LabVIEW licensing

[Cat]

Hellooo?  Anybody home?

For those of you who don't remember (or weren't even born yet when I started posting here 😄), I work for the US Navy and use a whole bunch of LabVIEW code.  We're being forced to "upgrade" to Windows 11, so figured we might as well bite the bullet and upgrade from LV2019 to LV2024 at the same time.  And then the licensing debacle began...

Due to our operating paradigm, we currently use a LV2019 permanent disconnected license for our software development. This was very straightforward back then.  But not so much with LV2024 and the SaaS situation. Add to this the fact that I can't talk to NI directly and have to go thru our govt rep for any answers.  And he and I are not communicating very well.

I'm hoping someone here has an answer to what I think should be a really simple question:  If I have a "perpetual" license with 1 year service duration for LabVIEW, at the end of that year, if I don't renew the service, can I still use LabVIEW like always, as if I still had my old permanent license?  I realize I would not have any more support or upgrades, but that's fine.

I've read thru the threads here and in the NI forum about this, but they mostly ended back when no one really knew how it was all going to shake out.  So are we locked into either our ancient LV versions forever, or are we going to be paying Emerson/NI every year for something we don't really need?

Cat

[LogMAN]

Welcome to the forums!

1 hour ago, Cat said:

If I have a "perpetual" license with 1 year service duration for LabVIEW, at the end of that year, if I don't renew the service, can I still use LabVIEW like always, as if I still had my old permanent license?

Yes this is exactly how the good old perpetual license works. Even without SSP the license is valid indefinitely.

At my work we also stayed with LabVIEW 2019 for our codebase. The old licenses are still valid and haven’t been renewed.

We have an additional subscription license for support reasons, though.

[Neil Pate]

2 hours ago, Cat said:

Hellooo?  Anybody home?

For those of you who don't remember (or weren't even born yet when I started posting here 😄), I work for the US Navy and use a whole bunch of LabVIEW code.  We're being forced to "upgrade" to Windows 11, so figured we might as well bite the bullet and upgrade from LV2019 to LV2024 at the same time.  And then the licensing debacle began...

Due to our operating paradigm, we currently use a LV2019 permanent disconnected license for our software development. This was very straightforward back then.  But not so much with LV2024 and the SaaS situation. Add to this the fact that I can't talk to NI directly and have to go thru our govt rep for any answers.  And he and I are not communicating very well.

I'm hoping someone here has an answer to what I think should be a really simple question:  If I have a "perpetual" license with 1 year service duration for LabVIEW, at the end of that year, if I don't renew the service, can I still use LabVIEW like always, as if I still had my old permanent license?  I realize I would not have any more support or upgrades, but that's fine.

I've read thru the threads here and in the NI forum about this, but they mostly ended back when no one really knew how it was all going to shake out.  So are we locked into either our ancient LV versions forever, or are we going to be paying Emerson/NI every year for something we don't really need?

Cat

Welcome back! Yes we remember you 🙂

So I think you can now actually buy perpetual licenses again. I have not needed to do this myself as my org has an enterprise agreement with NI, but it is possible (I think...)

[JKSH]

5 hours ago, Neil Pate said:

So I think you can now actually buy perpetual licenses again.

Yes you can. The official form is at https://www.ni.com/en/forms/perpetual-software-licenses-labview.html

Some things to keep in mind:

• There is a current promotion (valid till the end of December 2024) where those who used to have an SSP can renew it today as if the SSP never expired in the first place. That means you can get the latest version of LabVIEW, under a perpetual license, at a discounted price (compared to buying it "new"): https://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW/LabVIEW-subscription-model-for-2022/m-p/4398958#M1296289
• Quotes/sales are now handled by external distributors, rather than Emerson/NI.
• Lots of people have reported that they didn't get a response to their quote requests, or didn't get the expected discount applied. If that's the case, message Ahmed Eisawy, the Director of Test Software Commercialization (who wrote the forum post in my link above) and he'll get it sorted out.

[ShaunR]

14 hours ago, Cat said:

Hellooo?  Anybody home?

For those of you who don't remember (or weren't even born yet when I started posting here 😄), I work for the US Navy and use a whole bunch of LabVIEW code.  We're being forced to "upgrade" to Windows 11, so figured we might as well bite the bullet and upgrade from LV2019 to LV2024 at the same time.  And then the licensing debacle began...

Due to our operating paradigm, we currently use a LV2019 permanent disconnected license for our software development. This was very straightforward back then.  But not so much with LV2024 and the SaaS situation. Add to this the fact that I can't talk to NI directly and have to go thru our govt rep for any answers.  And he and I are not communicating very well.

I'm hoping someone here has an answer to what I think should be a really simple question:  If I have a "perpetual" license with 1 year service duration for LabVIEW, at the end of that year, if I don't renew the service, can I still use LabVIEW like always, as if I still had my old permanent license?  I realize I would not have any more support or upgrades, but that's fine.

I've read thru the threads here and in the NI forum about this, but they mostly ended back when no one really knew how it was all going to shake out.  So are we locked into either our ancient LV versions forever, or are we going to be paying Emerson/NI every year for something we don't really need?

Cat

Welcome back. Retirement not all it was cracked up to be? 

My only comment about this (because I still use LV 2009-best version ever) is that generally:

1. Never do it in the middle of a project. Upgrading LabVIEW is a huge project risk.
2. Don't upgrade if the software already works and you are adding to it (only use it on new projects).
3. Only upgrade if everyone else in your team upgrades at the same time.
4. Upgrade if there are specific features you cannot do without.
5. Upgrade  if it will greatly reduce the time to delivery (unlikely but it has been known).
6. Upgrade if there is a project stopping bug that is addressed in the upgrade you are considering.
7. Remember that you can have multiple versions on the same machine. You don't need (and should never) go and recompile all your old projects.
8. 

Edited Friday at 09:02 AM by ShaunR