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Update 09-25-2020: Autodesk has announced that STEP file export will remain in the free version of Fusion 360 To their credit, Autodesk is offering a steep discount on the commercial license right now, which might take some of the sting out of the changes.
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The problem with these personal use licenses is that it’s easy to get used to them and think of them as de facto open-source licenses changing the terms then ends up leaving a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. Features removed from the free license in this week’s announcement remain in place for paid subscriptions as well as the educational and start-up license options. To be fair, it was pretty clear that changes to the personal use license were coming a while ago with the consolidation of paid-tier licenses almost a year ago, and the cloud-credit system that monetized rendering/simulation/generative design services happening on the Autodesk servers.
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We’d say that users of Fusion 360’s free personal use license would best be advised to export everything they might ever think they need design files for immediately - if you discover you need to export them in the future, you’ll need one of the other licenses to do so. Most of these changes go into effect October 1, with the exception of the limit on active project files which goes into effect in January of 2021.
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Change is inevitable, and a part of life.
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