Free BIM : Tekla Announces BIM Sight : It’s all about the data


Tekla BIM Sight Interesting news that Tekla announces a new product for BIM communication, BIMsight, how this differs from Navisworks?  well it’s free, and if you’ve seen people line up for free stuff at conventions, carnivals, playgrounds, sporting events, etc. you have to understand that ‘free’ gets people excited, but free is not necessarily good.  I don’t doubt that Tekla put together an excellent product  but the true value of the product comes from the people using it, trained on it,  understanding and leveraging it, however, dropping the initial price hurdle to well, zero can’t hurt.  It seems that it works like Navisworks in that BIM information is brought in for clash detection and project communication, I also wonder how the data is dealt with and stored; since I believe who ever has the data wins.  That is, your in the Autodesk camp using their products, storing info in the cloud through them, barriers to exit start rising, you start using BIMsight to communicate with your clients/subs/etc. your then living in Tekla’s world.  None of this necessarily a bad thing as standardization brings a lot of good and a lot of productivity gains, ask anyone who develops products for Windows.

However, begs the question, what’s the business model?  As we used to see firms with their core product and developing/purchasing products to surround/extend their offering, and normally charge for it.  In this case, give it away for free.  Does this bring more people to Tekla Structure?  Is there something else at work?  Why do I ask these questions? Probably too much coffee or detective novels when I was kid.  Maltese Falcon by the way, great book and great movie.

You can download BIM Sight for free, here.

Share

, , , , ,

  1. No comments yet.

You must be logged in to post a comment.