What is the point to the CONNECTION CENTER?

I am in a small architecture firm. We only have 4 seats and this seams like a lot of technical stuff we'll never use.

We can't connect to anyone because we're the only firm in southwest Florida (that I know of) that still uses Bentley products.

I can't upgrade my workstations to Aecosim Connect because it's so power hungry it crashes (unless they've fixed it I'm scared to try)

My point is, now I have a dialogue box called "CONNECTION Center" what am I connected too?

  • Sadly all they have is the company line. I have know Glenn for years and he really wants to help but I am sure that Bentley is telling him to shut up and follow the company line. It is very sad as Bentley used to be customer centric, now we have to hire a third party support company because our SELECT fees no longer pay for timely support.

    The real benefits are for Bentley. They want to push support and administration off on users where MVARs used to do the work. They set unrealistic rules and take away your ability to use software you bought and paid for and continued to pay SELECT fees on if you make a single mistake on the unclear manner is which this initiative was forced on their users.

  • Don, just some feedback from a fellow subscriber. I use STAAD.Pro which has been CONNECT enabled for some time now. The only slight utility I get from the CONNECTION client is that it takes me to their web site where I can look at or enter service requests, or check usage and other maintenance type things without logging in. The same thing could be done using a shortcut and a "remember me" type login. I too work in a fairly isolated manner so there is no other use for me.

    I understand that CONNECTION client can be disabled but I believe, every time you open a program that is CONNECT enabled it is going to warn you CONNECT is not available. Who wants to see this all the time? The other frustration is that whenever I start a new model it wants me to assign it to some project. I'm usually too lazy to create one so I just hit the cancel button and it goes on into the program. The problem is, every time I open the file, if I haven't assigned it, it ask me again. That gets pretty old after awhile. I have assigned models to projects so I don't have to see that screen every time I open it, but, I have found absolutely no utility in doing this.

    I've only heard from Bentley how great this CONNECT thingy is but I've never heard an actual user extol its virtues. I go to structural related meetings several times a year and I usually ask other engineers what they think about STAAD. If I ask about the CONNECT client I will invariably get a fish look. (Eyes glazed over and mouth wide open in confusion.)

  • Does with ConnectionClient, the administrators will be given the option of limiting the unlimited use of only purchased licenses to ? To prevent unplanned using of term licenses?

  • You will be forced to register some new accounts and sign in to the CONNECTION center with them or you will lose access to the software you are paying for. I wonder if they will still collect our money should we choose not to do so, or just cancel the agreement all together.

  • Thanks, I've read the "company line" I was looking for a discussion about the actual "real" benefits of Connect.

    My firm is the only architecture firm in southwest florida that still uses Bentley products, we have no consultants using Bentley, who am I connecting to??

    If I understand correctly I can only share Bentley products with Bentley users so I can't use it to share files...