As we move into the future things change.  Some for the better and some for the worse.  Autodesk is moving forward to having a pay as you go like scheme when it comes to how their software is consumed.  This is consistent with how all software vendors are going with the licensing of their software.

This is great as you can grow and diminish your software footprint to suit where your business is, at any particular time.

One of the puzzling things is the activation of the product.  Previously you would insert your serial number and product key, open the product and it would automatically connect to the internet and activate the software.  With Desktop Subscription things work a little differently.  You have to have permission to be able to access the software.  This permission is given by your software co-ordinator through the account that is associated with that software.  Typically you will have one account per company which would have all the software associated with it.

The software co-ordinator will send an invite/give permission to the user that needs access to the software.  If the user already has an account then they can open the software and type in their Autodesk account details.  This is typically your email address and your password.  If you do not have an account you would then have to accept an invitation which Autodesk will send to you and activate your account.    Once this is done you will then be able to open the software and activate.

Please note that the software needs an active internet connection when activating.  Once active you will be able to run the software without an internet connection for 30 days.  Thereafter the software will need to send a message back home to check that there is still a license available for that serial number and user.