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Posted to rec.woodworking
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Google CAD "SketchUp"- Free for 90 days
John L. Poole wrote:
In a prior posting, John L. Poole wrote with the subject "Google's New
Free CAD softwa Want to Collaborate?":
There was a previous posting "Free Version of SketchUp" on 4/27;
however, I'm starting a new thread because I think woodworkers who have
any experience with diagramming software or CAD may not have realized
the significance of the event: Google making available a free version of
SketchUp and the fact that Google is behind it. (Maybe there always has
been a free version and it just didn't catch my attention? Any rate,
with Google associated with it, this is going to have some staying
power.)
I was unaware of SketchUp until three days ago and have spent several
hours exploring its capabilities and the Ruby API to determine what may
be possible with Google's free version. Basically, I've concluded this
offering by Google could be a significant event for woodworkers who are
computer literate and connected to the Internet. I believe this is one
of those programs where collaboration by woodworkers could prove to be
something pretty significant and give Google a "Bravo!" for making this
available in conjunction with a repository for sharing work.
What I'd like to do is determine how many people who read this newsgroup
are actually interested in using SketchUp and collaborating on building
some common components. By collaborating, I'm thinking of things such
as have small components, e.g. mortise-tenon joints, dovetail joints,
profiles of router cutters and other basic type components to create
models from. One project that comes to mind very quickly is taking a
lumber cut list in Microsoft Excel and having the final cut pieces
automatically generated in SketchUp for assembly; and possibly,
vice-versa -- design the components/model and then export them to Excel
for a cut list.
If you think you might be interested in SketchUp and designing in it,
would you please email me with the subject line: "SketchUp
rec.woodworking" and a brief comment on your impressions with SketchUp
and if you do any programming and would be interested in discussing what
stuff could be created that caters to woodworkers. I'd really like to
know if there are only a handful of people whom this might interest, or
if the numbers go into the tens, or even possibly hundreds. I'll reply
post to this thread with a count of responses as may be appropriate.
Please ignore this request after June 30, 2006.
Email to: subject line: SketchUp rec.woodworking
Hope I'm not alone in being excited about this significant event, I've
been thinking about a software package to design with, I used several in
the early 1990s and just found them to be too cumbersome, so this was a
welcomed "freebie", especially since I can collaborate.
John Poole
Ouch!
When I went to start up Sketchup yesterday, I received a dialog box
titled "Google Sketchup Update Service" that contained the following
text: "Your version of Google SketchUp has expired. Please upgrade
now." with a single button "Download Now". There was no "Cancel" button.
If I clicked the "Download Now" button, Sketchup would close and my
default browser would be taken to SketchUp's download site.
I launched SketchUp again hoping I could bypass the dialog box and just
run SketchUp... even if my software was not current, I wanted to run it
rather than go through the process of downloading a new version. I
clicked the upper right "X" corner of the window. The dialog box
closed... and so did SketchUp.
My conclusion based on these two scenarios is that SketchUp was
automatically crippled based on my computer time/date. I saw one
posting referring to this as a "forced upgrade."
When I downloaded Sketchup back in April, there was no indication that
this software would expire on a date certain. Their current download
does not disclose such now.
This kind of date-activate auto-crippling leaves the possibility that
your inventory of designs is usable at the pleasure of the licensor who
may determine that it is time for you to pay some sort of license fee.
They could also decide that they no longer want to offer what they
label as a "Free" version, leaving only their commercial version for
those who wish to use SketchUp or access work product saved in the
SketchUp proprietary format. The industry practice for offering
software that has a limited time running ability is to disclose that it
operates for a limited time, e.g. "Expires after 30 days". No such
disclosure was, or is being made, here. Why is that?
Since I wanted to continue work on my current drawing, I downloaded the
newer beta version. When I did, I recalled seeing something on the
download page to the effect of "If you enjoyed the Free version of
Sketchup, then consider buying the professional version". I just
visited the download page now (hours later) and do not find that cheeky
suggestion.
As I prepared this posting, I uninstalled the new version and
reinstalled the older version. When I launched the reinstalled older
version, I was immediately met with the same scenario: I could not get
SketchUp to run other than to inform me the software was out of date. I
did this reinstall to see if maybe an election I may have had made to
keep the software current might be at play. I then uninstalled the
older version to see what configuration files, if any, might be left in
the directory ...\Program Files\Google\SketchUp: there were no files
that suggested there were settings or configurations. I did this in
case there was a software design "oversight" which cached a possible
election to automatically upgrade. I also checked my ...\Program
Files\Google\SketchUp directory for any configuration files I might edit
and found none.
A better design approach would be for their software to advise that the
current version may be out of date, but let the user continue working.
Let the users decide if they want to upgrade, don't render their work
product inaccessible by some undisclosed time limitation.
I've learned now that "Free" from Google should prompt the immediate
response of "For how long?" at the minimum. I feel misled by Google and
that they have played fast and loose with the term "Free."
It's common for betas to be time bombed. I don't see where there's a
problem with that as long as the product continues to be free.
I still believe SketchUp to be a great product.
John Poole
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)
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