EcoDesigner Star - $$$$

[Anonymous]

With the announcement of the Beta Trial releases of ECODesigner Star today I am reposting the following post as a new topic so that it will have a chance to be read by the powers to be at Graphisoft and follow peers to voice their 2 cents with either approval or disapproval with mine.

Quote: (taken from the topic -Archicad 16 and PHPP?)

- €/$: how much is it going to cost? (EcoDesigner Star)


No final decision regarding the price, yet.


After watching the webinar on Eco Designer Star (ED*) this week that once again I am going to have to reach deep into my pockets and shell out more $$$.

I for one felt cheated/disappointed when Graphisoft (GS) incorporated ED into ArchiCAD 16 as I had paid the extra $$$ for this add-on that now everybody gets for free. I get annoyed when this happens its kind of like you need two things so you buying two things but a period of time later its a case of buy one thing and get one free.

Therefore for what its worth; those of us that purchased the original Eco Designer Add-on should received Eco Designer Star free or at least heavily discounted price for compensation for the initial $$$ (lets face it... these add-ons aren't cheap and why should GS have two bites of the cherry from us).

[Miklos Sved]

Hi Brendon,

Allow me to apologize on behalf of GS for not being clear regarding EcoDesigner* pricing for people who purchased the first generation EcoDesigner add-on. There are two points that I'd like to make regarding the topic:
-) the EcoDesigner add on was a tool for energy evaluation and design optimization, for the early design phase. Let's say it took GS X amount of effort to produce it. EcoDesigner* is a high end energy analysis tool capable of compliance documentation. It took us 7X amount of effort to produce it. In other words: one is a walkman, the other is a high end hi-fi device. The two can never cost the same, therefore your claim of GS charging twice for the "same thing" does not do us justice.
-) EcoDesigner* will be offered to users who purchased the first generation EcoDesigner add-on at a discount price

Thanks for being a "core" EcoDesigner user! The satisfaction of early adopters is key for us, therefore I hope that you'll find the EcoDesigner* product useful for your work. Try the EcoDesigner* Public Beta free of charge to test the new functionality! Also, please take a look at other ASHRAE certified building energy simulation software solutions to see how much they cost - I can assure you that the price of EcoDesigner* will be lower.

Best Regards,

Miklos Sved
Product Manager
GS Sustainable Solutions