I see that the latest ver. of SolidWorks Prof. costs $5495 ($5500) < I have this one now And I also see that latest ver. of SolidWorks Prem. costs $7995 ($8000) < I want this one
That is a difference of $8000 - $5500 = $2500
My "VAR" said that the upgrade from SW Prof. to SW Prem. is $3495 ($3500)
Why is the upgrade not $2500 i.e. the difference in price??? What am I/we getting "special" for the added $1000 in cost???
Thanks for any of your thoughts, I want to upgrade ASAP,
Of the 4 VARs I have talked with so far, they said it was a part of the upgrade fee and most do not understand the charge either. They just say SolidWorks sets the price and that is it. It has been very difficult to even get people (VARs) to talk to me about this. Most say it is how business is done right now or it is just a pricing structure to entice new customers... thus no real answer for me wanting an upgrade other than tough luck or "there is always a group of customers upset with the new pricing structures". One said that SolidWorks believes we get a large amount of new features for each new version, and that is why the price is higher for existing customers???
Most all of the VARs do agree that SW primary focus is new customers, new customers,... and of course to get more customers. However I always ended the conversation with saying that focus needs to shift to existing customers (a while ago) for upgrades and service, if not then SW will have a lot of customers, but they will be unhappy ones. And I told them my position was that I have supported SW for three years now, and that I was upset with the way they treat people with existing seats.
Personally, I think they do it to lure people from Autodesk products (and others) and have not really thought much about there own client base in actuality (like SP releases that actually fix problems). It is obvious that most of SW cash is spent on advertising to get new users. I am sure senior management is stretched thin, but someone needs to really watch over the existing customer base and have real assets to provide for the existing users. We have all seen the results of rushing to get a product out the door, it takes its toll on service visits.
Currently a happy SW user, we will see what happens.
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