When I buy a new license for Visual Fortran Compiler for Windows from Intel does that license last forever if I never upgrade

[Bill_P_2]

Hi, I have to get permission from my boss to buy Fortram Composer 2013 and showed him the cost for a new license. He wondered if that license lasted another year and at the end of a year we'd have to renew for another year. So, my question is if I buy a new license do I have to keep buying the renewal if I want keep using it or will that license last forever, assuming I never upgrade after that. Thanks very much! Bill

[onkelhotte]

Hi, you can use IVF as long as you want. The one year support means that you can download newer versions (minor updates and major releases) in the following 12 months. After your license has expired, you cannot download any update, but you can use every version that was relaesed before your expiring date. Markus

[Steven_L_Intel1]

Just confirming that Markus is correct. I will mention that we recently changed how we price support renewal - it costs less than before if you renew before the support term expires (there is no overlap in term - the renewal extends the support term by 12 months.) Within one year of expiration you can still renew, but the discount is reduced. After a year you'd need to buy a full license to get back to a current version. See http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/price-reduction-on-renewals-for-intel-tools for more information.

[David_Qualls]

We have had an absolutely horrible experience with Intel Fortran licenses.  Because we upgraded to Windows 7 after we bought our initial licenses, we had to reinstall all our software, including Fortran.  We couldn't.  The licenses "expired".  In desperation, we bought 3 new licenses of Composer a few months ago.  After a few misstarts on brand-new machines (install, then delete and reinstall), even our new licenses no longer work.  We've bought 7 licenses over the past 3-years, and are currently dead in the water.  None of them work.

I've recommended to my management that they take this to Legal.  I'm still waiting to hear what they have decided.  For my part, I'm looking at other avenues, like GNU Fortran or perhaps Portland.  This being shut-down due to license issues is just ridiculous.

[Steven_L_Intel1]

David, we'll be glad to help you. I will try sending you an email so we can straighten it out. As was said before, Intel Fortran licenses do not expire and I want to work with you to figure out what went wrong and fix it if possible.

[Steven_L_Intel1]

David and I exchanged some email and I think things are back on track for him.