Hi Manuella Lange

We felt that the new name better communicates the focus of the product... and if I'm really honest some nationalities pronounced BaccS like Bugs!!!

I have checked the details we have for you and you don't seem to have purchased a licence from us, so we would not of known that you are a loyal customer of ours.  My guess is you purchased this through ProZ and not us?  You did not purchase your software through SDL, or through BaccS directly, so you are subject to a different set of agreements determined by ProZ.

I can tell you that in March of this year we notified all users who purchased directly from BaccS that we had acquired the software and we have provided them with updated versions of the software until the support agreement runs out.  At this point these users will decide whether they wish to continue upgrading or paying for their support contract, or not. 

We then released an updated version of the product sets with more features and this week, as you have heard, we have announced a name change to „SDL Trados Business Manager” and released a major update to the Lite plugin.  This update provides more features that are likely to make the Lite version a suitable replacement for all Freelance users (not Freelance users who actually run teams) so they don’t need the Desktop client they used before.  You can find the history of changes to the Lite version in the wiki here:

https://community.sdl.com/product-groups/translationproductivity/business-manager/w/wiki/4729/what-s-new-in-sdl-trados-business-manager-lite

You will need Studio 2019 SR2 for this however as we use features in the plugin that are only possible with the latest version of Studio.

Users who are really managing teams and not working as a freelance translator will be able to purchase the Business Manager Team or Online Edition which can be found here:

http://sdl.com/businessmanager

These (Team and Online) start on the basis of licences for a minimum of three users sharing the same database as they are intended for teams.

I hope this little bit of history and information on the versions available (SDL Trados Business Manager Lite, Team, Online) since SDL acquired BaccS will be helpful for you.  We can’t help you with your current licence because this is subject to the agreement you have with ProZ and I believe they will be clarifying the way forward for their users in due course.

Hi, I didn't follow the transition from Baccs to TBM very carefully, and I am still using the desktop version with a license from ProZ. Does this mean that I won't be able to get a license from ProZ in the future?

Egmont Schröder

Egmont Schröder said:

Does this mean that I won't be able to get a license from ProZ in the future?

Correct.  ProZ no longer offer a licenceas part of the deal they did in the past.

Egmont Schröder

Egmont Schröder said:

Does this mean that I won't be able to get a license from ProZ in the future?

Correct.  ProZ no longer offer a licenceas part of the deal they did in the past.

I totally missed this. I knew that there was a rebranding, but I didn't know that the licensing changed. Where can I get more information? How long can I still use the desktop version?

Egmont Schröder

If you can still use the product as it is installed on your system today then I guess you need to direct the question to ProZ and not here.  Eugene Kuchynski might have some idea from his perspective but I think your main options now are to migrate to either Business Manager Lite or Business Manager Team.  Which one would depend on how and what you use it for.

Hello, Egmont,

Actually, I can't add anything here. Last version which works with ProZ.com Plus subscription is 4.14.0. It still works and can be freely used if you have active Plus subscription. However, any next version won't work with ProZ.com Plus package.

This basically means that I have the only option to buy a Trados 2019 license if I want to us Baccs longer, is this right?

Nope. SDL Trados Business Manager Team is a separate application (evolution of BaccS), and you don't need SDL Trados Studio to use it. However, Business Manager Lite is a Studio plugin - for this product, yes, you need Trados to run it.

But it seems that Trados Business Manager Team is more for agencies, is this right? Do you have further information about this? Does this application aim at freelancers?

Egmont Schröder said:

But it seems that Trados Business Manager Team is more for agencies, is this right? Do you have further information about this? Does this application aim at freelancers?

Correct.  The features in it and all future development are aimed at Agencies and larger Companies.  For Freelancers we are continuing to enhance Trados Business Manager Lite.

The important ting here is that if there are features missing that should be in a solution like this for Freelance translators then we will consider adding them in a future release.