Extended support for SolidWorks CAD software

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Earlier
this week, we announced an exciting update to our subscription support program.
If you haven’t already read the press release, here’s the basic
gist of it.

Up
to now, the support period for any given version of SolidWorks ended three
months after a new version was released. To use a recent example, SolidWorks
2009 was released in September 2008. Under the existing policy, support for
SolidWorks 2008 ended at the end of December 2008.

What this
new policy does (to use the example above) is extend support for SolidWorks
2008 through the end of 2009. And when SolidWorks 2010 is released this
September, we’ll continue to support SolidWorks 2009 through the end of 2010.

This isn’t just a one-time thing, but a new ongoing policy. To build off this
example, SolidWorks 2009 (released in September 2008) will be supported through
December 2010, three months after SolidWorks 2011 is released. SolidWorks 2010
will be supported through December 2011, SolidWorks 2011 will be supported
through December 2012, and so on.

If
that looks like a lot of dates, just think of it this way—if for some reason
you can’t upgrade to the new version of SolidWorks when it’s released, and you're an active subscription customer, we’ll
keep supporting the previous version for 15 months instead of 3.

I’ve
gotten a few questions asking how this will work in execution. So here’s a
quick FAQ that I’ll update further if necessary:

Q: Will service packs continue to be issued
for older versions?

A: No, we will not be releasing additional
service packs beyond the normal five. Once a version of SolidWorks has been
superseded by a newer version, our current plan is to deliver updates with
hotfixes that would be available to all subscription customers.

Q: How will you determine which issues are
addressed?

A: We will be addressing issues defined as
“business critical”. If you encounter an issue with an older version that is
impacting your work that has not been addressed in any of the existing service
packs, contact your reseller to discuss the issue

Q: What qualifies as a “business critical”
issue?

A:
SolidWorks defines a business critical issue as one where the software is not
operational, no workaround exists and/or the business is severely impacted.
This includes issues holding up design development or a production situation
deployment. A business critical issue could also be something less disruptive
to an individual but is encountered by a large number of customers. This is why
it’s always a good idea to contact your reseller with any issue that affects
your business, even if it’s not affecting your bottom line. The number of
customers associated with this type of software error plays a key role in
promoting that issue to “business critical” and we will provide a correction
for it.  All customers that had logged
this issue would then be notified that it has been corrected and directed to
the hotfix with the solution.

We hope that this new policy will help
customers on subscription support who can’t upgrade as quickly as they’d like to feel more secure in
using the software until such time that they can. If you have any additional
questions about how this new policy works, post it in the comments and I’ll try my best
to get an answer for you.

Matthew West

SolidWorks alumnus. I like plate reverb, Rat pedals, Thai curry, New Weird fiction, my kids, Vespas, Jazzmasters, my wife & Raiders of the Lost Ark. Not necessarily in that order.