Architecture schools and Software Piracy, Clarifications.

The time to do that is before the contract is signed and the deposit paid. Once the contract is signed you can't change the parameters unless all parties are in approval.

That's just the problem. Students aren't made aware that they will probably need to purchase a computer during their education, and they certainly aren't made aware what legal copies of software cost.

Students and their parents see advertisements on TV for $500 computers and think 'great, I'll get a $500 machine and it'll carry me through architecture school.' But the truth of the matter is that in order to get a computer with legal copies of the software an architecture student uses and that has enough power to run those programs you'd have to cough up not $500 but $7,000.

I added it as follows:

Price of computer (including CPU, monitor, and printer): $2,500 AutoCad educational: $1,000 3D Studio Max educational: $1,000 Other software: $2,500 (Photoshop, Illustrator, Premier, Flash, Powerpoint, Word, etc.)

One could probably get away with using 3D Studio Viz, that came bundled with AutoCad 14 when I bought the student version 3 years ago, instead of 3DS Max, and that'd mean the machine costs $6,000. But it'd be really tough to go lower than that if one buys legal copies of all the software.

And I'm sure we can all agree that unexpected expenses totalling $7,000 are very unpleasant indeed.

Cavier taste, eh Adam?

Currently run arch desktop on a $1100 dollar laptop, have a $80 closeout printer. Quick check of Journeyed.com shows arch desktop student 2 year license $400, Viz $200, Office $150, Corel Draw 10 $150 ... whole ball o' wax would be less than 1/3 of what you propose ... hell you could even buy a plotter, a drafting table and an old chevy pickup to hall it all around in ... and of course if you don't want to pay $20k for tuition go to school somewhere else ... didn't the thought cross your mind before you enrolled?

<<snipped>>

No. Old numbers.

My prices are based on the costs that I paid 3 years ago for my machine. $2,000 for the CPU - I already had a monitor; $1,000 each from Journey Ed for AutoCad and 3D Max. Printer was $150.

Thanks for pointing out the current prices.

Whoa.....you need to learn how to shop. 2 years ago I built the 1st P-III in my area. My P-III 500mhz chip cost $600. Both of my 20' monitors (Hitachi Superscan Pro 20) cost $319 each. My entire machine with 512MB of RAM and (2) 40GB hard drives was only $1800.

I just upgraded last month : P-III 800mhz chip, motherboard and 768 mb RAM = $381.00

You got a fair deal on your printer.

What kind of CPU cost $2,000 ?

You wouldn't moan if someone cracked your head would you ? Think about it.

That's what people who know not to call the big tan box a 'hard drive' call

True, but I suspect that it's the students themselves that are setting the standard as to what software to use. For example, we have 6 student licenses for FormZ - all acquired by a motivated student-and before anyone says it, FormZ is known to be virtually impossible to pirate with its hardware lock. So, 6 students out of the entire school are lucky enough to be able to put a copy of it on their computers. The rest of us have to duke it out in a computer lab. It's just another layer in this complex issue.

( the rest is not specifically addressed to Mr. Egan) Some in this group have fallen back to the standard responses they give when they don't fully comprehend the scope of the topic: 'quit your whining.....' or 'when I was a student.....' Of course, this is of no help at all, and I believe its the reason why students pirate software. No one gives a rats ass about students right?That's why many take matters into their own hands. Imagine you're a lowly student, and your inking your plans and sections when suddenly ooops!! As you stare with disgust at the huge smear of ink across your drawing, in walks Joe Computer with miles of rendered images, views, elevations, etc. etc. In addition he also has solar studies, rendered in .avi format, as well as fly-thru's, etc. etc. Jury time rolls around, and all they can talk about is what's lacking in your presentation, because they just finished marveling at all the information Joe Computer presented about his project. I dare say there's not one person in this group that wouldn't toss out the old and get with the new from that point on. Can't afford the software? No prob, because Joe Computer will give you what he's got, and help you learn how to use it. Thats how it happens-it's not an excuse for poor money management, it's that unstoppable drive to be the best that all good arch students have.

As an aside, I wonder how many of the harsher critics of this topic have ever recorded an album they didn't own, dubbed a rented video tape, or downloaded mp3s off the net?

Thanks for picking up where I left off SJF.

I'd love to write more, but I've got to run off to class.

I will address two things.

1: The issue isn't quite as bad as it was when I started architecture school 3 years ago. It seems that prices for student copies of software have dropped significantly since then. $1,000 for AutoCad 14 Student then down to $200 for AutoCad 2002 Student now, for example.

2: As much of the problem at universities lies with hardware as it does with software. Will elabroate more later.

Do you still have the monitor connection? ...and post it?

Now that's funny ...