I don't know if this is the correct forum but as we use MicroStation so it seemed OK. Anyway I have just had an email from Bentley with the above in the subject line.
A couple of questions come to mind:
1. What is a 'user' and how do Bentley know how many users we have?
2. Why do users have to register, and how does it "enhance security both for Bentley and for our users".
3. What happens if users don't register?
Bentley has started contacting Account Administrators via email regarding our registration requirements. The email includes a link to a webpage that Bentley has set up to provide additional information to explain what this is about, along with specific instructions for completing the steps involved.
Here is the link to the Administrator’s Resource Center: www.bentley.com/BentleyUserRegistration
We are asking the Bentley User Management Account Administrators that are receiving the emails to review the materials on the webpage and to contact us directly via the Support link included if they have any difficulties completing the requested activities.
The User Management administrative functions and CONNECTION Client application are not new. Many accounts are already actively using the User Management tools and many Bentley application users have already installed and signed in to CONNECTION Client. We already have some services that require user sign-in in order to access them and others may be added in the future.
To address the specific questions asked:
1. What is a ‘user’ and how does Bentley know how many users we have?
A user is any person that accesses Bentley applications. If a Bentley application user has not signed in to the CONNECTION Client on the same machine running the application, SELECTserver reporting provides only machine name details. We generally infer that each machine represents a user, though some users may use more than one machine.
2. Why do users have to register, and how does it “enhance security both for Bentley and for our users.”
User registration and sign-in enhances security by reducing the risks related to anonymous machines reporting usage under an organization’s activation key. The organization licensing the software or services and Bentley should both be able to know that such usage is being conducted by users who have been approved by the organization’s administrator or a co-administrator. Our user registration and sign-in requirements enable the necessary reporting visibility for this by relating an authorized individual user to a specific machine reporting usage.
Note that we require only minimum details for Bentley user profile registration: email address, first name, last name, and country. The registered users can only be authorized for an account in User Management by the account’s administrator or co-administrator.
3. What happens if users don’t register?
As described in our Bentley User Registration Fact Sheet (available on the Administrator’s Resource Center), failure to complete the registration of users by the deadline will result in your Bentley activation key(s) no longer functioning. We are proactively managing this to mitigate such risk. For most accounts, the steps outlined in the guide will be very straightforward. If anyone experiences any problems, our support team will be happy to assist in order to ensure any potential disruptions are mitigated. Experiencing problems? Contact the support team in the Need Help link found on the Administrator’s Resource Center.
Answer Verified By: Tamicca Sellars
We have 25no. users and 7no. MicroStation licenses. Most of the users onlu have Bentley View and don't use MicroStation.
So what would actually happen if we didn't register all users?
Your licenses will be deactivated as we have mentioned throughout this Forum post.
Why? Most of our users (nearly 75%) only use Bentley View which is free and has 500no, licenses available.
How many licences (and what) would be deactivated?
You seem to be deliberately making life difficult for businesses to carry out their day to day activities and seem to be pushing users to your opposition, which don't have the same level of restrictions.
This was all explained in the original document. If you need some additional clarification we can set up a call.
Glenn. You are just side stepping the question by referring to that document. So what you are saying is that you will stop us using a program because say, 1 or 2 users fail to register, on something that we have paid for and are still paying for with the SELECT fees. This is daylight robbery!!
I think that it is about time that I got users to uninstall programs that they are unlikely to use more than once every six months. I don't know how on earth you can think this is even close to fair!! Maybe it's about time that we re-considered what programs we use.