerned about my time investment if I was planning on being a regular user than if I were planning on using only a few times a year.