Powerdraft end of life v migration to Connect

How do users feel about the end of Powerdraft and the upgrade terms to Microstation Connect Edition? We are a SME and have 6 Powerdraft lciences. We have tried Connect software previously but even on new high end workstations there is a fair lag when opening drawigs and switching between files.

Bentley have emailed about dropping support for Powerdraft and offering a no cost conversion of perpetual licenses to Microstation. However the "no cost" part involves paying £1197 per licence for select fees, so that would be £7192 to replace something we already had been paying for for decades. This is a substantial cost for a small firm like ours.

Most bizarelly of all, support for Powerdraft is ceasing however if you don't migrate, the Select subscription fees will INCREASE by 25% per Powerdraft licence...for an unsupported product that we have already bought many times over ! I have asked for justification for this but this particular point gets avoided. Yes you get  a deal on Microstation but why the 25% uplift if you don't migrate?

Am I missing something or is this mad?

Happy for a Bentley rep to reply as well. Note we have been using Bentley productts since 1993 and this is not much of a reward for being a loyal customer and after the overusage fees charged for ten minutes accidental opening of drawings, edges us closer to leaving Benltley for a competitior..

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  • Hope I've got this right.

    You have perpetual licenses for PD and also paying Select Subscription fees. Since PD is going to be dropped by Bentley, it makes no sense to continue paying SS fee. 

    A perpetual license should entitle you to continue using PD as is. Just that you won't see any further fixes/development in the software. 

  • Hi and thanks for replying. I had a long call with Bentley's Customer Success Manager and raised my concerns and also this particular point. To be honest, still not sure that we would still be able to use Powerdraft after the end of 2022. Waiting to have this clarified. As a business, we would prefer to decide when we need to upgrade software, not the other way round.

    regards

    Keith

  • Well I would think you would be able to use the software you purchased, though you'll have no support (guessing you don't need it anyway). If you drop the Select Service, you'll save some money, but if you ever need to acquire new software, you'll pay full price. Don't we all just love our software provider. So you should be fine, but only for a while.

    Connect r17 10.17.2.61 self-employed-Unpaid Beta tester for Bentley

Reply
  • Well I would think you would be able to use the software you purchased, though you'll have no support (guessing you don't need it anyway). If you drop the Select Service, you'll save some money, but if you ever need to acquire new software, you'll pay full price. Don't we all just love our software provider. So you should be fine, but only for a while.

    Connect r17 10.17.2.61 self-employed-Unpaid Beta tester for Bentley

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  • Hi,

    We have several Microstation licenses and a couple PowerDraft licenses.  We use very few features found in Microstation that are not in PowerDraft.  One of the biggest features would be "batch" processes, but I now have a VBA routine to do that with our own customized options.  So we could really downgrade all our licenses to PowerDraft, if we wanted to.

    In our case, we expect PowerDraft and Microstation to be on the same version, so our customizations & VBA routines will work the same for both products.  So if we want to keep doing stuff like we have been, we have to upgrade our PowerDraft licenses to Microstation.

    As you are considering, please remember that the Select Subscription provides for several things.  Yes, support and upgrades.  But also the ability to easily move licenses from machine to machine.  Also to have licenses based on number of users at any given time, instead of licenses based on number of machines.  (We currently have Microstation/PowerDraft installed on everyone's computer in the office and everyone's computer at home, partially because we were working from home with Covid.)  Personally, I currently have four computers with Microstation (work, home, laptop, and virtual computer).  Without the Select Subscription, I would have to have four licenses to do that.  Being that I'm not using all four at the same time, it's not an issue with Select.

    --Robert

  • Yes Bob, we went through that process in 2011 when we had to drop out of select altogether as we were in a deep recession. It was quite the hit coming back on! 

  • We do some 3D work from time to time and that's where we use the Microstation licences. We did have multiple software instances on PCs but removed them back to one per PC after the licencing overage issues we experienced!  We all work away happily on our mix of MicroStation and Powerdraft, and to be forced into this change is not what we wanted to have to do. And being trumpeted as a free upgrade is not the case when you have to shell out for the one off payments of over a grand, is not as attractive as it is meant to be. 

    Select upgrades are a big benefit, but the less than seamless way we have to upgrade is not ideal, as I said elsewhere, not everyone is an expert software configurator and the saving of interfaces never seems to work every time forcing a fresh set up. I do all the configuring of Bentley software in the office, and know enough to keep things moving. The Bentley CRM I have had meetings with took note of my feedback and it would be good to see if any part of this proposal changes. Not sure how larger companies than us will feel who have multiple licences of Powerdraft will feel about having to shell out tens of thousands of pounds for something they basically already have. If you are a PD user and don't need 3D functionality, where is your benefit?