!Restored: ¿News about AC 12?

[Anonymous]

Hi all!


¿Anybody knows anything about AC 12, please?


I'm hearing rumours, but nothing concrete...


Thanks a lot and regards.



P.S. Like another user says: "forgive my spanglish..."

[Anonymous]

Zucoc

Welcome to the world of archirumours. (not available at objectsonline or Cigraph)

Its a bit like trying to find out what Steve jobs is going to Unveil at the latest mac-expo. Very difficult.

Dont worry though, someone will squeal, and they will tell us what we are in for, before an official announcement. They will then be generally lambasted by the rest of the archi-community (another add-on) for flouting their Non-disclosure agreement.
Its all pretty good sport really.

Interestingly Autodesk allow some beta testing bloggers to espouse some of the finer features of the new release of revit etc prior to official announcements. Could be an interesting way of drumming up free marketing , dont you think GS?

Other method of finding out is I suppose, is volunteering to be a beta tester.

[Dwight]

volunteering to be a beta tester.

The delight of knowing the new features sooner is also the opportunity to be sooner disappointed.

[Anonymous]

Quote from Dwight:

"The delight of knowing the new features sooner is also the opportunity to be sooner disappointed."

Is he propheting something we dont know?

[Dwight]

I am merely being a philosopher.
It is inevitable that Graphisoft can't possibly cover all of our wishes.

Have you ever watched voting results broadcast? The polls are closed, the result is the result, but because there is airtime to sell, they make out like there is some suspense to a thing already decided, commenting on each poll as it reports.

So why waste your energy asking?

Go on with you and make some money to pay for the upgrade, already.

[Dennis Lee]

Laura wrote:

Dennis wrote:
...anyone who has been to the GS roundtable

Sorry -- Sworn to secrecy...

Was there any info or previews shown at the booth? They couldn't have made everyone coming to the booth swear to secrecy for sure!

Or did GS fail to make enough progress w/ V12 to show at all at the booth? I hope this was not the case - especially them being right next to the Autodesk booth.

How was the crowds like at the booths? Did Autodesk give away free ipods and other goods again to attract all the architects again?

[Dennis Lee]

Dwight wrote:
So why waste your energy asking?

Go on with you and make some money to pay for the upgrade, already.

Just being like a kid, really...I know I should instead be working hard to improve my workflow in utilizing V11...but just can't suppress my curiosity...

[Bricklyne Clarence]

Dennis wrote:

Dwight wrote:
So why waste your energy asking?

Go on with you and make some money to pay for the upgrade, already.

Just being like a kid, really...I know I should instead be working hard to improve my workflow in utilizing V11...but just can't suppress my curiosity...

I just don't get or buy the whole secrecy angle that GS seems to be adopting for this new release for a couple of reasons.

If look at it logically, assuming that version 12 really is a landmark release with lots of new and improved features along with a whole host of addressed long-standing wishes, then what good would it do GS (from a marketing and PR standpoint) keep it all hidden and under wraps until the release - other than to diminish potential sales of would-be customers who are just getting into BIM for example, and still mulling between AC and Revit and not seeing the need to jump into the GS side with no information whatsoever on what to expect?
It's the kind of thing that tends to generate interest and enthusiasm among new and would-be users, while replenishing the confidence of the existing user-base particularly in the face of growing pressure to switch to Revit by Autodesk 's relentless marketing machine.

We usually tend to make cynical remarks regarding Autodesk's aggressive marketing strategies and profit-driven approach to pushing Revit on the marketplace, but when you compare that against their gains in the US and North American marketplace in the last few years versus ArchiCAD as the traditional option, then it becomes no laughing matter. Say what you may about their product being inferior, they do know how to get the word out and how to get the admittedly poorly-informed architects out there, clued into their upcoming releases along with reasons to buy in, long before they ever release it.

On the flip-side, if GS have reasons to be concerned that their upcoming release will be underwhelming and unimpressive, to say the least then the whole silent treatment and secrecy act makes a great deal of sense. Especially when you consider the potential to lose more customers by poor or unenthusiastic reviews.
After all, why hurt potential sales and upgrade fees with information regarding partially (poorly) implemented new tools and non-improvement in other areas?


I was initially cautiously excited when it was announced that they would no longer be supporting Maxonform, taking this to mean (or rather hoping, really) that they had improved ArchiCAD's core modeling tools to the extent that were confident enough that MF had become redundant as an option for resolving ArchiCAD's modeling deficiencies. But reading recent posts on the whole discontinued MF support issue and in particular, getting a sense how they seem to be tying Maxonform's dropped support to an upgrade to C4D's improved exchange plugin ( which, I suppose would make sense on an overall Nemetschek marketing strategy), I'm not so sure anymore.

As always I hope I'm proven wrong but I just can't shake the feeling (probably from past experiences) that with all this secrecy and silence, we're being set-up for an incredible let-down after a considerable non-hype hype campaign.

[David Larrew]

Being a beta-tester since AC6.5, I don't think GS is any more secretive about AC12 than any other previous release. With the exception of the AC8.0 fiasco (similar to the AutoCAD 13 release), every new release of AC has been anything but a letdown.

Remember, before this whole "BIM" marketing wave that Autodesk started, ArchiCAD was a relatively unknown package. Now that AC is Autodesk's biggest competition in the architectural BIM market I can see how GS wants to keep any AC improvements under wraps until its official release.

[Bricklyne Clarence]

David wrote:
....... Now that AC is Autodesk's biggest competition in the architectural BIM market I can see how GS wants to keep any AC improvements under wraps until its official release.

.........I still fail to see how this helps GS especially seeing as Autodesk will still see those improvements anyway once it's released and especially coming after Revit 2009 is already out of the bag.

The only people of significance left in the dark with this approach, are GS's customers, or potential customers, really - since they are the ones that stand to benefit directly (or not) from any improvements to AC or lack thereof.
Even if Autodesk were to 'swipe' features from a new AC release, it's not exactly like they can integrate them into the next version of their product, without looking too obvious or too stupid. Not that this has ever stopped them - which drives back to the original point that they are still going to know anyway.

Furthermore, just because they've always done it this way since version 6.5 or even earlier, when they didn't really have a real direct competitor ala Revit - and when such an approach didn't really affect them as significantly from a marketing standpoint - doesn't mean they should be immune to adapting to the reality that Autodesk is on a crusade to completely take over their client-base with a more aggressive approach.

[TomWaltz]

jocontreras wrote:
"The delight of knowing the new features sooner is also the opportunity to be sooner disappointed."

Is he propheting something we dont know?

It's just the voice of past experience.