Need to get our hands on an AC9 hardware key

[Anonymous]

Folks,

One of the offices I work with has some version 9 files we want to edit and we don't want to bring them forward to later versions. I own a hardware key for 9 thru 12. My buddy owns a key for versions 10 thru 16. Is there a way to get GS to make his key operable back to version 9.. OR... Can we buy a legacy key from someone here on the forum?

Let me know, please. This would really help us out a lot.

And... I know when we go up in version numbers, our keys are upgraded to the new, latest versions. It seems odd that the keys wouldn't be backward compatable all the way to the earliest versions. Why does GS do that? It's all well and good to upgrade to the latest versions (which seems to be happening on a annual basis now!), but why are they 'bricking' our earlier versions.

Il still use 9 for almost all my projects, as it's got none of the bloat of the later versions.. which I like a lot. Many of the features added since 9 I'd already built for myself using GDL and I still like having layouts and models in seperate files.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. We need to be able to edit and save some of our older files and don't want to deal with the instabilities (and consumed time) of migrating them forward.

[Barry Kelly]

The green WIBU keys are compatible with versions 6.0 -16.
The silver Codemeter keys were introduced in version 13 and are only compatible with version 10-16.
So as long as your friends key is a WIBU key there should be no problem.

You might have trouble installing and running the older software on newer operating systems but that is another story.


This link may have some more info for you.

http://www.archicadwiki.com/ProtectionKey

Barry.

[Anonymous]

Barry,

Yeah... I knew how that worked, to a degree. I've had a key since version 8, and it's a green WIBU. It's enabled up to 12.

My buddy swears his key looks identical, but I'll have to drive over to his office and take a look at it with my own eyes... I suspect it's the later Codemeter key, which he got with his AC 12 seats. They've migrated up into 16 at their place, but are still mostly working in 12 and bringing only some of the new jobs into 16, so far.

We've got some old files he'd like to work with at his place, without me having to do it, as I'm doing =other= work for him, presently. Also, I do a good bit of production for him and it would be nice for him to have a 9 platform so he can do minor edits and not take me out of compatibility on the return trip to my place.

I'm sure I'll get the 'Why don't you upgrade (or use 12)?" harangue. Well, because my machine and I are about 40% faster in AC9 than AC12. Why will my buddy deal with it? Because I'm the fastest production guy in the office. 'Nuff said. I've worked for this guy for like 25 years... He'll put up with a helluva lot of my idiosyncracies; I'm trying to solve this issue myself so it doesn't take up his time.

Anyhow, I guess what I'm really asking is this:

Can we purchase a 9 enabled WIBU key from anyone? Doesn't matter to us who that is.. another user, Graphisoft, whatever. My buddy spoke to GS tech support about it, but got nowhere.

Ideally, we'd like to purchase a brand new WIBU key from GS that will run 9, then have another seat for a dinosaur like myself, and further the cause of AC in general. GS people - you seeing this? Can you help us? We'd like to buy one of your products; Granted, not the latest, shiniest, chrome-laden luxury sedan, but the cute little go cart from just a few years back. It's green money... Yours for the taking if you can help us??!! Can you? Thanks.