Why has the CONNECT edition of Bentley View been removed?

Bentley View V8i SELECTseries 4 is offered as the most current version of the View product, available at no cost. It has sufficient support for viewing and printing most DGN files, and was updated to support CONNECTED Users and CONNECTED Projects. If you require additional viewing and review functionality beyond what is found in Bentley View V8i SELECTseries 4, please consider Bentley Navigator CONNECT Edition, which is available via an affordable BIM Review Visa with a Cloud Services Subscription, or Bentley Navigator CONNECT Edition mobile which is available with just a Bentley CONNECTIONS Passport. MicroStation PowerDraft CONNECT Edition is another alternative to view and edit DGN files with full fidelity.

Regards,
Makai Smith
Director of Product Management, MicroStation Product Line
Bentley Systems, Inc.

That's all fine but you have still not really answered the question as to why a brand new program (part of the CONNECT family and supposedly the way Bentley is moving forward) was released and then removed. Was it that bad a product?

As for the decision to release and then remove, it was strictly driven by a focus on developing the Bentley Navigator product line as the solution for view and design review. As far as technology is concerned, the CONNECT Edition generation of products is unquestionably the way forward (within the MicroStation product line as well as within other design applications).

As for the decision to release and then remove, it was strictly driven by a focus on developing the Bentley Navigator product line as the solution for view and design review. As far as technology is concerned, the CONNECT Edition generation of products is unquestionably the way forward (within the MicroStation product line as well as within other design applications).