As a BIM outsourcing company, Detail Design Group relies on software tools like Autodesk's Revit to deliver high-quality services to our clients. That's why we were glad to see that professional associations representing architects in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Norway have taken a stand and written a letter to Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost, urging the development of other design tools and pricing that is more reflective of the level of development dollars devoted to design products.
According to the letter, Revit is "incapable of the potential of multi-core computing and graphics power" and causes daily issues with project productivity due to a lack of scalability and product performance. As a company that uses Revit on a daily basis, we can definitely attest to this. We've had to resort to using "workarounds" just to get the software to do what we need it to do, and it's not only time-consuming but also hinders the overall efficiency and effectiveness of our projects.
This is not the first time that designers have voiced their concerns about Revit. In 2020, UK architects also sent a letter requesting similar changes, to which Autodesk admitted that it had underinvested in the development of its design technology products in recent years. In June 2021, the Architects' Council of Europe and the European Federation of Engineering Consultancy Associations released a position paper on the lack of competition in the software industry, fully endorsing the initiative and proposals from the original 2020 letter.
Currently, more than 14,000 architects have joined the call for more and better development of core Autodesk design tools' code or more competition from other companies in design authoring tools. It's clear that there is a significant demand for improvement in this area, and it's time for Autodesk to listen to its customers and make the necessary changes.
But it's not just about the development of the software itself. The letter also states that while improvements in Revit have been "miniscule," licensing costs have comparatively "soared." License policies have constantly changed to the advantage of Autodesk, not its customers, leading to increasing costs and administrative burdens.
At Detail Design Group, we understand the importance of investing in quality software tools. However, we also know that these tools need to be reliable, efficient, and cost-effective in order to be worth the investment. We hope that Autodesk takes these concerns seriously and works to address them in a meaningful way. It's time for Revit to live up to its full potential and be the software that we know it can be. Our clients deserve the best, and it's our job to deliver it to them.