This is the first time I've heard of this change to Fusion360, and my initial reaction was to lower my opinion of Autodesk. But on second thought it seems like a good compromise: hobby users still get the functionality for free, but it dissuades use of the free version in commercial manufacturing.
Re:FreeCAD BIM development news
by Brian_K_White on Saturday October 31, 2020 @04:25PM
(#24954915)
I see no excuse for artificially sabotaging output.
Limited access to features is one thing, artificially injected breakage is another.
A person or company that behaves that way is not someone I want to deal with and not a tactic I want to reward with success.
I would rather pay even more to have open source developers work on honest problems.
Re:FreeCAD BIM development news
by nucleardog on Saturday October 31, 2020 @07:48PM
(#24956212)
How do you segment hobby CNC from commercial CNC usage?
Seems like “how quickly they need the job run” is a good compromise. For commercial use time is money, for a hobbyist something taking a bit longer is pretty inconsequential.
The alternative you’d suggest is just to cut the hobbyists off. How is that better?
"This last month we also had a hectic turnover, because Autodesk changed the terms of the free version of their Fusion360. There is a full load of new limitations that restrain much the use for personal/hobby users. For example, the g-code you export from Fusion360 to CNC machines (that cut objects out of a block of material), is now making the machine running slower (and therefore raising the production costs), for no apparent reason other than nagging the users into buying a subscription. As a result, we saw a massive migration of users to FreeCAD, and it's really thrilling to see people discovering FreeCAD and learning it and liking it."
Seems also to be reflected in contributions: https://twitter.com/FreeCADNews/status/1321931951658422284
"We'd like to take a moment to congratulate all the new devs that are stepping up lately to submit fixes for the #FreeCAD project. Thx for leaning in! The commit log is becoming quite diverse and exciting to follow"