Licensing suggestions for BricsCAD BIM
I'm on my 30 day free trial. I already know that I am going to run out of time before I can really explore the program. The way I was able to learn your biggest rival's products was due to their student licensing scheme. I think that's a huge reason why they carry so much market share. Autodesk products are in every college/university in the U.S. and Canada. As a potential freelancer I am leaning towards Autodesk's AutoCAD LT/Revit LT Suite; a somewhat painful decision as LISP programming is one of my favorite hobbies. But the price actually makes sense.
Looking back to how I learnt Revit, I recall that they had very generous student licensing. It also doesn't hurt that Autodesk products exist in nearly every college and university in the U.S. and Canada. Autodesk has leveraged this to increase their user-base, which is perhaps even more important than the quality of the software itself. I think for BricsCAD BIM to be successful, the user base has to increase. I think that many would agree with me when I say most people won't jump from Autodesk products to BricsCAD BIM if they have to either pay the 1-year subscription fee, nor the perpetual license cost, without knowing whether or not BricsCAD BIM is a viable option. There's no avoiding the fact that Bricsys has to increase their 'BIM' user base, and have some suggestions:
- Provide a longer free trial.
- Provide free 1-year BricsCAD BIM trials for existing BricsCAD licensees. This could attract more people to BricsCAD software itself.
- Create an online BricsCAD BIM course (which includes a student license). Not many schools even know about BricsCAD, so this might be worth the investment. And users would likely be willing to pay a modest fee.
- Lower the price of BIM until it the user base becomes larger. Lowering the price of the subscription may alone be enough. I think the $2,000+ for the perpetual license will deter a lot of users until the program gains a larger following. But more users might be willing to pay a lower subscription fee while they assess whether or not the program is a viable option.
To summarize, I think that Bricsys would do well to increase their user base. I feel like after weight my options, all the pro's and con's, the scale is barely tipping in favor of... big evil... I see tons of potential on BricsCAD's end. I'm also surprised that so few people still have no idea about the software (which highlights my point about the user base).
Comments
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Since there is never a job posting that lists BriscCAD as one of the skills, I suspect it won't help if the schools and students have a free license. The basic BricsCAD program's main selling point (at least to me) was its very high compatiblity and workflow with AutoCAD. So, learning AutoCAD already gave me the skills to use BricsCAD. I don't know about the BIM program at all. So that could be a very different situation.
I do agree that 30 days is not nearly enough time to evaluate a CAD program... at least if you have to do other work at the same time. For evaluating, I wonder if another approach, besides a longer trial, is to offer monthly subscription. That way you may be a little more motivated to do the trial, since you have invested a little money.
Here is a completely random idea, just to stir the pot. A variation on the idea of an extended trial, do something like only permit a few months of extension for $30/month, but add that 100% of the money will be donated to charity.
In general, I don't like marketing department of most companies. But they have special skills that gives them insight into (hopefully) successful means of getting their product noticed and purchased. Skills that I don't really have. So I don't put much value into my ideas mentioned above.
-joe
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1) Log on to your Bricsys account and file a support request asking for a trial extension.
2) Students and lecturers can get free BricsCAD Ultimate (2D, 3D, BIM and Mechanical) - https://bricsys.com/en-eu/academic/
3) BricsCAD BIM Academy, with video tutorials, documentation and training files - https://youtube.com/watch?v=Dc7lZG3eA1E&list=PLONdQc9bizsfzuES9MrwxUEH9M4PPfyRm
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@Joe Dunfee said:permit a few months of extension for $30/month, but add that 100% of the money will be donated to charity.
Or credit whatever you've paid @ £30pm, towards your purchase, if you go for it.
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Thanks for the comments guys. All great ideas. I think that in general, they have to do something to get their software out there; barely anyone (at least in my neck of the woods) even knows about them!
Joe: I'm definitely not well versed in Marketing either. Perhaps I'm more just trying to enlighten their marketing team and let them work their magic. To be honest, for me, 30 days is enough to know if BricsCAD Pro would (or wouldn't) work for me. If I were only doing 'AutoCAD' stuff alone, to be honest, I'd probably switch. For now at least I need a Revit license, and since it's only a bit extra to get AutoCAD and Revit in a 'subscription suite', one can probably guess why I'm hesitant to switch (BricsCAD for my CAD and Revit for my BIM isn't really a cheaper option).
To confidently gauge whether or not BricsCAD BIM is a viable option for myself (and if I can push Revit aside) I would probably need a year of playing around/testing it out. None of which would likely be profitable (but I may do profitable CAD work with the program). This is why I though giving free BIM licenses out for 1 year might be well received by existing users. And might even attract new customers. My position is simple: I'm not going to pay to learn a program other than with lost time.
Per Gogstad:
Thanks very much for your tips! I might try #1. I might get greedy and ask for a few months (lots going on right now). I'm not using the program for profitable work so maybe they will play ball ;-) . Maybe I'll ask for a 1-year subscription for half price... anyways, doesn't hurt to ask.
Regarding #2 & #3: Autodesk's student license is open to waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more participants. BricsCAD's student licensing scheme is much more strict, requiring 10 hours of class time. One reason I suggested they start their own 'University'. By this I mean not just YouTube videos but something you actually register for, and obtain a 'student' license through that. With their current scheme, someone taking a Psychology Major qualifies for the student license. But someone taking only 1 CAD course through night school doesn't. Which of the two sounds more like a potential BricsCAD user? Most CAD/BIM techs won't be putting in anywhere near 10 hours per week (maybe only 2 or 3). The student licensing pitch completely misses the plate unfortunately.
I don't like learning from the YouTube tutorials. I prefer written. I have gained value from some YouTube tutorials when learning Revit (since there are so many users there are TONS of options - I can choose the level, pace, and instructional style that suites me best; one huge advantage of Revit having a big user base). The BricsCAD tutorials are sometimes okay. But I find that they move a bit slowly. I don't think it's worth putting in the time to make written documentation (for BricsCAD BIM) yet because the program is still evolving. So for myself, getting through all of those tutorials will take some time. I will also have to create my own custom project, because the project types in the tutorials are quite far away from my little corner of the building world. It will take a lot of hours before I'll know if I can do what I need to do, in the time I need to do it in, using BricsCAD BIM.Cheers all and thanks again for your thoughts/suggestions.
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Per> @KeithsCADServices said:
I don't like learning from the YouTube tutorials. I prefer written. I have gained value from some YouTube tutorials when learning Revit (since there are so many users there are TONS of options - I can choose the level, pace, and instructional style that suites me best; one huge advantage of Revit having a big user base). The BricsCAD tutorials are sometimes okay. But I find that they move a bit slowly. I don't think it's worth putting in the time to make written documentation (for BricsCAD BIM) yet because the program is still evolving. So for myself, getting through all of those tutorials will take some time. I will also have to create my own custom project, because the project types in the tutorials are quite far away from my little corner of the building world. It will take a lot of hours before I'll know if I can do what I need to do, in the time I need to do it in, using BricsCAD BIM.
Cheers all and thanks again for your thoughts/suggestions.
There actually is a really great reference manual for download that I've started ploughing through (Inside BricsCAD V20 by Grabowski). But having downloaded it, I can't find the link, so sorry for not posting it. I'm going to stick with that for a few weeks before starting on the individual video lessons.
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To find the download links for the manuals, scroll down to the bottom of this page:
https://help.bricsys.com/hc/en-us0
