Challenging article at Arch | Tech

Phil Read has posted a confronting analysis of the current state of the BIM software industry.

Here are some quotes I found particularly stimulating:

"When I demonstrated Revit during sales presentations, people were very quick to raise the numerous objections:

• 3DMax was a better tool for modeling
• VIZ was a better tool for rendering
• AutoCAD was a better for detailing and documentation
• Excel was a better for creating spreadsheets and schedules

And you know what? They were right. And they still right. Compared feature to feature, Revit can't compete with those kinds of tools."

" Applications create silos. Exported data means that the everyone is working in separate versions of the truth;"

"...I don't believe that Revit is capable of evolving beyond it's designed intent as a tool to resolve coordinated documentation."

 "Revit isn't the center of this ecosystem of geometry and data; it seems to orbit other applications (Navis, ProjectWise, etc) that in turn attempt to integrate data across domains."

Read the entire article:
Arch | Tech: Why Can't We Be Friends?

Something that isn't mentioned here is monopolization.  At times we feel that an all-in-one Design/BIM/Documentation/Presentation tool would be awesome.  But where is the competition?  If we all end up using one powerful piece of software (ie. Windows), who makes the developer accountable?