Bricsys throws down the gauntlet
The takeaway
“Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM” has been an IT truism for a generation. In 2D design technology, Autodesk is equivalent of IBM, the assumed standard of excellence. At its annual development conference meeting this week in Barcelona, Bricsys is explaining to its community of developers and end users how the CAD industry has reached a fork in the road, one that forces users to choose between engineering stability and continuity based on continued use of the .dwg data format, and a future of uncertainty and data format chaos based on moving to new solutions.
The details
This morning in the opening session of the 2014 Bricsys International Conference, CEO Erik de Keyser opened with a challenge to the millions of users of .dwg based software. The future, de Keyser claims, is either continuity or chaos.
.dwg is the file format popularized by AutoCAD, and for a generation has been the de facto standard data format for most engineering and design tasks. .dwg is primarily a 2D drafting format, with some 3D drafting capabilities. 3D modeling has been growing in importance in the past 10 years, but by most estimates there are 3-5 users of 2D .dwg-based drafting software for every seat of a 3D modeling product.
Bricsys CEO Erik de Keyser opens the 2014 Bricsys Developers Conference.
Bricsys claims there are 12 million registered users of .dwg-based software, and another 24 million to 36 million unregistered users of .dwg technology. de Keyser says the current and future needs of the entire .dwg user community need to be taken into consideration, not just those currently registered with a software company.
Bricsys claims Autodesk is defocusing on AutoCAD, intent on moving its customer base to new products such as Revit for AEC and Inventor or Fusion for Mechanical. There is no continuity in such a strategy, de Keyser argues. For the millions who have relied on .dwg-based solutions for years, he says there is strong desire for continuity and affordability.
These claims are not new. For years Autodesk has been leading with its 3D modeling products, while continuing to update AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT. But in recent years the updates to AutoCAD have been fewer in number, while at the same time Revit and Inventor have become platforms for task-specific applications that historically have been AutoCAD’s claim to fame.
Bricsys says .dwg remains a viable standard. For years it has been building an alternative development environment, one that understands the Application Programming Interface (API) commands in AutoCAD but also provides an alternative development system. As one third-party developer using Bricsys technology explained in an early session, we have a complete technology to match Autodesk at a lower price, but we lack the understanding of the customer base that can’t seem to separate price from performance capabilities.
It is a historic and natural progression in IT that increased performance comes at a lower price, not a higher price. It is only the trail blazer who gets to set the price initially. Autodesk has used its near-monopoly position for years to keep the price of drafting artificially high.
The Bricsys appeal to the millions who rely on the .dwg standard for its engineering data is one of continuity based on continued evolution and growth based on .dwg as an affordable and useful data standard, or a future of various data standards and higher costs. It is one that seeks to drive down costs based on the ubiquity of the data standard and the ever-growing market of users.
[More to come as we continue to cover the Bricsys International Conference. You may also want to follow our coverage on Twitter using hashtag #bic2014.]