Is there anyone out there........knock once for YES and twice for No

Having now talked to one of the committee members of the Official UK Revit User Group, it would seem that they are not getting very much help from Autodesk in terms of assistance with funding to get the ball rolling in the UK.

It would appear that getting the UK Revit User Group going is like pushing a car up a hill, with the hand brake on and the wind in your face. Being on the steering committee for the BAPD, I can sympathise with them completely.

IMHO by now there should be at least a forum for UK Revit Users, one would think that Autodesk would stop sitting on their hands with their thumbs up their _ _ _ _ and at least fund a dedicated UK forum. (memo to self – pursue this and report back)

The UK User Group committee wanted a list of purchasers of REVIT in the UK so that they could market to the end users directly, but Autodesk consider this as sensitive marketing information and will not share. (Boo, Boo, Hiss, Hiss, their behind you…. well it is coming up to Pantomime Season)

I’m told they also tried engaging some of the top Autodesk Value Added Resellers (VAR’s), and Premier Solutions Providers (PSP’s) who were interested however, they have to be careful as it’s Autodesk game and they don’t want them taking the ball away if they don’t keep strictly within the guidelines set down by big brother, who wants to see Official User Groups created.

I posted a message on the AUGI Revit Structure General forum for other UK users and got one reply! Thank you Michael Boyd for answering you’re a star.

OK I know REVIT Structure is quite young, but I did expect more than one reply!

Micheal seem to think that you lot are just shy (at the time of writing this 91 people have looked at the forum post, but only Michael has replied.

It would be great for REVIT users of all the flavours (Architect, Structure and MEP) in the UK, to have an Active UK forum and User Group.

It would appear that there is a lot in common between the REVIT flavours. Indeed the AUGI have recently created two additional forums where common posts may be made (see previous post)

The AUGI world wide community have been great at helping me with my questions, but as a UK user area I really want is:-

• Local User group meetings with other users in my area (even if this means having to meet with other anoraks down the pub, drink a couple beers and talk Revit)
• Somewhere I can get hold of UK specific project examples
• Have access to completed real UK based projects
• Build a dedicated UK wish-list and become more than a lone UK voice in the wind
• Have a UK Family sharing area for posting and downloading UK specific content.

The UK User Group web site also talks about these in “Coming soon to this web site” This was why I telephoned one of the committee members in the first place, because after two weeks I had not received a reply to my email with the question “when is it coming?”.

The UK Revit User Group, also want to include:-

• Tips and tricks section
• Links to Revit specific sites of interest
• UK specific templates

So why aren’t some of these areas there already? I know there are only four members on the committee, but it’s no good bleating about Autodesk if you can’t even add (Using Buzzword Bingo terms) “Low Hanging Fruit” like a tips and tricks or a links page.

Having recently built the Revit Links Page on my cadalot web site this just takes time, not money. “Coming Soon” is just too open ended, for the “Supreme Beings” sake (How PC is that - VBG) set a target and communicate it with the people that visit your web site.

Does “Coming Soon” mean hours, days, weeks, months or years, sometime, maybe or never?

So enough is enough, Not being one for sitting on hands with my…..you know what I mean ;0), and, being an ex-Generic CADD user so my thoughts on Autodesk go something like

“Doing business with Autodesk is like making love with a condom on, it gives one a sense of security and safety whilst being screwed”

I don’t care how commercially sensitive your names and address may be to Autodesk, let’s build some Local Unofficial Revit User groups in the UK. But you’re not going to be able to do that unless we build a list of users, so….

I’ve added the UK Revit Register Page to the Revit area of my cadalot web site. (Link updated to the new location for the UK Revit Register)

Please don’t be shy, help build a list of UK Revit users that the Official UK User Group can use. I’ve even set it up by area so that you can find other Revit Users local to you, so that perhaps you can start your own Unofficial Local Revit Group that could have that couple of beers down the pub once in a while and talk Revit.

Remember, you will only get out of this what you put into it, so email me your details and let’s get the ball rolling.