New Bentley Program Targets Autodesk Perpetual Licenses

In a bold move, Bentley Systems has made one thing clear to its rival, Autodesk: the game is afoot.

Bentley, a building information modeling (BIM) software giant, recently announced that it would be starting up what it calls the Autodesk License Upgrade Program. And yes, it’s as direct as it sounds.

The program (whose URL, by the way, is www.bentley.com/youhaveachoice) is offered as a life preserver thrown to users of Autodesk’s perpetual licenses for its software.

Autodesk will stop selling perpetual licenses of most of its Design and Creation suites—including the Building Design Suites, Infrastructure Design Suites and individual products such as AutoCAD with Advanced Steel. Users will only be able to purchase Autodesk software as part of a subscription after the Jul. 31, 2016 deadline.

Bentley’s program offers users the ability to put the net value of an Autodesk perpetual license toward their own “evergreen” perpetual licenses—which the company says will never depreciate.

This new move seems odd given that Autodesk and Bentley signed an agreement for interoperability and collaboration back in 2008, signaling the start of a cooperative trend between BIM software companies.

 

A Question of Licensing

Now, before Autodesk users panic, this doesn’t mean that a perpetual license will expire. Existing perpetual licenses will continue to be valid and from the sound of it, Autodesk will continue to provide support and updates.

According to a…