A Concern regarding investing in learning OS

Jonathan

Hi all,

I'm a new user to onshape. I like what i've seen so far, and invested some decent time in training myself with the basic usage. I have one major concern about learning OS - I'm an educator, mostly using CAD in a classroom to teach fabrication skills to youth and non-professional adults.

OS might be an amazing platform for teaching CAD, but I'm concerned that at some point OS will start charging money for using it. That is perfectly reasonable to charge money for using a fine product, but if the price will be similar to the price of other CAD systems it will not be possible for me to use it, privately or in the classroom.

In order to know if I should invest precious time in learning and getting used to the OS environment, I really would like to have an estimate of the future usage price for a private, non-commercial user.

Thanks,

Jonathan.

caradon

As far as I know Onshape will be free (complete functionality), unless you want private documents. As opposed to most traditional CAD vendors, you don't pay for functionality. You pay for privacy.
Most commercial users will probably pay for privacy.
Most education users will be perfectly happy with Public documents.

I agree OS can be a great platform for education.

Dries

Jonathan

Wow, cool concept! 

I'll go ahead then and plan on using it in my educational programs - its seems like the best solution for all parties involved as my students can later decide for themselves if they are interested in protecting their creations and paying for them, and I won't have to 'beg' for educational licenses, or waste time on explaining complicated installations on students laptops.

Definitely a game changer for me!

thanks,

Jonathan.

brucebartlett

I believe you will also get some free private doc's upfront before you have to pay, maybe they were looking at up to 8 free private doc's. I think you will also be able to collaborate on a paid users private doc's if they give you access, which can be removed at anytime. Bruce

billy2

Jonathan you are doing the right thing, keep learning. One day you'll be a hero amongst your students  & fellow educators.

chris_aicher

A bit off topic, but I've introduced my 11 year old to OS recently. It is amazing how quickly today's kids can pick thing up. He's been using my seat of SolidWorks for awhile when it's available, but course he needs to use my machine as well. He can now jump on nearly any machine and design to his hearts content.
You're students are going to love it!

billy2

Chris, that's fantastic, please post some images of his designs I'd really like to see them. I really enjoy seeing  young minds ticking away and figuring things out.

Ben_

@Jonathan Nathan‌ 
I have been using 3D cad since 98-99 and I do online education as well. I have dropped all my work on PTC and SolidWorks products to exclusively work on Onshape for the future. I may be shooting myself in the foot (although I highly doubt it) and I am far from saying I am a expert and can see into the future. But from what I have seen and worked with and had some insight into what Onshape will be doing in the future I am very comfortable with my decision. 

Besides I am a huge fan of the maker community and this is hands down the tool we need and want. I can proceed with projects that in the past would have been impossible. I am looking forward to the collaboration possibilities. No install, and platform agnostic are HUGE for me too. 

Too many times in the past I have ignored my gut instinct and paid dearly on that. This time my gut is SCREAMING at me on this. Not going to ignore it this time

Super long winded way of saying I think your time investment in this will pay off in spades in many many ways. 

brucebartlett

My six year old has mechanical mind and have helped him doing some parts in onshape not up to using it himself yet but he is keen, his room now has sign on the door that says "designing only". My 10 year old has no interest at all and gets frustrated when the younger one tells him how to put stuff together.

lougallo

Although we are still working out the boundaries on free/paid plans, rest assured we are going to allow users to use/learn this platform without a cost.  When we get closer the the exact terms of our plan offerings, we will need your feedback.  Stay tuned.

fastwayjim

Jonathan said: Definitely a game changer for me!

I think you will find that we all share this sentiment! Welcome to the beta test!

Joe

I am also a HS educator- teaching CAD and manufacturing to 9th-12th graders. Our 3D software of choice,for years, has been Solidworks. But Jonathan brings up a good point- license costs are a huge issue for my school. Further, sharing documents on a locked down high school server is awful and we can't afford PDM in addition to CAD software! When an engineering friend of mine introduced me to OS, I was thrilled. I cannot wait to begin exploring and logging some feedback.

lougallo

@Joe Our goal is to bring CAD to everyone and lower those financial and technical barriers.  We don't yet have the details all figured out but making it easy for you to teach Onshape to student is our goal.  More to come in the coming months.