I am part of a structural engineering consulting firm that uses several structural analysis software(s) from RAM/Bentley. We have been satisfied with the software up until around a month ago when the comically absurd pricing scheme was explained upon us.
The "Quarterly Hour Usage" billing concept is … so illogical that it defies the descriptive powers of my vocabulary. If the price of their software needs to increase to meet their business goals, then Bentley should raise their prices. I can review the increased costs, compare it to the benefit of having/using the software, and then make annual budgeting decisions.
For those who are not familiar with the 'hourly usage' concept, here is how it works: if one engineer uses the software from 9am until 10.15am, and then a separate engineer, on a different computer uses the same software beginning at10.30 am, then that counts as the use of 2 licenses. In reality, the software usage has not exceeded the license limit; however, according to Bentley, it has… it has been used twice within the same arbitrary hour. (consider an analogy of renting ONE bicycle …you ride it for part of an hour, and then your spouse rides the same bike for the remainder of the "same" hour … you return the bike, and are charged for TWO bicycles …b/c 2 people rode the same bike …within the same hour!?!?!? )
I am lost as to why Bentley would do this. It appears to be irritating several customers. So far as I understand, Bentley offers no method to actively limit (real-time) the usage within each hour.
I've had several conversations with 3 different Bentley people so far. Each has mildly expressed sympathy towards my frustrations, yet each has been unable to offer any solution. They have each noted that I am not the only firm who is disappointed with this unique billing concept, and suggested I write to their forum, so that "management" can see the complaints of their customers.
Reluctantly, I have done so. Not only am I frustrated, now I am irritated: not only is the burden of monitoring the usage of their software forces on me, now explaining why is also my responsibility… and I am the customer !?
Right there with you on this. I / we can't fathom the lack of real management tools to prevent overuse as Bentley has chosen to define it. We've been hit with one quarters worth of fees for overuse and are likely facing another. This is driving us to change our workflows and implement software from another vendor whose network license model acts like a network license model. If the license is checked out, the program won't open.
It's almost like Bentley is encouraging overuse of licenses to drive up revenue.
Bentley IS encouraging overuse of licenses to drive up revenue and we are opposed to this new way of doing business which we feel is unfair at best and somewhat dubious.
We purchased two licenses of PondPack and that is all we intend to use and to pay to maintain going forward. A system that penalizes us when one person uses PondPack for 15 minutes to run a report at 8:01 am, and then a second person opens it at 8:59 am is arbitrary and capricious, to borrow a term from the courts.
I / we are also not happy about this! And have not been ever since they introduced the "flexible" license model and particularly the calendar hour concept! We have had to keep our license count higher than it really needs to be and this change to quarterly invoicing has only made this worse. Based on the quarterly peak usage this year, we would have been up for AU$20K+ in QTL invoices if we had only licensed the number of licenses we think we actually really need. Fortunately, we have oversubscribed and the component of our annual renewal equivalent to our over-subscribed licenses is only AU$7.5K. So .... it looks like we continue to keep our license count artificially high! And Bentley gets more revenue! I can only hope the smart boy/girl that dreamed up this "scheme" is getting their cut! I am talking to Bentley again now as our annual renewal is due. I am getting exactly the same treatment - mild sympathy but no solution except to suggest implementing a "workflow". I'm being kind when I say it is farcical but go here if you want the details: http://communities.bentley.com/products/licensing/w/licensing__wiki/13916.how-do-i-restrict-license-usage-to-checkouts-only