I've never made an expensive mistake.
...well, other than marriage.

However, a former employer made a very expensive mistake when they treated me as their scapegoat and fired me, then blacklisted me. Because, you see, I wasn't just another draftsman- I was also very tight with the IT guys at that company, and knew a very dirty little secret.

See, if you buy a copy of AutoCAD, you're only allowed to load it on one machine. As it's a very pricey program, that's not something that should be done lightly- yet with every new computer they got that was to be given to an engineer, there was a copy of AutoCAD on it.

And I happened to know that they all had the same serial number.

So, about six months after they fired me, I made a phone call. The result of that phone call was that the company was shut down until Autodesk had audited every single computer they had, and counted up how many copies of AutoCAD they had to buy- at full retail.

It was a lot.

So I cost them a huge amount of money, all right- but the mistake was certainly not mine.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Thu 25 Oct 2007, 16:39, 9 replies)

How did they manage that then?
Autocad has been dongle locked since r12 (circa 1994 iirc) and cracking the dongle locking mechanism is pretty tough.

I used to work for Autodesk.
(Vic Flange, Thu 25 Oct 2007, 16:43, closed)

Maybe it's different over there?
Here in the US it doesn't typically come with a hardware lock- at least, I have never seen one. As I write this, my computer has a copy of AutoCAD on it and no lock- but then, we have a site license here.

I think that these days they have AutoCAD call home through the internet, so they can check it that way- but I'm not sure.

I think they were running r14 at the time on Windows NT. I remember that one of the IT guys had been bugging them about getting legit with AutoCAD, so they had bought some copies of it that he kept stacked against a wall- but they were still at least 60 copies short, as I recall.

Booya.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Thu 25 Oct 2007, 16:49, closed)

Ah, I see..
Yes, you're right - IIRC there was legislation in the US that forbade us from putting a hardware lock on the software.
I hadnt accounted for your colonial stance on this point.
(Vic Flange, Thu 25 Oct 2007, 16:50, closed)

cracking the dongle locking mechanism is pretty tough
Pfft. That's the problem with copy protection - software vendors trying to make their system tougher and tougher, only to see it cracked on day one. Legitimate users have to jump through hoops to get their software installed, people who nick the software have no problems at all.

The commercial software development business model is all wrong anyway - you get a lot of money in for v1 and then fritter it all away again in customer support. So you HAVE to make v2 to pay for that, and so on.

Give the software away, charge for support.
( chthonic, Thu 25 Oct 2007, 17:06, closed)

That certainly makes sense.
They could make a lot of money off of training people in its use and customizing it...

As it stands, though, I've seen plenty of key generators for it online. All you need is a copy of AutoCAD and that one little file, and you're off and running...
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Thu 25 Oct 2007, 17:18, closed)

Its the sales model that solidworks now run
(I worked a long time in the CAD sector).
You buy a copy of the product, then buy a subscription service which entitles you to support and upgrades.
So companies get an anuity based financial model which makes them more stable.
(Vic Flange, Thu 25 Oct 2007, 19:18, closed)

no more dangly dongles
i'm a CAD technician (structural, civil & geotechnical, if you're bothered!), maybe i can help?

AutoCAD (in the uk) hasn't used dongles for years - i started using the program in 2001 and have never even seen one.

I once went to a seminar presented by Autodesk (for Architectural Desktop 2006, i think) and a large part was about piracy and how they were combatting it.

From what my brain can remember of that hungover morning, every .dwg file contains code that includes all the details of the licence holder and their purchased package records etc and i'm pretty sure that they are within their rights to audit any customer at any time. They can quite easily tell if you are running a moody copy with a dodgy serial number or are running multiple machines on a single licence and can absolutely rape companies and individuals if they are found to be doing this...i forget the exact punishments but i remember thinking they were very harsh. they focus more on selling and marketing the network licences these days as it's impossible to exceed your allowance because it simply won't run unless you get someone else to close theirs down.

i could tell you more, but i'm even boring myself!! Must be the 'Ortho' side of my personality!!

hah, I am lame as fuck!
(trident, Thu 25 Oct 2007, 19:24, closed)

Please...
Please please tell me that you phoned them to gloat it was you that squealed on them.

I would HAVE to do it, I'd feel cheated without letting them know I was the cunt that stitched them up.
(Rsoles, Thu 25 Oct 2007, 20:21, closed)

No, I didn't tell them.
See, this is an area of the world that's rich in good-ol'-boy networks. They had already passed the word that they had fired me and I wasn't a good employee. Had they also been able to pass the word that I had busted them, they would have made damn sure I couldn't work in engineering again. Even now I'm very hesitant to go into detail online for fear of retaliation.

However, when they got busted I did very quietly mention it to a friend who had been the scapegoat that they had fired before me, and we raised a glass together as we heard through the grapevine how our former employer got a lot of unwanted fame...
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Thu 25 Oct 2007, 21:03, closed)