Why do we still have to activate extension?

[JanOtto]

Hi,
one classical necessity of ArcGIS is that extensions have to be activated.
I would like to ask the Esri-Programmers: Why is this step still required?

Since version 9 or so, many tools and functions including the ones provided by the extensions are grouped in the tool box.
For many users the toolbox window is generally open on the desktop, giving you the impression that these tools are readily available.
This is not the case for the extension tools (like 3D analyst, spatial analyst). Those extensions have to be activated before the toolbox items work.

This step is redundant and annoying in my opinion and should be removed in the next version of ArcGIS.

Best regards,
Jan

[TimWitt]

Jan,

Maybe this step is necessary because of concurrent licenses.

Let's say you have 10 users that have 10 concurrent ArcGIS Desktop licenses, but your company only has the budget for 2 concurrent 3D Analyst licenses. Once 2 of those 10 people have activated the 3D Analyst licenses, the other 8 won't be able to use this extension. Once those 2 are done with the extension, they will deactivate it and the 2 licenses will return to the pool, where other people can activate it from.

If you have only one single use license for ArcGIS Desktop and one single use license for 3D Analyst, then yes it would make sense to not having to activate the 3D Analyst license.

Hope this helps!

Tim

[AdamDavis]

Hi Jan,

In a concurrent usage scenario, if a user has activated an extension then it will be removed from the pool of licences.
This is regardless of whether they ever use the extension. Whether that is a good thing is in the eye of the beholder.

Bad for lots of occasional users as the licence tends to get stuck on a computer where the functionality is not being used. Great when exclusive access to the tool is needed when a job has to got out the door.

I think a much better way would be to acquire the licence for the duration of each tools activity unless the user has specifically checked the licence out to their machine. Best of both worlds!

Adam