Loss of Features with expired SSA/Forward

[MDunkin]

As many of us are being transitioned off perpetual licenses, I discovered today that PARAM-O and the Python Palette are no longer accessible without an active SSA membership. Graphisoft, this makes the decision for our studio to stay or return to Revit much easier.

We’ve purchased 11 licenses and consistently maintained our SSA membership since joining with version 24, now on version 28. Nowhere in any online resources or documentation does it state that certain features can be deactivated at will.

This is extremely disappointing.

Operating system used: Mac Intel-based

[Karl Ottenstein]

I'm confused about the "many of us are being transitioned off perpetual licenses".... which implies something beyond your control is doing the transitioning ("being transitioned").   Moving to subscription is a choice... how was your choice taken away?

Ending SSA is a different story.  I guess I didn't realize that PARAM-O and Python were SSA-only features.  Are you saying that they are not included in Subscription?  Or are you saying that you have canceled your SSA and yet have not switched to subscription (which means that you are indeed still on a perpetual license)?

[MDunkin]

The choice is to migrate to a subscription model now with a discount or pay two more years of maintenance on our perpteuals until version 30, at that point you are stuck at version 30 unless you migrate to the full subscription model.  Seems more like an ultimatum than a choice.   

I’m 99% sure those features are included in the new subscription model, but my point is we’ve always had access to them under our perpetual license.

We’re currently working with Graphisoft to decide whether to migrate to the subscription model, stay perpetual until version 30, or switch back to Revit. In short, we haven’t paid for our 2025 maintenance yet because we’re sorting out the details and potential discounts for early migration to subscription, but this development is making me rethink migrating to their subscription model.  Once you're in a subscription you are at the whim of GS and seems like they are already playing games by blocking access to tools. 

I can't even log in to 24 and use those tools.  I have paid for my maintenance on versions 24-28 I should at least have access to them within those versions.  

[Karl Ottenstein]

They are not taking anything away that you paid for… if you have not paid your SSA/ArchiPlus fee.  This page:

https://graphisoft.com/downloads/param-o/

states that PARAM-O is only for SSA/Forward customers (but no doubt subscribers too).  It is not part of the perpetual license.  Surprising to me, but I’ve always been in SSA so your pain reminded all of us of that.

Your comment on earlier versions having maintenance “paid for”.  Not.  SSA is an annual thing covering all versions.  You never have permanent support without continuing fees or subscription.

The financial choice to switch to subscription is another story.  I would have hoped that your reseller would prorate your SSA fee to the date of switch.

[MDunkin]

We don’t have a reseller—we work directly with Graphisoft, which brings its own challenges. Our former GS regional sales rep referred to the SSA/ArchiPlus fee as “maintenance,” and we’ve always paid it. Now we’re stuck in limbo, waiting for Graphisoft to finalize their three-year discount and figure out how to accept our payment.

They can keep Param-o, but we rely heavily on Python.   So out of all the "experimental features" in the software they block you from using 1 of them without an active SSA/ArchiPlus...?  

[Karl Ottenstein]

Technically, Graphisoft North America is your reseller. Anyway, I think you have a very legitimate complaint about Python no longer working for you as this page…

https://graphisoft.com/downloads/python/

makes no mention of Python requiring SSA to work, unlike the PARAM-O page.

[MinhNguyen]

Cross-post from the other thread to raise awareness: some features are part of the SSA/Forward agreement. I never handled the contract so I'm also not aware of this until today:

https://graphisoft.com/forward/

https://graphisoft.com/legal/forward-services-and-benefits/int (point 2.9)

It might have been there in the terms of sales all along, we just never bother to read

[Mathias Jonathan]

The python interface is SSA, not the python connection. You can use scripts without the interface, but it is less "user friendly"

[MinhNguyen]

hmm, interesting. I know that you can run the script via CMD without the palette, but does Python API include the whole functionality of the feature? Because the API is what written as available via Forward contract, not just the palette. I could be wrong though as the scripts might be functional regardless of the contract validity.

[laembert]

Let's talk in advance and very seriously how crippled our last version 30 will be. What else we have? Maxon Redshift render? Advanced material library? Library part maker? Python? Paramo?