Illegal software - I just got pissed off
 

basically I just got pissed off because at the moment I suspect 99% of users in this community use illegal cfx versions or other various software. I mean you can tell from a mile away who is a lazy student, who is a student eager to learn, and the very few that use the software commercially. I don't consider my self as an expert however I would be willing to share more with people that can appreciate it and contribute to this forum. If I can I'm very happy to help students with an assignment if they are stuck however they have made an effort to try and solve the problem.

On the other hand why should I share tips with people that are here just because they have managed to get hold of a copy of cfx (or and other cfd code) and think that now they know everything that is to know about computational fluid dynamics without even completing a tutorial? Basically I feel saddened as I believe that people that know a thing or two about cfd don't contribute to this community for that very reason.

It wasn't that long ago that I have also been a student however I have always been using this forum as reference because of the tips and examples. its far better and has much more information than the one in ansys portal. saying I feel that the quality and level of questions now is completely ridiculous.

end of rant

:(

Maybe one solution to this problem could be a forum with exclusive accessibility through ansys customer portal, but at the moment "Community forums have been discontinued".
Anyone knows the reason for this?

well because ansys want to maximize profitability the customers that have access to the portal are the one's that either them or the company they work for bought tecs. the problem with that is that out of those a very small proportion of people will use the forum, there was very little support from ansys people,hence its easier to raise a support call and ask ansys direct; and to be honest there was very little discussions there worth reading anyway.

i think a way to filter legit users and discourage use of the forum from the ones without a customer number is the way to go. however the access on reading the threads should not be restricted as this is what this forum is all about.

Maybe I just look on the bright side but I think most of the posts on this forum are from students who are using their legitimate uni license but it comes with no or little support contract and their professor doesn't help them (or they are too lazy to ask). I think the proportion of people who are using pirate versions is small.... of course the clever ones don't let on.

As a moderator of this forum I will obviously remove any plug for pirate software or anything else underhand. If I have missed something let me know - but that is not want your point is about.

So I just look at each question on its merits. If the question is interesting, I answer it. Half the questions end up in recommendations to talk to CFX support anyway so that will stifle the pirates!

well glenn, I have to tell you mate you have a lot more patience that I do. perhaps posting after a couple of pints didn't help either.

However as you said its quite easy to figure out who's got an academic license and who's not; the problem is that these people usually come from countries that have little regard for copyrights and in my point of view they are bad news for all other professionals in this field as all they do they get a pirate copy and rise legit copy costs to the roof. A paid up full physics solver license costs what now 26K GBP? not to mention training, support costs etc etc.. I have been involved mostly in multiphase problems for a a year and a half now, cant say that I have touched every possible variation however it does pisses me off that people can simply download an illegal ansys dvd copy and run coupled FSI problems etc - I mean I dont even know the cost of having all available modules for CFX. :(

Dear cklenath,

your guess of 99% is a big suspect! Dont stifle the genuine ones (not all fingers are alike) on the basis of your speculation only.
ANSYS people are not fool, they have made several useful features hidden, and some serious points are not deliberately included in the documentation as well, so afterall serious users have to contact the support service inevitably.
One example is " no constant physics simulation", need to set an envoirnment variable

Just compare the quality of tutorials for ICEM and CFX, you can easily find the difference, I asked this to one of the ANSYS representative, he answered " Yes, thats why we have training courses", you know how expensive these courses are. For students even in universities, donot have the opprtunity to attend such expensive courses.
Forums can be helpful. irrespective of the ridiculos questions we should share our knowledge for the benefit of humanity in general, even one can learn a lot from stupid questions!

Please help people in good spirit and good faith, you will certainly not loose your knowledge.

Hashmi

_______________________________________________
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day.
Teach a man to fish and he will eat for the rest of his life.
-- Chinese proverb --

as I said, in my point of view people that have little regard for copyrights are bad news for all other professionals in this field. CFX or in fact any CFD code is meant to be used as a tool both by students and professionals. how well you do that shows up in you paycheck at the end of each month.

buying a license will enable you to use the code and I think student licenses are about 20% of the normal price. if you have a need to use the code there is no justification on using pirate software.

the "hidden" features as you say are partially there because they are features not fully tested/supported. if you dont know about them then you probably dont need them; if you do need a "hidden" feature you check with ansys, search the rules file or exchange information with colleagues. in many ways you will encounter the need of non standard features while gaining experience in your field.

regarding documentation and tutorials a CFD code is not the same as a mesh generator code, and even if they are owned by ansys originally they were developed by different companies. However I find the the CFX manual an excellent document and the associated tutorials the best starting point in using cfx.

last, if one is wants to use the code professionally they need to invest heavily on software (and hardware). pc's are not that expensive compared to the software however a pirate will only need to copy a disk. the only difference that pirates dont have is the funds to undergo training or invest in serious hardware; hence yes I do know the costs of training and to be honest I wouldn't have it otherwise.

I fully agree with you on account of using illegal software, illegal is illegal, there is no debate over it, piracy is a crime irrespective of geography and countries. I have only reservation about your guessing of 99%, You are working in CFD, I assume you know something about the subject of Statistics and its Normal distribution curve.

I hope you wont mind my views. I wish you will continue helping people as you are doing it on this forum with positive frame of mind.

with best wishes and regards

Hashmi

there's no point on dragging more on this thread as since the day it was was posted I have decided to take Glenn's advice.