Graphisoft public roadmap - Follow-up conversation

[Gordana Radonic]

Dear Community, 

We're excited to have published our roadmap!

We'd love to hear your thoughts and questions. Please feel free to use this thread for discussion.

Graphisoft Insights announcement: https://community.graphisoft.com/t5/Graphisoft-Insights/Graphisoft-public-roadmap/ba-p/375281

Public roadmap on the Graphisoft website.

Thank you.

[Kalib Stewart]

To reiterate, are there any actual upgrades coming to AC29? Because the current reduced roadmap is a joke. We all expect the "add-on" store to be the big one because it means GS can charge us more for things that should already be in the software. I see Dark Mode's still there and has been worked on for multiple years by GS because it's such a complex beast they still haven't managed to crack it (unlike every other software on earth). 

But seriously, what's coming to it? They mention a 90-degree shortcut that BIMdots already gives out for free lol. 

Anything? Anything at all or will it be another year of paying for increased search functionality in fills and lines...

[torben_wadlinger]

I'm a curiuos about the add-on store. If it works like the SketchUp-Store then it's fine. But if it works like the philosophy behind Allplan (everthing is a module and you have to pay for it), then we will be faced with extra cost for nearly everything. Unfortunalility there is no further information on the road map (which is not really a road map but a little sketch of a path).

[Bricklyne Clarence]

I mean,....the question you asked answers itself.

And as Kalib above pointed out, the clear and obvious drive in introducing an in-program Add-on store is that it represents a new revenue stream for Graphisoft.

As Kalib stated - it's Ironically (and cynically) so they can charge us (through these third party vendors, who I'm sure will have to pay GS some kind of 'fee' or 'rent' to set up their stall in this add-on store in their program, and then potentially a percentage of any sale they make in customers buying their addons.) for tools and addons to do what ArchiCAD can't, or can't do properly, effeciently or well.

So essentially anyone buying addons from the add-on store will be (indirectly) paying Graphisoft to access tools and capability that are lacking in the program (that they are ALREADY  paying for, through their license/subscription fees) and which Graphisoft is either too lazy to make, or to improve themselves in the program, or are simply not interested in doing so (....because maybe their attention is elsewhere in other tools that you don't need).

Just take a moment to think about that if you will.

The lack of a ceiling tool/improvement to stair/railing/roof/wall/slab/door/window/[*insert-tool-or-object-here*} is hampering to my day-to-day work, and the mesh and landscaping tools are either lacking or convoluted to provide meaningful utility despite decades of asking Graphisoft to improve these tools, but now in the new version you'll be able to buy a Ceiling/[*insert-tool-or-object-here*} Tool addon, or a Landscape addon to serve your needs and essentially end up paying Graphisoft (......again) for what they refuse to do,...... that you've asked them to do many times.....

.....all while they use your (apparently scant) license fee revenue resources to create great new tools like an AI Visualizer bridge, or an Apple Vision pro BIMx connection (who cares that you don't even use Apple products?),......that you neither asked for, nor need.

It's enough to make you want to blow your brains out if you really think hard about how convoluted and cynical it all is.

It's just another means for them to make (more) money - indeed,.....rather to get even more money from you.

That's all it is.

It won't necessarily make your life and work any easier or better though,......just be forewarned.

Oh, and it's almost 100% guaranteed that it will make the program more bloated, slower and unstable for several versions before they maybe clean it up many years down the road.

[brzmidobrze]

honestly there can be thin line between moving quite obvious and needed improvements to add-on store, and just making solution for third-party suppliers / software vendors to provide some solutions to existing problems

just like I wrote above, I find lack of knowledge and complex thinking in architects community - it's crazy that this industry is moving so slow from hand sketching mentality. obviously it's not opinion about all of them, but it affects feedback from clients to software vendor.

if you make software for engineering industry for example, or other are are that being up-to-date is obvious, you will get clear and valuable feedback. also, because engineering software very often are involved in manufacturing process, help linking engineer with person on production line, streamline work progress etc. so complexity of those solutions may be on very high level, integration with integrated manufacturing processes also.

if you work in architecture industry, you will get so much nonsense feedback from people who doesn't know about data, about IFC, about OPEN BIM, from people that in general don't care about transformation behind us that will cause totally different requirements from data architects or engineers generate - because we are generating data, let's forget about those prints and plots and papers, modern world don't need it, if construction and architecture will not get it somebody in this world will make construction 2.0 and it will be ahead that mess we have now.

from my perspective - making possibility to third party vendors to provide some functionality to software, paid, is reasonable way - because if somebody knows that some solution has market demand, there is possibility to release it as add-on, make money on it, deal with all clients feedback etc. 

cleaning roadmap from literally everything and moving to add-ons model it's somehow not funny, but thinking that software vendor, in environment that is speeding up everyday, will make solution for every new market need is also not funny. c'mon, architecture isn't same thing that month ago or year ago. so I think making other stream of solutions that can came up from 3rd party vendors now can sound awful, but in medium- and long- term perspective can make things still working or being usable / adaptive to new market requirements.

I work with KNX automation standard and there is one thing making this system different of one-vendor solutions: literally any company can join KNX Association and make product that has market needs. if somebody knows that yellow, blinking and moving, electric bee for kids compatible with home automation standard has market needs, can join association, pay fees, release that electric bee to the market and made this idea for real. as a result, business model has 20+ years on the market and availability of some solutions still responds quite good for market needs. Association goals are quite different. literally everyone can use this standard and make something.

If I can choose between tool that is not complex solving my needs, but I know I or someone else can just make own workflow or solution and add-on, I will be much more comfortable with it than constant relying on software vendor to provide me everything I need.

just my 2 cents from other perspective.

[Eric Milberger]

Maybe it should be a free Store. 

[brzmidobrze]

maybe it should be choice 🙂

[Bricklyne Clarence]

It probably will be to begin with,....just to try and entice users to adopt it and use it more,......and then at some point they'll just introduce a paywall.

Or they might go the tiered route and have a regular ("poor door") tier that's kind of free, and introduce a premium or "Pro" Tier that charges for usage and has really top level addons.

At least, that's how I Imagine this version of Graphisoft is going to go about monetizing something like this.

Faith in them to do this kind of thing right (....and not screw over their customers in some way...)?

ZERO!

[Holger Kreienbrink]

As you know there are plenty of additional add-ons available for Archicad. But you need to manually download them from various webpages. We want to centralise this. We will give you and 3rd party developers a central market place. 

How exactly this will look like, how purchasing etc works is currently in the planning phase. 
I hope this makes it somehow clearer. 

[Barry Kelly]

@Holger Kreienbrink 

Will this also include all of the various Graphisoft add-ons available on the various language Graphisoft web sites?

For example ... https://graphisoft.com/sg/ssa/downloads

These are currently available (free) for SSA and subscription users, but again we have to go hunting for them.

Or can these be made available on the main Graphisoft web site?

Barry.

[mthd]

Thanks @Barry Kelly, I never even knew about that group of SSA add ons. They are not the normal group of Goody Tools by the looks ?

[Holger Kreienbrink]

no, some of them were developed by local distributors or local subsidiaries.

[Holger Kreienbrink]

That is - at least - the plan. Maybe not all are doable. Let´s see. 

It is also in our own interest to clean this up and to make them accessible in an easier way. 

[Eric Milberger]

I did not know of these either - Just asking - is there not somewhere a description and into to each add on?  It is awkward to have to try one out just to see if it is even needed ?

These descriptions don't tell you what many of them do?

[PrzemN]

Are there going to be an updates only for subscription users, as it is right now with AI visualizer?

[Barry Kelly]

---

@PrzemN wrote:

Are there going to be an updates only for subscription users, as it is right now with AI visualizer?

---

Archicad itself should get the same updates whether you are subscription or not.

The way they are rolled out may be a little different (automated) with subscription - I am not sure.

However, if you are not on subscription, all Archicad updates will end at the end of 2026 when that is the last perpetual license version.

It seems that subscription will be entitled to extras such as AI Visualiser that non-subscribers will not have access to.

What else may be included/excluded is unclear at this stage.

Barry.

[Eric Milberger]

Last Perpetual license issued or we will be stuck with the current version 2026 and further

[Eric Milberger]

So if I have the Perpetual license - I will no longer get updates?

[Barry Kelly]

If you are still paying your SSA/FWD support then you will get updates until then end of 2026 - this should be version 30.

That will be the last version for perpetual licenses and that last you will have to pay any SSA/FWD fees - unless you switch to subscription.

Then you will still be able to get updates, but you will no longer own them for perpetual use.

Stop the subscription and you will have to fall back to your last perpetual version.

Barry.

[mthd]

Have you been able to get clarification about what it actually means “to service SSA/FWD contracts through 2026”? 

For example SSA/FWD contracts in our region end and start around the financial year period. So if an SSA/FWD contract is renewed next year in the middle of 2025, that will take you through to the middle of 2026. Would that be the end of that particular contract because we could not renew it again for another 12 month period because that would take you through 2027 ? In this particular scenario you would be forced to end at version 29 because we cannot renew for another 12 month period. Or will they allow and extension to the contact so it ends on 31st December 2026 ? If so you would have access to version 30.

It would be nice if we could get clarification on this matter directly from Graphisoft. 

[thesleepofreason]

This made it quite clear that the whole "we will keep servicing SSA" routine was nothing but words. Now that SSA will be canceled its a non issue but I would expect them to push some subscription only update through before that...

[Holger Kreienbrink]

There are updates for SSA users. 
But AI Visualizer is a typical cloud service, using the AI stable diffusion. And this is just for subscription users.