I want to learn a better design program than sketchup and Solidworks seems a popular choice and although I could not find a price for it I know it's expensive so are these ads on ebay selling pirated software like a cracked trial version , surely just because the programs are not the latest version they don't drop this much in price? Checked the sellers feedback for what it's worth and they have sold a few of these programs with positive feedback.
I think the bit at the bottom saying "you will receive two dvds in protective sleeves with no artwork" means it's unlikely to be the official version, it'll probably still work but is probably pirated.
Yes I noted there was no original packaging, I thought maybe the programs were the student editions which sell for £80 if it is pirated it's hard to believe that they have sold so many copies without being reported yet as companies are often on the lookout for copies of their software especially on ebay. I know that when someone tried to sell pdf copies of Haynes car manuals the ad was quickly removed and Haynes tried to prosocute them. I'm going to contact the seller and ask if it's legit and sign it, Yours Sincerely, Solidworks Sales Dept. I wonder if I will get a reply
Highly unlikely to be genuine. We use Solidworks at work, and it costs us thousands per seat plus another few hundred a year for updates & support.
Yes, seems very suspect, I know Solidworks costs a lot but could not find a price as the genuine distributors ask you to contact them for a quote. Just to make it clear I don't intend buying one of these pirated copies as I have no time for piracy, I have had original material copied myself, most of the content of a website I built was cloned on another site, it was hardly big time piracy and not financially damaging but still very annoying
Often times big suites like this don't mind piracy for people just starting. Adobe, for sure, doesn't mind. They expect people to pirate the software when they're just starting, in hopes that they buy it when it starts making them money. AutoDesk is the same way. I've sent both thank you letters for their software and the time their developers put into it, and they just said, basically, "Glad you like it. If you can afford it, or start professionally, please purchase the package to support us." I respect that, and if I had an extra $3000+, I would buy it.
I wouldn't pay for pirated software considering they got it for free. Solidworks Standard 2011 cost £3200, the Professional was £6500 at the time so Premium must have been knocking the £9K mark. If you want to buy a decent CAD package for a reasonable price look at getting Alibre Design. Not pointing to any one reseller as that's unfair, but the Personal edition can be had for £159.
That's exactly what really annoys me with this kind of piracy when someone is actually making money from someone else's hard work I have contacted the website that the ebay seller has linked to in the advert Solidworks.com to see what they have to say, the link is to see if your computer meets the system requirements which I think is a real cheek! Thanks for the link, I've not heard of alibre but it gets a pretty good review on this site and that's a more realistic price for my needs.
Give the SWK version a go if you can get a code. http://www.solidworks.co.uk/sw/education/SDL_form.html
I use Autodesk Inventor which can be had for free if you (or someone you know) has a university email address .ac.uk .edu etc. Just not to be used for commercial purposes. Equally you can get all of their other software too 3dsmax, maya, AutoCAD... Makes sense really, gets the next generation using their products to keep them industry standards.
I don't know anyone with a university email address but it's alright as I didn't realize there were so many CAD programs around £75-£100 which is about all I want to spend as it's only for my personal use to design PC cases and modded parts on, I've been checking the reviews and comparisons of a few of them on this site but I'm still not decided yet