bentleyuser.org - GenerativeComponents subscription programme announced.

GenerativeComponents subscription programme announced.
by Marc Thomas - 03 November 2007

GenerativeComponents is now being marketed under the umberella brand of Generative Design. Bentley have announced a trial programme that offers 90 days free use of GC plus access to online training resources. After the trial a one-year "Discovery Subscription" to GenerativeComponents will be available for US$250. The trial will be available for download from www.be.org/gd from 16 November 2007. The subscription includes access to training material which will hopefully address one of the biggest issues for people apparoching GC, the previously limited quantity of structured documentation.

GC has been available to SELECT subscribers from SELECT Services Online for some time and will continue to be a free Extension to SELECT subscribers. The latest versions of MicroStation XM and Triforma XM are required before loading GC. Oh, and to find it in the download list on SELECT Services look for MicroStation GenerativeComponents.

As GC is an extension of MicroStation I'll be interested to see what is included in the trial package and it's ongoing subscription. It must be a fairly hefty installer to include the MicroStation XM Pre-requisites, MicroStation XM and MicroStation Triforma XM. Will MicroStation and Triforma tools all be available as they are in the current release or will they been hidden? Maybe this is seen as a good way of getting MicroStation in frount of people who might otherwise not try it?We'll wait and see.

This announcement appears to have arrived a little earlier than planned. I expect that Bentley really wanted the trial programme to be ready when the trial programme was launched. However we work in a relatively small community and news of the departure from Bentley of Robert Aish, the creator and lead developer of GC, leaked out a few days ago requiring a rapid response from Bentley on the future of GC.

Robert's role in the product's creation is acknowledged by Greg Bentley “It’s impossible to talk about the early development work on GenerativeComponents without first recognizing the tireless enthusiasm and visionary aspirations of Robert Aish. As he’s leaving Bentley Systems at this juncture, I want to personally thank Robert for helping me see the tremendous potential of generative design. We wish him well in his next research pursuits.”

The response is clearly that Bentley are now right behind GC. It's a real product rather than an application in development. All that has changed in the past couple of days is the timing of the programme.

Also announced this week, the SmartGeometry Group's SmartGeometry 2008 workshop and conference, this year being held in Europe. BMW Welt looks like a pretty spectacular venue for the event underlining Bentley's committment to the product and its supporters.

For more information from Bentley about GenerativeComponents, visit www.bentley.com/gc.

The full text of Bentley's announcment is in this press release from 2 November.