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LinkLine: Winter 2009

Product Q&A

SpecLink-E and LinkMan-E

Q. I'm a subscriber to SpecLink+ - what does the launch of SpecLink-E mean to me?  How will my operation and projects be affected?
A. Existing subscriptions to SpecLink+ remain in place and may continue to be used.  Changing to SpecLink-E is not required but we hope you will see the benefits of making the changeover.  A description of the new features in SpecLink-E can be found here.  

In addition, SpecLink-E interoperates with LinkMan-E, to provide coordination between Autodesk Revit and SpecLink-E - read about that here.

The SpecLink+ master database will continue to be updated for about a year.  After that time, the software will continue to be available to print and export projects.  BSD may revisit this end date decision at a later date if warranted.

Q. Will upgrading to SpecLink-E cost me something?
A. You can change your subscription from SpecLink+ to SpecLink-E at no extra charge.

If you have a multi-user subscription, your entire user count is changed to SL-E and your SpecLink+ subscription is "unpermitted", unless one of the exceptions described below is desired.

Your SL-E subscription will run to the same expiration date as your former SpecLink+ subscription.
BSD reserves the right to increase renewal prices at any time.

Q. Can I evaluate SpecLink-E before taking the plunge?
A. Of course.  Any existing user may request a temporary SL-E key for evaluation, for 30 days, at no extra charge.

Q. Exactly how will the changeover occur?
A. First, you'll need to update your office master project(s) to the Summer 2009 or later version of SpecLink+. 

We recommend that you do this for all existing projects that you think you might want to use at a later time.  Once you have done this, you can save these projects for later conversion to SL-E as needed.

Next, you'll install SpecLink-E and call Support for a new SLE EID (electronic id) and unpermitting of your SpecLink+ installation.

Finally, you'll open SpecLink-E and copy the desired SpecLink+ project into SpecLink-E.

Q. What if I need to use both SpecLink+ and SpecLink-E for some reason?
A. If you have a 1-user subscription, there are 2 options:

  • For short term purposes, to allow updating projects for conversion to SL-E, you may request a short term complimentary key, up to 3 months.
  • For longer term purposes, you may purchase a separate 1-user SpecLink+ subscription.

If you have a multi-user subscription key and wish to retain one or more users of SpecLink+, you may either purchase additional users for SpecLink+ or downgrade your SL-E user count and use the subtracted user count for SpecLink+.  For example:

  • A 2-user firm wishes to keep 1 user of SL+.  A 1-user key is given for each of SL-E and SL+.  Note that the renewal price for a 1-user SL-E subscription plus a 1-user SpecLink+ subscription is slightly higher than a 2-user subscription for either.
  • A 2-user firm expects to need 2 users for SL-E but also needs an SL+ user.  You must purchase a separate 1-user subscription – a total of 2-users plus 1-user.  Both subscriptions must expire on the same date.
  • A 10-user firm wishes to keep 2 users of SpecLink+.  An 8-user SL-E key is given, plus a 2-user SpecLink+ key.  At renewal you will be invoiced for two subscriptions, 8-user SL-E plus 2-user SpecLink+, not one 10-user subscription. 
Q. Can I use LinkMan-E now?
A. Any user of SpecLink-E may participate in the LinkMan-E "beta" period, which runs from now until April 1, 2010, at no extra cost.  After that time, subscriptions to LinkMan-E will be based on the user count of the relevant SpecLink-E subscription.

More questions? Contact BSD Technical Support: