I have upgraded my Windows Rhino5 license to Rhino6 and selected a cloud based validation so I could share the license between a couple Dell workstations at different locations and maybe eventually my MacBook when 6 for Mac comes out. My understanding was that as long as I turned on Rhino6 with an internet connection every 2 weeks the software would automatically validate the license, and I could run Rhino6 offline on the machine that validated the license if necessary for 2 weeks. After that I would have to validate the license online if I wanted to continue to use it on that machine. And if I were to try to use Rhino6 on a machine that was online while the license was checked out to a different machine I would be asked if I wanted to transfer the license to the current machine. Then if I clicked yes then the transfer would occur and the 2 week timer would be reset except now for the current machine. Am I understanding this correctly?
Because now I use my license on one of my Dell workstations with an internet connection but when I check the license manager it informs me that I have “Offline Access until: 2018-03-16…” which is only 7 days from now. What’s up? Could you please explain how this works?
Edit: As I was closing the computer a couple minutes ago I got notified an update was available so I just installed version 6.3 but the license manager still informs me my offline access is only until 2018-03-16, so apparently that did not reset the timer either.
I’ve tried four times to write a sensible answer to your question. And the best I can come up with is “it’s complicated.” I assure you that designing a simple, easy to use cloud licensing system is not trivial. And the way it works is also not trivial. Your question seems to assume that both computers are always on, and that when they’re on, something on them is actively connected to the Cloud Zoo to broker the transfer you’d like to request. Well, the world isn’t that simple, so neither is the Cloud Zoo.
No problem, thanks for taking the time to try to explain. I’m pretty sure that even with wonky internet here it should be fine. I still have a Rhino5 license for Mac and I may just upgrade it to a standalone for a laptop depending on the upgrade offer vs resale price for the old license.
Do have any plan for users who bought Rhino5 licenses for both Windows and Mac and now may need just one?
For Rhino 6, you’ll only need to upgrade once in order to use Rhino on both Windows and Mac. So, we’ve saved you the cost of one upgrade if you want both platforms. If you only need one platform, you’re not saving anything, but you’re also not losing anything.
So since I have a Windows Rhino6 cloud license, when Mac Rhino6 is released I can upgrade at no additional charge. Or if I want I may upgrade and have 2 licenses, one cloud and one standalone.
In case you’re wondering why I seem obsessed with this it’s because I live in China where my internet access can get very unreliable when I travel, and I depend on using Rhino daily. So while an entirely cloud based system may be fine for most users I am considering upgrading my Mac Rhino5 to a Rhino6 standalone for the laptop and leaving the cloud license to switch between 2 workstations. Also lets me keep working when running 2 machines while rendering.
Thanks again for your time responding to my questions. Much appreciated!
Today, you can upgrade a Rhino 5 for Windows license to Rhino 6. You can also upgrade a Rhino 5 for Mac license to Rhino 6. You have to pay for both, and will end up with two Rhino 6 licenses.
When Rhino 6 for Mac ships, it will use a Rhino 6 license key - just like Rhino 6 for Windows does. So those two Rhino 6 license keys in the previous paragraph would work for both Mac and Windows Rhino 6.
Or, if you choose not to upgrade one of the licenses, you can use just one Rhino 6 license for and run it on either Windows or Mac - but not both at the same time. Just like today, you can run Rhino 6 for Windows on two computers, logged into your Rhino account - but not at the same time.
It should all work very well with an intermittent internet connection.