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Unread 24-10-2008, 20:40
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kmcclary kmcclary is offline
Founder 830/1015;Mentor 66/470/1502
FRC #0470 (Alpha Omega Robotics)
Team Role: Engineer
 
Join Date: Aug 2001
Rookie Year: 1994
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Posts: 491
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Re: **FIRST EMAIL**/2009 PTC Announcement

Quote:
Originally Posted by PTC_FRC View Post
FRC teams can download Pro/ENGINEER and Mathcad from your team project. To obtain your seats of Pro/ENGINEER and Mathcad, please register for a team project – www.ptc.com/go/frcregistration. [...]
FYI, I like Pro/Engineer a lot. I used it in industry many years ago, and it was great at that time. I'm really looking forward to seeing how far it has evolved in the years since!

But OOC, do the keys for the seats of Pro/ENGINEER and/or Mathcad EXPIRE? (... and if so, when?)

IF
they expire, then some feedback: UNLESS FORCED BY THE RULES, around here most of my teams are required by their school systems to only adopt and use tools whose keys never expire, regardless of functional level or version. (Several of my teams are still designing with older versions of Inventor, for that very reason.)

Limited time keys in corporate usage aren't normally a problem as they are profit centers and the key renewal can be booked as a part of the cost of doing business. Schools are a different animal. There's no profit generated to maintain the tools past their expiration, so the schools often have rules preventing teams from adopting "temporary use software". That is the case around here.

I'm also always hesitant to recommend teams adopt and begin designing in ANY package whose key expires (regardless of how wonderful it is), because it can affect my credibility. They already know they might lose access to everything they've designed after the contest is over should the sponsorship status change next year. Should that happen, they would become mad at me for "getting them into it" when they lose access to one or more year's worth of widgets and sub-assemblies they worked so hard to design.

Therefore, I'm hoping the keys to the Student Editions of these packages are eternal. Limited functionality is fine with me, as long as we have enough utility to learn how to use it and get the job done in the allotted time. (People can go out and buy the full versions, or upgrade next year, if they want more utility.)

Please advise as to what key type and duration is being provided, so I can form my final recommendation to our schools on the subject. Thanks!

- Keith
__________________
Keith McClary - Organizer/Mentor/Sponsor - Ann Arbor MI area FIRST teams
ACTI - Automation Computer Technologies, Inc. (Sponsoring FIRST teams since 2001!)
MI Robot Club (Trainer) / GO-Tech Maker's Club / RepRap-Michigan) / SEMI CNC Club
"Certifiably Insane": Started FIVE FRC teams & many robot clubs (so far)!
2002: 830 "Rat Pack" | 2003-5;14: 1015;1076 "Pi Hi Samurai" | 2005-6: 1549 "Washtenuts"/"Fire Traxx"
2005-(on): 1502 "Technical Difficulties" | 2006-(on): FIRST Volunteer!
2009-(on): 470 "Alpha Omega" | WAFL | Sponsor & "Floating Engineer" for MI Dist 13 (Washtenaw Cnty)
2011: 3638 "Tigertrons" | 2013-(on): 4395 "ViBots" | 2014-(on) 66 "Grizzlies"
"Home" Teams: 66, 470, 1076, 1502, 4395
Local FIRST alumni at or coming to Ann Arbor (UM/EMU/WCC/Cleary)?
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