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 !?
I could not be more agreed as an engineering manager for a design team. This ridiculous approach has given us plenty of headaches. We use other software and they all provide floating licensing to manage excess usage.
I had the same problem. 10 minutes overuse. I called it a full day and sent them £8.80p as full and final payment.
There own license fact sheet says "pay only for software used".
I have had this several times. I simply worked out the cost of the 10 minutes overusege, called iy a full day and sent them a payment for £9 as full and final payment. The seem to have accepted this. I also sent them there info where it says "pay only for the software you use".
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