Why do you upgrade your CAD application?

I’m probably one of the CAD geeks out there who get excited when I see new release. The thing is I don’t use CAD applications on daily basis. And I haven’t used it for real work for years. When I do use it for real, there are some things that I found don’t work smoothly. Lucky me, I know how to get rid most of the disturbance by changing some options.

Long story short, many veterans decided to turn new features off. Or never use them. That’s why posts like ‘putting things back to normal’ by Steve can be very popular.

I’m not going to argue why you decided not to use the new features. But I’m very interested on why you decided to upgrade anyway.

I do have several reasons that I can think of on my mind, like:

1. Because you do need the new features. Maybe not all, but you expect to increase your productivity by upgrading. This is the ideal situation for both of you and Autodesk, right?
2. Because you’re on subscription. Why pay for it if you don’t use the new version, right?
3. File format support. You have to be able to open and send file in certain format. AutoCAD still has the ability to save as to lower version. But when you work with Revit, you can’t. There’s a workaround by using IFC, but I’m not sure if we can rely on it.
4. Because you can’t purchase old releases. Yes, you can purchase new version and downgrade to 3 versions down. But I don’t think people will do this unless it’s really necessary (For example, 3rd party app you’re using doesn’t support new version yet). And I don’t think managing different versions at your office is a good decision.
5. Other reasons…

So I ‘m curious to hear from you, why do you upgrade your CAD applications? Not only limited to AutoCAD. But any CAD applications that you use.

And do you think upgrading brings more benefits to you than continuing to use your current version?

About Edwin Prakoso

I work as a Sr. Consultant in PT Cipta Satria Informatika. I've been using AutoCAD since R14 and Revit since Revit Building 9. I occasionally write for AUGIWorld magazine and I am also active in Autodesk discussion forum. I'm a member of Autodesk Expert Elite, an appreciation for individuals who give contributions to the Autodesk community.
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