My Current Disaster – Chapter 1
submitted by ghostsniper via Comments
Here’s the first chapter in the story of “My Current Disaster” and there may be a 2nd chapter later.
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I have been a licensed AutoCAD user since 1996. That is, I actually purchased the very expensive software ($3500) and did the expensive yearly upgrades. By 2005 I was tired of paying for the yearly $1000 upgrades and just stopped buying them. I never even installed the 2005 version and still use the 2004 version.
(By 2005 I had paid AutoDesk more than $10,000 for their software.)
That AutoCAD (Acad) is installed on an old refurbished Dell computer with the Windows XP operating system. XP, to me, is the best version and Windows has continuously went down hill in subsequent versions.
(I had originally had Acad installed on a brand new Dell computer but it failed in 2010 and Windows XP machines were no longer for sale, but I found refurbished models on Amazon, and when the other one failed I installed Acad on the refurbished one and AutoDesk was still doing 2 part certifications at that time.)
Well that refurbished XP machine was 15 years old and it finally quit last Monday. Panic sets in. See, Acad requires a 2 part installation certification and AutoDesk no longer does the 2nd part.
When Acad is installed it requires the serial number on the CD case. After the serial is installed the computer logs into AutoDesks website and it generates a 2nd serial that you have to type into the computer. An XP machine will no longer go online and AutoDesk no longer offers “support”, so there is no way to install my AutoCAD 2004 in another XP machine. Nor can Acad 2004 be installed on a new Windows 10 or 11 machine.
Have I lost ya yet? lol
AutoCAD is how I design buildings, some 3000 projects since 1996, and without it I am basically shut down. I have projects I am working on that are at a standstill right now.
End of Chapter 1.
Hey Ghost,
Not trying to get into your business, but I used to run my Autocad back in the day on my Windows XP workstation too. I don’t remember what version it was, I wanna say 2000. I got it to work on my Vista laptop, but that was kind of a joke. Anyway just out of curiosity I poked around the Internet; Who knows I might dig up my old copy from one of the boxes my kids are just gonna throw away when I die one day, just to play with it again.
Some people say you can get it to run on a Windows 11 computer in Oracle Virtualbox. Longbow Software seems pretty confident about running in their converter. Link attached if DT allows, otherwise you can find it with an Internet search.
https://longbowsoftware.com/downloads/ols/categories/longbow-converter
Haven’t tried using either one myself obviously but I would if I had projects hanging on the outcome.
Good luck!
I’m rooting for ya!
We’re all in this together.
I’m not a mechanical designer but I have occasional need for such software. I had AutoCAD a long time ago – don’t recall if it was NT4 or XP but AutoCAD got more expensive than justified for my use. I now do (model) building designs on FreeCAD and Blender. Maybe not sufficient for pro use – but then again, improvements on the freebies are generated by those that see subscription-based programs as inspiration to duplicate and 2nd-source.
Two examples in my work:
For photos: Adobe Photoshop was the “gold standard” – maybe still is – but they went to a subscription service; you can’t buy the software, you can only rent it. I now find RawTherapee and GIMP do everything Photoshop does (for my use anyway) and the prices are much better (free).
Y’all may have picked up that part of my profession is electronics – if not, now you know (BSEE/MSEE). There, Cadence and Altrium are considered the “must haves” but I have found LTspice, KiCAD, and ElectricVLSI (plus a few other specialty routines) do everything I need – at a professional level – that the more expensive corporate-level programs can do (there’s got to be some sort of “mutual agreement” there). Price is also much better – free.
And I don’t have to amortize the cost of software in my contracts.
Those free drafting programs may have improved enough to justify dumping AutoCAD (and the programs I use accept DXF imports). You might want to look into them.
By the way, my understanding is Win11 has also shifted to a subscription service – MS wants your computer to phone home even if you’re not using internet. I can’t say for sure; I switched to Linux several years ago.
“You will own nothing and like it“