I worked an extra part time job to afford a foundations 7 version of XSI when it went on sale from Softimage inc. I spent more money on training materials and invested half a year of my life learning the software. Then Autodesk bought out Softimage and offered me a discount to upgrade to "Autodesk XSI" for an additional $1,700 more than I had just paid. I couldn't afford to buy the software twice in six months and was not enrolled at college to get a student discount , plus I had just paid the price of a used car for a real version of the software to use legally not wanting to pirate software that I enjoyed and felt the developers deserved to be paid for.
Then my computer crashed and I had to re-install XSI. I found out Autodesk after buying out Softimage (and all their competitors’ software) removed the online activation server link and immediately replaced it with a link telling you to buy XSI again for almost 3K. I had a license, media, and activation code and activation keys for my legal product that was now utterly worthless. Autodesk told me they didn't support anything but the newest version of Autodesk XSI and advised I call the disconnected, non-existent, Softimage inc. Support number. They advised that my version was not supported and that they didn't concern themselves with non Autodesk software. I pointed out to the rep that they had specifically removed the old licenses from the activation server making it impossible to use the software that I bought only 6 months prior and that even they replaced it with an advertisement to purchase the rebranded Autodesk version so clearly they could have sent me an offline activation key or not invalidated my Key files. The rep chuckled and said good luck.
The online activation is useless at stopping piracy as I know people that were happily using cracked versions to learn while I slaved away at a part-time job, ate ramen noodles and went without all to buy the overpriced software to be legit due to being against piracy and even Autodesk got a good laugh out of that. If you aren't a big movie or game studio/company then they aren't going to walk into your living room and sue you for license non compliance while you are learning to use their product. If you were to start making money off of using their software after starting a studio you would either be able to afford to pay 3K this year 3 K next year etc for the latest and greatest, or the studio that hired you would have the software. If you are a freelance artist or learning God help you if you invest in one of the cash-cows these crooks scooped up from their competitors. After all if you don't like something it's not like you can buy one of the other leading commercial packages, they are all right next to whatever other one you had on the same Autodesk page at a similar price and with the same features being added across the board. They make it impossible to buy last years , used version and if you pony up and buy it new they might just deactivate it and shake you down to pay again and again for the same software any time they feel like it. They own Maya , Max, and XSI now so they charge what they want , do what they want , add features if and when they want , and if they feel like it their support likely can, happily crap in your hat and tell you to have a nice day. You might be better off biting the bullet to learn the Blender interface though it’s a bit rough to wrap your head around at first. Blender has been leaping ahead in unique features and innovation ever since Autodesk strangled the major competition in the Pro 3D market several years ago. I’d not invest the time needed to become proficient in any software you rent for thousands of dollars which may go poof one day.