This is not a rant but a caution. I have used BCC since v17, now on v31. On my 10 year old computer v31 ran fine until the last year of windows 10 updates so had to go back to v25. Computer hard drive crashed a month ago. I am not an IT person so sent the computer out for repairs. Hard drive was replaced and all data transfered to a 1 TB SSD. Computer now runs like it used to. V25 loads just fine but v31 got an error code 136. Computer not recognized, and to call support. Well apparently buying software for life doesn’t mean the same thing anymore. I was told the software wasn’t decomissioned first so the license cant be transfered to a new HD and the my license history at BCC was not available anymore so support can’t transfer my license at BCC. Apparently marketing came up with this idea but I can buy the current version BCC no problerm however I would have to upgrade to a new computer to run it. Just got to expensive to stay with BCC. I do back up my files in other formats other than BCC so all is not lost just really inconvienent and back to v25 only as needed.
Thanks for the caution.
Keep it in mind.
we got 12 licenses, so have to be cautious !
Hello,
I am sorry to hear this. It is true that older versions of BobCAD-CAM are no longer supported. However, this does not mean that you can not still transfer the software off of the computer. And, if you back up your files, you still may be able to get back your license on a new computer even if your computer crashes.
If your computer has not crashed, it is very easy to transfer the software. follow these links below:
Note: Support can still deauthorize the older software if you provide us the deauth keys.
- Transfer License (BobCAD-CAM V30 - Current, BobCAM for SolidWorks V7 - Current, and BobCAM for Rhino V1 - Current) - Transfer / Deauthorize a license (BobCAD-CAM V30 and up) - BobCAD Support
- Transfer License (BobCAD-CAM V24 - V29, BobCAM for SolidWorks V6 - Older) - Transfer / Deauthorize A License (BobCAD-CAM V24 - V29) - BobCAD Support
If you back-up your BobCAD-CAM Data Folder, there is a license file in the C:\BobCAD-CAM Data\BobCAD-CAM V(Version #)\License folder. You can back-up this whole BobCAD-CAM Data folder somewhere else so that you even get to keep your post processors, libraries, etc…
Then, if you do have an issue with your computer, you simply just have to redownload and install the software from our support site HERE, replace the files from the C:\BobCAD-CAM Data\BobCAD-CAM V(Version #) folder with your backed up files and run BobCAD-CAM again. This may or may not work in every case, but this is a good way to ensure that you can try to retrieve all your data back onto a new computer.
The biggest difference with this new change in policy is that you are liable your own unsupported versions of the software to handle the licenses yourself as they are not supported by us directly anymore. We were having a huge influx of support tickets that pertained to customers who did not have a support plan or had an unsupported version of the software. With this new policy in place, this helps the support team better assist our active users of the software.
However, this by no means says that you are no longer entitled to your old software, you are just responsible for handling your old software.
I hope this makes sense and I hope moving forward, that everyone is diligent to making sure they properly transfer and handle their licenses the proper way so that they have no issues down the line.
Thank you,
Paul