Why has the CONNECT edition of Bentley View been removed?

Bentley is unwilling to say why it was removed.
It was something like a 1.2GB download and provided nothing that View V8i SS4 couldn't provide. I found no real issues with it in the limited time I used it, but uninstalled it relatively quickly since, to me, it was a big waste of space. I have no need to be able to view very large files that the V8i generation wouldn't be able to handle.

Bentley is unwilling to say why it was removed.
It was something like a 1.2GB download and provided nothing that View V8i SS4 couldn't provide. I found no real issues with it in the limited time I used it, but uninstalled it relatively quickly since, to me, it was a big waste of space. I have no need to be able to view very large files that the V8i generation wouldn't be able to handle.

Item Types require CONNECT

I have used Item Types to attach business data to graphic elements in my DGN model in MicroStation CONNECT.

With MicroStation CONNECT, we can take advantage of CONNECT functionality: reports and tables to summarise and export those business data.

Non-CAD users in my organisation want to use Bentley View to review, report and collate business data.

Unknown said:

Bentley View CONNECT provided nothing that View V8i SS4 couldn't provide

V8i products have no knowledge of Item Types. Bentley View V8i cannot be used for the desired purpose.

Is Deprecated Functionality a Work-Around?

A work-around is to fall back to MicroStation tags. But Bentley Systems tell us that tags are deprecated: Item Types are better. Well, they are not better if they can't be used in Bentley View V8i.

No doubt others can cite examples of CONNECT functionality that are not supported by Bentley View V8i. What message is Bentley Systems sending its customers?

Well, clearly the message they are sending is that you should be weary of using CONNECT in a production environment. I concur.

Unknown said:

you should be weary of using CONNECT in a production environment.

Well, the most of my customers are not very interested in CONNECT Edition anyway, simply because no other software (Descartes is the only exception) is available. Without civil (PowerCivil especially) and geo (Bentley Map) product CONNECT Edition is dead and not interesting for them.

With regards,

  Jan