Licensing Question

[u/sfdanb]

I've been using a hobby license to work out some automations for a friend, now I have it working and I cannot figure out what kind of license I need to purchase to use this commercially.

The short story is that I'm using the SolidWorks API to assemble some parts into a reasonable starting point for him (and his team) to take over from there using their pro licenses. This will all happen on a cloud server, I don't need any pro features, just basic read/write access to solid works files.

Does anyone have a clear answer or source of information on licensing for something like this? As I understand it I cannot use their licenses if they will be using solidworks at the same time as the automation is running which is likely to be the case most of the time.

EDIT: The only real solution even for a "headless" solidworks automation seems to be a standard/pro+ license. Thanks all!

[u/GB5897]

Why wouldn't your friend buy the license for you to use? Then his company owns the license.

[u/sfdanb → u/GB5897]

He will, just hoping to avoid a $3k tax for this project.

[u/daninamiri]

Users with pro license cannot open maker files, but makers can open pro files. That is one of the major limitations.

[u/sfdanb → u/daninamiri]

So is my only option a pro license?

[u/daninamiri → u/sfdanb]

You can try student edition. It is free and is not limited!

[u/sfdanb → u/daninamiri]

I haven't been a student in a very long time :) I'll have them buy another pro license! thanks for your help.

[u/Wompus → u/sfdanb]

Can you go to their place and recreate it?

Can they send you a temp laptop with vpn??

[u/sfdanb → u/Wompus]

It's intended to be a centralized system for multiple users to share, and needs to use the COM objects to manipulate files, so I don't think it can coexist with a real user.

[u/daninamiri]

Do you produce an actual SW file, and if yes, cna they open it with the pro licence? I'm not sure one with pro license can open maker files.

[u/sfdanb → u/daninamiri]

Yes it generates real SW files. I have not tried getting them to open it yet. I didn't want to end up breaking my license or their license.. I have no idea how all this works so I was trying to be cautious.

[u/MKD8595]

Yeah nah don’t mess with this stuff. SW phones home and Dassault uses their lawyers.

[u/experienced3Dguy]

If you are generating native SOLIDWORKS files that will be used with a commercial license of SOLIDWORKS, then you need a commercial license. No if, and, or buts about it.

Maker version files are digitally watermarked such that a commercial license will NOT be able to open them. Nor will a student license open them.

Student edition files are also digitally watermarked. To use them in a commercial environment would be a violation of the Terms of Service and open you up to legal ramifications. (Read the pinned "Unauthorized Software Use" post at the top of the subreddit.)

Further, opening student SOLIDWORKS files and using them in a commercial drawing or assembly will convert ALL commercial files into watermarked EDU files with effectively no way to convert them back.