Monthly Archives: November 2018

BricsCAD V19 – pricing changes explained

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The BricsCAD V19 release has not only given us a new software release (an excellent one – and I’ll be writing about that later), it’s also given us a new Bricsys website and a new pricing structure. In some cases prices are actually slightly lower, but in the vast majority of cases the movement is up. The price movement varies by product, market and currency, and depends largely on whether you choose to opt for All-in Maintenance. The aim of this post is to clarify exactly what has happened to Bricsys prices.

One significant change across the board is the way All-in Maintenance is priced. It was previously a fixed amount (e.g. US$220) to pre-emptively keep up to date with each of the three BricsCAD types (Classic, Pro and Platinum). Now it’s a percentage (e.g. 30%), which means All-in is now cheaper than it was for Classic users and more expensive for everyone else.

You’ll also note that the rarely-used subscription (rental) pricing is now much easier to find on the web site. The annual cost equates to about 40% of the cost of a perpetual license.

Those 30% and 40% figures look high, but remember that they’re a percentage of much smaller sums than you get with Autodesk. For example, the difference between buying BricsCAD Pro with and without All-in is US$255. Going Subscription (rental) for a year is $488. For comparison, keeping an old perpetual AutoCAD license up to date is in the region of US$500+ (it varies considerably under different circumstances) and the current annual AutoCAD subscription cost in the USA is US$1575 (bear in mind that this now includes access to various AutoCAD-based verticals).

Let’s compare the BricsCAD prices before and after these changes. First, US$ prices without All-in. Note that none of these prices include taxes.

US$ BricsCAD Classic BricsCAD Pro BricsCAD Platinum BricsCAD BIM BricsCAD Mechanical
V18 590 750 1110 1760 1630
V19 590 770 1110 1720 1630

As you can see, there is very little price movement at all here. Note that these V19 prices are promotional, which means they won’t stay at this level for ever. (Edit: the promotional prices apply until 16 December 2018).

The Euro prices have moved up a little more:

Euro BricsCAD Classic BricsCAD Pro BricsCAD Platinum BricsCAD BIM BricsCAD Mechanical
V18 480 640 990 1540 1440
V19 525 725 1050 1590 1500

A more useful comparison can be made by comparing the prices including All-in, because (temporary conditions excepted) this is the cheapest way of keeping up to date, and the way I’d usually recommend paying for BricsCAD. I’ve included the post-promotion prices here so you can get an idea of the total movement.

US$ BricsCAD Classic BricsCAD Pro BricsCAD Platinum BricsCAD BIM BricsCAD Mechanical
V18 810 970 1330 2100 1940
V19 (Promotion) 781 1025 1470 2275 2155
V19 (Standard) 825 1105 1560 2405 2275

Here’s the same thing in Euros:

Euro BricsCAD Classic BricsCAD Pro BricsCAD Platinum BricsCAD BIM BricsCAD Mechanical
V18 680 840 1190 1840 1720
V19 (Promotion) 701 965 1391 2115 1995
V19 (Standard) 760 1040 1475 2275 2145

The upshot is that for most customers, buying and maintaining the low-end Classic product is slightly cheaper than it was, but as you move up the product range, the price increases start to bite. However, the total cost of ownership is still significantly lower than AutoCAD. The following table shows the total licensing costs over several time periods, assuming no price increases from anybody. Yes, I know that’s not a reasonable assumption, but at least it precludes guesswork! The ongoing annual All-in price is assumed to be 30% of the non-promotional product cost.

US$ 1 Year 3 Year 5 Year 10 Year
BricsCAD Classic (All-in) 781 1276 1771 3009
BricsCAD Pro (All-in) 1025 1688 2351 4009
BricsCAD Platinum (All-in) 1470 2406 3342 5682
BricsCAD Classic (Subscription) 312 936 1560 3120
BricsCAD Pro (Subscription) 410 1230 2050 4100
BricsCAD Platinum (Subscription) 588 1764 2940 5880
AutoCAD (subscription) 1575 4725 7875 15750
AutoCAD LT* (subscription) 390 1170 1950 3900

* Note that I have included AutoCAD LT here for comparison even though it is a significantly less capable product than BricsCAD Classic, which has 3D and full LISP capabilities.

In addition, BricsCAD Platinum plus Sheet Metal is now called BricsCAD Mechanical, with the price including All-in going from US$1940 to US$2155 ($2275 after promotion). Euro prices go from €1720 to €1995 (€2145 after promotion). Similarly, BricsCAD Platinum plus BIM is now called BricsCAD BIM, with the price including All-in going from US$2100 to US$2275 ($2405 after promotion). Euro prices go from €1840 to €2115 (€2275 after promotion).

It’s worth noting that the price of Communicator, the Bricsys format translator, has dropped slightly in most cases despite providing more format translation options.

If you intend buying a Bricsys product and also want to support this blog, then please use this link:

Bricsys Store

Disclosure: this is a sponsored link. If you buy a Bricsys product using this link, I get part of the proceeds. However, this will not have any effect on the editorial content of this blog. I don’t expect to be able to retire on the proceeds from this link (if any) and I will continue to write what I honestly think about the CAD products and policies of all companies, as I see fit.

BricsCAD price rise imminent

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BricsCAD V19, which is expected to be released within days, will bring with it new, higher pricing. It still won’t be anything like Autodesk-level high, of course, but will be a bit higher than it was.

Bricsys is currently offering new buyers of V18 an automatic upgrade to V19 (the serial number will just work for both). What this means is that you don’t need to pay for All-in Maintenance to keep up to date in the first year. You’re therefore saving twice: by avoiding the price hike and by not needing to add about US$220 for All-in. You can add All-in later, or optionally pay for upgrades as you see fit. If you do decide to upgrade later, you will be expected to sign up for All-in at that time, so there will be a catch-up cost associated with that.

Upshot: if you’re going to buy new BricsCAD licenses, be quick. Do it now. Next week might be too late.


If you intend doing this and also want to support this blog, then please use this link:

Bricsys Store

Disclosure: this is a sponsored link. If you buy a Bricsys product using this link, I get part of the proceeds. However, this will not have any effect on the editorial content of this blog. I don’t expect to be able to retire on the proceeds from this link (if any) and I will continue to write what I honestly think about the CAD products and policies of all companies, as I see fit.

My Bricsys 2018 – getting there

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Last month I attended my third annual Bricsys conference. Following on from Munich and Paris, this year’s event was held in London. (For those who remember M’s cheesy hit Pop Musik from 1979, you will notice that Bricsys is holding these events in reverse order, and the next event should therefore be held in New York).

Before we get to the conference itself, I should point out that I preceded it by pinging around Europe doing other Bricsys-related things. I had a couple of days in Berlin with BLADE creator Torsten Moses, preparing our upcoming presentation on BricsCAD’s VLIDE-beating IDE.

We retired to a church building in a forest just outside Berlin and spent a very long day thrashing out a series of demonstrations, down to the last click and keystroke.

Then I shot over to Vienna for another couple of days, where I interviewed the good people at Schrack Seconet about their experiences with their 101 licenses of BricsCAD.

Look out for that when it’s published on the Bricsys Blog in the forthcoming Real World BricsCAD series.

I spent a couple of days in the English countryside rehearsing and preparing for the BLADE presentation, and took this photo which I inserted into my PowerPoint at the last minute.

THE BLADE at Reading Abbey – modernity towers over the ruins of what was once magnificent

Once in London and checked into the hotel, I visited the Bricsys 2018 venue, The Brewery.

It was interesting to check out the preparation that goes into running an event like this. Here, the AV people were testing the individual elements of the huge screen.

Then it was back to the hotel bar where I caught up with lots of old friends, many of whom I knew from previous Autodesk and Bricsys events. In addition to big CAD names like Ralph Grabowski, Randall Newton, R.K. McSwain, Robert Green, Owen Wengerd, Don Strimbu and several Bricsys high-ups, it was great to finally meet the amazing LISP talent Lee Mac.

Steve and a few of the former Autodesk people

It was particularly pleasant to meet up again with the fabulous and talented IPoCs Lynn Allen and Heidi Hewett, who I last met in person at the AutoCAD 2010 launch in San Francisco. The networking that goes on at these events can be just as educational as the presentations, and I certainly learned a few things over a Leffe or two.

Lynn loves Leffes

A dinner for (mostly) press people also proved educational. Despite knowing that some big announcement had been made to the Bricsys employees, we were still none the wiser about exactly what that announcement was. We know now, of course, but right then we were still in the dark.

One thing that was different for me this year is that quite a few people approached me to thank me for my writings on this blog. It was amazing for me to be standing next to somebody way more famous than me, and have people want to shake my hand. Although I found it odd, it’s also gratifying. Thank you to those people who took time out to say that they appreciate what I do.

In the next post in this series, I’ll describe day 1, where the shock announcement was made, and where a user group was born.

Other views on the Hexagon/Bricsys acquisition

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I’ve made a couple of posts on this subject, but so have several others who might have different perspectives. This post is merely an accumulation of links to those other sources.

There was also extensive live commentary on Twitter using the #Bricsys2018 hashtag.

Image source: Bricsys

I expect to add to this post over time rather than making a new one. If you have any suggestions for other links to include, please comment below.

Hexagon acquiring Bricsys – what does it mean for the future?

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As reported earlier, Swedish Hexagon AB has acquired Bricsys. It goes without saying that this was the big talking point among everyone at Bricsys 2018.

Surprise!

This announcement was a big surprise to almost everyone at the conference. Hexagon has been working very closely with Bricsys for nearly two years, so if someone was going to buy Bricsys then Hexagon would have been my first guess, but the fact that it was happening at all came straight out of the blue.

Most Bricsys employees in London only found out about the acquisition at a meeting in the hotel on the eve of the conference. Ably shepherded away from the area by legendary CAD figure Don Strimbu, I was unable to hear the announcement. I did hear the applause that followed it, though.

Gatekeeper Don and his ironic jacket

Fear, uncertainty and doubt

FUD often accompanies big change, so it’s no surprise that over the two days that followed the official announcement, I was asked by quite a few people what I thought of the news. My response went something like this:

I don’t know yet. It could be very good for Bricsys.

Erik De Keyser’s announcement that he’s staying around was welcomed, but there were still some concerns expressed. For example, an employee had been through something similar elsewhere and the company that took over proceeded to slice through half of the workforce. A partner feared that Hexagon only wanted to use BricsCAD as an engine to run CADWorx and that progress in other areas would be limited.

Answering questions

I was able to attend the press event and was able to ask some questions of Hexagon PPM Executive Vice President Rick Allen and Bricsys CEO Erik De Keyser.

Rick Allen and Erik De Keyser answer press questions

One question I asked of Rick went something like this:

Bricsys operates very differently to most companies. Is that going to change?

The response was interesting and instructive:

I don’t like fixing things that aren’t broken.

That’s reassuring, as were responses from Rick to other questions. He clearly understands CAD and what customers want. He and Autodesk have history, and he knows how they operate. He knows about the widespread customer dissatisfaction with Autodesk, he understands the reasons for it, and he plans to take ruthless advantage of it. He understands BricsCAD and the advantages it offers to AutoCAD customers who convert.

I had a chance to talk further with Rick at the after-event party. That was also very instructive. Rick “gets it”. Rick clearly understands very well that he’s bought an absolute diamond of a company. The port of the huge CADWorx suite to BricsCAD has given Hexagon a thorough insight into the quality of the people there and the software they write. I came away convinced that he really isn’t going to break it.

Crystal ball time

So, what will happen? Here are my best guesses, any of which could easily be proven wrong:

  • Bricsys will go on creating software as it did before.
  • There won’t be sackings. I expect an expansion of staff numbers rather than a reduction.
  • I don’t expect Hexagon to interfere too much in the software creation and improvement side of things, and any contributions are likely to be financial and beneficial.
  • Hexagon is a much bigger company than Autodesk. It will use its marketing power and widespread office network to increase sales world-wide, but particularly in the US. How this pans out for existing resellers is yet to be negotiated.
  • Hexagon is going to go after Autodesk customers. Hard. Not just AutoCAD customers, either, although in the BIM area it says it expects to win business more from the existing large untapped market than from existing Revit customers.
  • Autodesk is likely to get litigious. (Martyn Day: “This means war”). Hexagon is ready for this. (Rick Allen: “We went into this with our eyes open”). From the little I know, I suspect Autodesk will lose badly and go home with its tail between its legs.
  • Hexagon isn’t going to use BricsCAD purely as an engine to run CADWorx, because that would be stupid. In Hexagon’s best interests for BricsCAD use to become more widespread. It’s much easier to sell a suite of applications to a corporate client when it’s based on a commonly-used base rather than something few people have heard of. By dramatically expanding BricsCAD sales, Hexagon will win not only pure income but also the confidence of the market.
  • Prices? Who knows. It’s commonly held among industry observers that BricsCAD is too cheap for its own good. Maybe prices will creep up, but there’s a long way to go before they approach Autodesk levels.
  • Hexagon isn’t going to rename BricsCAD. Yes, I know Intergraph isn’t called Intergraph any more, but this is different. If you’re going to knock over a long-standing near-monopoly in the DWG world, you’re going to need a name with a long-standing history in that space and an excellent reputation among an important core of influencers. Starting again with a new name would make life more difficult than it needs to be. (This is the prediction I’m least confident about).

If I were asked now what I thought of the acquisition, I would modify my response somewhat:

I think it will be very good for Bricsys. Very bad for Autodesk, too.

The CAD world is in for a shake-up.