Improve software licenses to allow remotely deauthorizing licenses

[jshuether]

Presently, an Archicad software license may only be assigned to one computer at a single time, and there is no way to remotely deauthorize a license so that it may be downloaded to another computer.  Graphisoft might address this issue by the summer of 2023.  Does anyone else not see this setup as ridiculous?  I frequently do work on my home computer, and sometimes on my laptop when away from home or the office. The only way to use the license on multiple computer is to release the license back to the license pool using the License Manager Tool.  This process is horribly inconvenient to do when I am racing out of the office to pick up kids from soccer practice, etc.  Industry leading software, AutoCAD, Revit, Sketchup and Adobe, not only allow you to install the same license on two different computer simultaneously, but they notify you when you have exceeded the allowable number of computers and allow you to log into their websites and deauthorize a computer so the license is free to be used on another computer.  Please, please, please Graphisoft, don't wait until 2023 to address this issue with software licenses.  

[furtonb]

Even within the Nemetschek Group there are much-much better practices: Cinema 4D's license handling is wonderful.

...and I'm stuck with an USB-A dongle that I have to carry an adapter for to plug in into my computer, fascinating. Why do I need to sign into the program to use teamwork, if my license is not linked to my account? Why would GS charge me to convert my HW key to a SW key? Why is the two separate license type different in 2022? When can we expect any improvements? I'm not holding my breath...

[Minh Nguyen]

Dear All,

Thank you for sharing your ideas and opinions regarding this request!

I'm glad to say that this is an existing wish in our Wish list database.
(For future reference, you can refer to it as IDEA-2655)

I hope we see this get implemented soon!

Have a great day!

Best regards,
Minh

[cocoloco]

So I guess in another year?😁

[dsfahsdfhn]

This is absolutely woeful that it was ever considered to be a viable option.

At least once a month or so my team wastes some good time trying to troubleshoot license issues and not being able to remote logout someone slows it to a crawl. 

Recently someone went overseas and left their license on their home PC. Admin can't make it available...

I went through Graphisoft an earlier time to recover a license on a PC that was formatted and it took about a week for them to release the license from woah to go... (including signing some silly form about it being a legit request yadda yadda - I guess you could disconnect a PC from the internet and attempt to carry on using the license even though its disabled remotely....?).

This is not good enough in the slightest.

Things like this are why AutoDesk are streets ahead...

[cocoloco]

We recently had similar thing happened. What is worse is actually, that the person was able to put the licence in the pool (unlike yours) but when she signed on another computer, it did not work. Also signing under other licence would not work on new computer….. So the pool is completely useless because once you are on different computer than originally it won’t work. From other stand point, I can see why they do it but I don’t think it’s worth it.

[Diomi]

I really hope to see this feature in the next Archicad release..it happens often that I have to work from home, and I find out that I can't use the program because the day before I didn't upload the license. That's crazy..

[Barry Kelly]

It can be done now if you have a 'Cloud' license.

Downside of a cloud license is they can only use versions 26+.

So if you need to use older versions you can't.

You can of coarse open old files in new versions, you just can't run the old software.

Barry.

[David O]

I agree I use Rhino 8 as well on work & home machines & the license auto switches to each computer when I start Rhino, it's so handy when you are at home and you remember you need to update something.

[Rogerio M]

We use NET licenses, which do exactly what you're asking for. The licenses are located on our server, and when someone starts Archicad, it automatically assigns a license to them. For home office situations, we just need to connect via VPN. The only downside is that we can't work offline; it's simply not possible.

However, as Barry mentioned, there are Cloud licenses. I believe it's a new product that, I've been informed, can work offline for up to 7 days.

[Tim Ball]

I'm stuck at the moment because the screen is broken on my laptop, which means I can't upload he licence. I'm hoping GSUK support will help out