WD Breaking News

WD Key

regards Michael

Hello Michael,

Not sure if it is good new or not as the message is not certainly not clear.

We are to now expected trust a company that made a quick cash grab by destabilising their customers and continues this by showing so little regard for their non French clients speaking clients that they release this news in a French language video with a garbled English only over dub and no English or any other language documentation ?

Much more info is required but who would trust them not have any hidden traps in this "Security Key".

Regards
Al

Hi
I see it very differently from you Al. It appears they listened to their customers' concerns and came up with a potential solution.

I spent a few months looking around for alternatives back when they first announced the subscription model, and found nothing with WX's cross platform capabilities that was economically competitive. I see posts from developers on this forum who complain about PCSoft's subscription model, who then suggest competing products...with a subscription model. They also never voice concerns about 'what if this company goes out of business - how do access all my code' - that seems reserved for PCSoft.

I make my living with WX, and my only real concern was their poor integration of AI code assistance, and with WX2026 that is very well taken care of. With update 1 it is significantly improved again, so for me I'm very happy to stay with PCSoft, especially now they are trying to address the concerns about accessing the IDE without internet access, or if PCSoft goes away.

Rgds
Paul

Hello Pauly,

The problem for me was never the fact of paying monthly.

The problem was the fact that PCSoft changed the business terms so that if I stopped paying, my clients web pages stopped and I could no longer maintain any of my WX code. In effect PCSoft took over my business and I ended up working for them which is not acceptable.
This destroyed any trust I had in the company and I would never feel secure enough to deal with them again.

As for them listening to customers, they never seemed to in the past and they never accepted their non French speaking clients as worthy of their full attention and only gave grudging support. They actively refused to provide LST support to their non French customers.

The pity is that there are no real alternatives to the WX Products.

Regards
Al

Well, well, well

As Al says - when I see more details ...

The fundamental issue was always ownership of your own source code, and the ability to maintain it regardless. If this is truly addressed, then it is indeed good news.

I could envision a circumstance where the single point of failure (SAAS License protocol) of precluding my software from increasing governmental control and certification requirements, as I am already subjected to audits by 4 different government agencies

Meanwhile, I have already embarked on an escape plan from PCSoft. Nothing will go to waste here, as I am incrementally replicating WinDev and WebDev module - interfacing using WebDev webservices - and it's actually quite seamless, so I can already utilize all newer technologies (Blazor/React) - and I don't need to wait for the 900 new features each year either.

Some of the underlying technologies of PC Soft are already a bit dated. It is mostly all 'good enough' - but with newer technologies - I don't have to code a WinDev version then convert and re-write for WebDev (or vice versa) - I just have to write once and deploy wherever.

But I still like WinDev and I have a lot invested here - and (if this is all true) - then that is a good move.

Regards,
Derek

Hi Al

So far - I can't see much information. But a machine translation of one of the comments does not look good.

Seems the devil may indeed be in the detail ...

50% more? Per year?! Windev is greedy, they want you to get your money's worth!

Well, this “security key” only allows you to use the “latest version” of the product you're subscribed to...

So, forget about versions older than 2026! (downgrading to V23 to meet the entry conditions for V2026...) And later, when switching to the “security key,” there’s no access to previous versions, so you’re stuck with the “subscription” version... Not to mention the price, which is just a big scam...

Oh, and if you’re in a country that isn’t considered a “friend” by Constellation (-50% of their value in 1 year! Congrats!), then geolocation kicks in, and poof! No more access to your subscription... They’ll end up like TeamViewer: -90% in 5 years!

Yep, a bit pricey too,

Initial set-up approx. 2,000 EU + 1 year subscription approx. 2,000 EU (suite + WebDev + deploy) - INCLUDING THE 50% surcharge..

That's 4,000 Euro to start and 4,000 Euro per year - per licence

That's approx. AUD6,700 per year, per licence.

Paul

The problem is not the subscription. That entirely misses the actual risk. The problem is that if you stop the subscription then the IDE stops working, you cannot edit existing projects, you cannot fix existing code. i.e. even though you paid to create projects and code, you will be locked out of them if you stop subscribing. Other development tools, even subscription ones, do not do that; if you stop subscribing then all that happens is that you do not get newer versions and updates. But you can still use everything in the version up to the point you stopped subscribing ... forever.

From a business perspective this is 100% unacceptable situation because it means another company controls your company/projects ... if subscription ends, or for any other reason that they can dictate, you can be locked out of your projects and denied access to your source code.

At least, this is my understanding of the situation but if someone knows different then they can comment and correct me.

Maybe this new video shows that they are re-considering this but I am not 100% clear on that. Does the dongle give you on-going access even without subscription? Maybe but looks expensive too as Derek points out.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/20/2026 08:19AM by JP.

Hi Derek,

I switched on the subtitles of the video (this is on YouTube and you can do that) and let it translate from French to English. In essence it says,you can buy a dongle (v26?) in addition to your abonnement. This dongle is 50% in price of your abonnement and is called a security means in case if your internet connection fails, a nuclear war hits your country or something like that. You don't get such a dongle without abonnement.

Ignoring their non-French customers seems to become a standard. You have a good command of French or get lost!

Kind regards,
Guenter Predl
gpredl@syspredl.at



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/20/2026 09:12AM by gpredl.

I will just add a short addendum to this conversation.

As Al said, "As for them listening to customers, they never seemed to in the past". This move or proposal - not only highlights that they did indeed understand the general user concerns, and the explicit issues of concern regarding on-going access to the source code of deployed applications, but they did not care.

Some AI searches at the time, described PC Soft's approach as "predatory". And the new "WD Key" approach also highlights that it was unnecessary. Yes, you can have ongoing access to you own source code, but first you pay us more upfront. Sounds like the word "predatory" was a very good description.

Regards,
Derek

They released an updated video 7 days ago, [www.youtube.com] - Don't forge to read the 26 comments (uses a translator) - 26 comments - all negative,

.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/2026 09:31AM by JP.

Hello All,

This is an attempt to get hold of our existing "use forever for free" dongles and convert them to "pay forever" dongles.

Once that happens it's game over and they can do whatever they want and charge whatever they want.

Al

Just my two cents..

I think that few people today would trust installing anything from PC Soft on their “golden” dongles.

For most of desktop projects (e.g., ERP systems, data exchange, file system manipulation, crud on databases, windows services, api calls, comunication with physical devices, etc), a WD20 IDE is enough, as it does almost everything you need. Most of the native features introduced in later versions can be replicated with a few lines of code that queue up functions ever since available.
Even for graphical interfaces.. many features, templates, skins provided by new versions can be easily replicated with combinations of existing controls. Even better if you have a WD25 or recent WD2024/2025, which seem to be among the most stable dongle versions after WD20.

In my opinion, freelancers and small businesses have quite no reason to switch to subscription model if they develop mainly on desktop.
Of course, you will miss out on AI developments, but for the moment I don't think this is such a serious shortcoming if you have built your own framework to do the things you need, even developing workarounds to overcome all the unresolved PC Soft bugs.
With recent dongle WDs you can also develop stable and powerful web services to manage internal functionalities for individual company installations and for this purpose a 10-connections WAS is generally sufficient.
So working with desktop IDE is indeed wonderful, especially for people that lack experience in other languages, technologies and tools.
In short, it is not a universal rule but honestly in my business from WD25 "I can't do it in Windev" has never happened to me. It's so true that I have never considered upgrading even when subscription didn't exist yet, if not out of curiosity..

The real problem arises on Webdev, where between WAS (if you publish sites, 10 connections are certainly not enough) and the need to stay always aligned with web evolution, the only choices are: either bow your head and subscribe or quickly plan to give up PC Soft.
I never did web development but all my colleagues/partners that used webdev said it has never been up to par with other widespread technologies and tools (python,node,php,etc). So people could avoid or flee from Webdev for other reasons than subscription, it seems not to be a "must have" tool like windev desktop. On WB I stop talking here because I don't know it very well.

On mobile the situation is similar to Webdev, although perhaps less critical. If you make apps that go on stores aimed at the public, you have to align yourself or change tool, both for the app and for the web service, if windev, on the server side. However, if they are internal apps for individual customers, a WM25 still is more than enough. It does practically everything you need, and you can often rely on a WAS 10 connection if you run them using local data or if server access for data read is lightning fast. At worst, you can install 2 or 3 on various machine.. Ugly idea but it works.

Personally, I'm following everything with interest and curiosity, but I think that with my dongles I will happily reach retirement age and leave the problem to posterity



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/05/2026 08:07AM by GSWD.

Good points GSWD. I think you are right. Time to move on.

However - I did pick up a cultural note from one of the French comments - and explained by AI.

The real reference: “Sûr et certain” by Tonton David

The line you quoted:
“…et je suis sûr, sûr qu’on nous prend pour des cons, j’en suis certain !”

comes from Tonton David’s 1991 song “Sûr et certain”.
It’s a reggae‑raggamuffin track where he denounces:
- political hypocrisy
- social injustice
- authorities treating ordinary people like fools
The key refrain is:
“Et je suis sûr, sûr qu’on nous prend pour des cons, j’en suis certain.”
(“And I’m sure, sure they take us for idiots, I’m certain of it.”)

This line became a meme‑level cultural reference in France.
People quote it whenever:
- an institution behaves opaquely
- a company hides information
- a system makes no sense
- a vendor treats users like they won’t notice
So when someone in the WinDev/WebDev/PC Soft ecosystem says:
“Ça me rappelle Tonton David…”

they mean:
“This situation feels exactly like that lyric — PC Soft is treating us like idiots.”

Great note!! Thank you Derek!

You wouldn't believe it, it's about 25 years now that we are distributors of PC Soft, but up to today we haven't received a single e-Mail or letter that informs us about price changes, new products, a policy or something like that. We are kept like champignons - always in the dark! If we want to know something, we have to ask.

As a software supplier for Philips Data Systems we made a universal ERP program for them. In order to sell that software I had to treat more that 120 dealers with information, free courses and on-site personal support. This way, far more than 1000 pieces of that ERP software could be sold.

Kind regards,
Guenter Predl
gpredl@syspredl.at

GSWD,

Great post, agree with you. We are also very probably (99% sure) just going to stick with 2025 non-subs version. So much trust lost.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/06/2026 09:39AM by JP.

There are several new videos on Youtube about the "security key". One of them answers the question about what happens if you cancel your subscription. It explains that you will continue to have access to the version that was current at the time your purchased the security key. Not stated explicitly, is that you will not have access to the current version as of the date you cancelled your subscription. So it seems that you would have to update the security key every year if you wanted access to the version current at the time of your cancellation. Again, this is not stated explicitly.

If this is true, then you would not be paying just your subscription but also another 50% to assure current autonomy. Seems like just another way to extract additional revenue.

I wonder what percentage of their users they lost that caused them to come up with this "compromise". My guess is that a large percentage of their developers were one-person independents and that they lost a very large percentage of them. I know they have never seemed concerned about these one-person shops, especially the English using international users.

I have dreams of a world where PCSoft really cared about their small customers and had created a version without the enterprise features. Imagine a WinDev/WebDev combo that only had access to HFSQL, did not support other programming languages, etc. A light version with only the solid core features for the one-person micro business that caters to smaller companies with less than 25 users who need custom Windows/Web software.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/2026 09:26AM by dmontaine.

The old regime was tough to deal with but it was possible to connect with individuals in a friendly and professional manner
The new regime is all business with no regard to anyone outside France and certainly no regard for small developers.

Your dream is their nightmare.

Regards
Al

Re: Your dream is their nightmare.

I will never understand the people that focus only on extracting value rather than creating value.

As a niche product you need a community of developers. Having a lower cost basic product encourages developers to try out the solution, build their skills and eventually come to need your more complex products.

Also, it helps to diversify your customer base. A sole developer creates a solution, hires more people, needs more licenses and eventually migrates to the more complete product. As they grow, you grow.

WX attracted a particular group of developers who had gravitated to a commercial product (rather than open source) that did not tax the developer's customers, and who allowed developers to skip upgrading until new features were needed. WX was different, unlike all the competing products that locked in developers and their customers with yearly licensing fees. To try to change that long term informal contract is a recipe for a slow death.

I am guessing the new owners look at WX and conclude; legacy product, weird marketing history, niche player. Solution: extract as much money as possible from existing large customers rather than innovate, cut back on overhead costs and slowly watch the product become static. I bet all of us have seen this happen too many times in our industry. In 10 years all that will be left are some large, long term customers who have become like COBOL users are now, too invested and too afraid of migration.

Hi Al,

as a distributor we did not receive any information or instruction by mail from PC Soft for years. Now it even seems that "English" is not a language they want to support in future. Our 'big' customers left and seemingly started to transfer their applications to other languages / systems or stay with the versions they have. They did not switch to SaaS. Maybe, with the announcement of the "security dongle" (nothing else than the dongles we're using) some of them will come back. I'm in doubt about that. For us, we're staying mostly with the dongle versions 2024 and 2025. A single new project was done in Laravel + Claude.

Kind regards,
Guenter Predl
gpredl@syspredl.at

Is it true that the "security key" option is only available to existing dongle holders, not new subscribers?

Hi Donald,

no, the "security key" is available to everybody. Therefore they ask for 50% of the abonnement price for the first dongle and 25% for ensuing years.

Kind regards,
Guenter Predl
gpredl@syspredl.at

When you say that "English" is not a language they want to support, do you mean they may discontinue the "international" version or something else?

Hi Donald,

no, translation work is mainly done by DeepL or even an AI now. As long as there are Spanish- and English-speaking users and the translation costs are covered by their payments, I think these versions will remain.

Kind regards,
Guenter Predl
gpredl@syspredl.at

Hi Everybody,

so with this new key, does everything go back to the way it was ie. perpetual license if you have a 'key'.
If the key is a perpetual one, why does the SaaS key checking for a valid license?

Thank for any clarification
Regards
Noel

"...does everything go back to the way it was"

3 points; (1) you pay additional (i think 50%) more for the perpetual dongle and on-going subscription fees for WAS, (2) the license is being checked and can presumably be switched off, (3) you cannot revert your "upgraded" dongles back to a state prior to upgrade.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/2026 12:42PM by JP.

So JP,

If the key is perpetual and you stop paying the license does the key continue to work as normal and you can use the latest paid version?

If this is so, why is one at PCSoft mercy?

The additional problem, imo, is that once a project is converted to a newer version, it cannot be opened in an older IDE version. I appreciate that new functions etc. would not work in older IDE versions but the problem is you cannot even open projects in older IDEs in order to access source code, window designs, etc.

Just my opinion - each to his own because each person's situation is different and subject to different risk-cost/benefit analysis.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/2026 12:43PM by JP.

agreed JP,
it is now a question of trust and this has been broken.

for me it is time to move on as hard as it may be.