Is Design Review discontinued?

[Anonymous]

So all the 2014 products are out now but Design Review 2014 is conspicuous in its absence. It isn't available for download (still only 2013 available) and it hasn't been included in any of the other product installers where it always has been in the past.

Have I missed something or is this the end of the road?

[GallowayUS_com_RonAllen1]

Hi @scott-sheppard-autodesk - 8 years Ago we asked if DWF was dead- one of your replies mentioned:

"But the original question was is Design Review being discontinued, and the answer is yes, it will eventually be replaced by Autodesk 360. "

Eight years later - is it still on legacy life support or did Autodesk reverse course? I imagine the intent is still to push everything to the cloud?... But I am curious to know what happens with the ABC Inclusion in subscriptions now;  Is Autodesk finally ending DWF desktop to make that final push for makrups to the cloud?

[a_meteni]

I believe that when those cloud based solutions get more widely adopted and/or digested, it will be the end of both DWF and PDF markups.

Till then, I’m happy with legacy DWF markup tool!

[scott-sheppard-autodesk]

Autodesk Design Review continues to be part of our desktop offerings. There are no plans to remove the download. Unless there is some unforeseen operating system change that necessitates updating Design Review, there are no plans to update it. As has been mentioned in this thread, our focus is on the cloud where there can be a single source of truth (reduce the number of separate files), the ability to apply more CPU power than just one desktop, and the ease of collaboration via the internet. The future is an ever-evolving Autodesk Construction Cloud.

[Anonymous]

The cloud markup tools continue to be left wanting as compared to the feature set available in Design Review.  I can't believe that BIM360 still hasn't made it so that markups can be marked/filtered by status (vs just archiving with no record of who did that action).  BIM360 does not really support a comprehensive redline process.  It is starting to make some progress in terms of model coordination/collision detection, but still isn't there.  I really wanted to maybe even use the "issues" tool via web and Revit, but being limited to a dot and description isn't enough.  Also I was having issues in Revit with it saying the host view of the issue didn't exist....  Continue to be disappointed in these markup/review features in the cloud...  Simply enabling multiple concurrent users to review a DWF together in Design Review (as is possible with Revit) would be huge!!!

[scott-sheppard-autodesk]

Thank you for the suggestion; however, most people who build houses/roads, make things, or animate movies use devices other than Windows PCs. Autodesk Design Review is Windows-only. Given that our cloud solutions have room for improvement for an electronic review process, we are focusing our limited resources on our cloud solutions instead of Design Review. The cloud offers connectivity via the internet, the opportunity to apply more computing resources than just one PC, and a single source of truth to avoid multiple copies of files that grow ever larger as projects get more complex.

[bbeilke]

"...however, most people who build houses/roads, make things, or animate movies use devices other than Windows PCs. Autodesk Design Review is Windows-only."

I would love to see those statistics and how you collected/verified them.  I have worked in the construction aggregates industry for 30 years, literally from coast to coast, and have not worked with one single contractor or design company not using Windows PCs.  I'm not saying that they do not exist, but I find it very difficult to believe that the numbers are anywhere near "most" for the construction industries (movie animation maybe, but that's a totally different animal).

Furthermore, if I have one of your "360" apps installed on a device, why not make it easy for that app to access content housed locally on my device as well as the cloud?  Out here in the real world we often find ourselves in locations without stable cell phone coverage.

[GallowayUS_com_RonAllen1]

Wish Autodesk had bought bluebeam instead of Nemetschek.  Would have solved so many issues and DWF could have been replaced. (Sorry Scott- I suspect DWF is near and dear to your heart : ) I said years ago Android would surge and take over and now it is neck and neck with windows.)

OS is what runs the applications so it is critical.

Simple facts - Apple makes it easy to code - but locks folks in and robbs 'em blind. PCs fraught with viruses and issues... and overall Android headed to dominate worldwide. Why Would I say dominate? The past year PCs got a surge from COVID WFH- so those numbers are inflated for MS Windows. Plus windows been breaking a lot of stuff lately with their haphazard updates and scaled down preflight checks of their patches leaving more bugs for US to deal.... 

Android progressive market share worldwide VS Windows and others

Android Lags behind Windows/IOS in the US - baffling to me how IOS/Apple manages here - guess Americans just like to spend lots and lots of money on planned obsolescence.: (Long live Unix & Linux - Unix never dies!)

Operating system share in the USA market

So frustrating AEC doesn't see the internet infrastructure as important! Lagging behind on old versions of software and hardware- never making it a priority when technology drives everything!

Work-sites with no/bad connections and no WIFI- seems like a no brainer to fix these days. AEC chooses to lag behind in so many technical aspects. Note- tools like Bluebeam can work on a Surface or an IPAD in offline mode and merge back data with other PDFs when you get back. PDFs/punch lists snapshots all taken in the field and returned for big file storage. 

Granted I like working in the model and with the files yes- but I don't being all my code books and the entire project history with me everywhere I go... (Although 360/"ABC" Basically does that for us with access through handheld devices : )

T-Mobile dominating the market over the past 2 years, 5G is growing, 4G is everywhere except the 'boon docs'... and failing that there are typically offline mode in Bluebeam and similar apps. PCs were dominant but if you look closely Android (Poones, tablets, etc) are dominating the market. 

If you aren't sure try Open signal before you go - pretty good indicator of tested speeds wherever there is a dot on the map.

"Smartphones running the Android operating system hold an 87 percent share of the global market in 2...

Note: Time scale change on these next ones 2019-01-01 to now...

Desktops were on their way out in the US until COVID then everyone went to WFH and sales surged:  I suspect handhelds will resurge as not most everyone has a WFH system.

Android-PC-North-America

But worldwide- Handheld devices reign - and smartphones are taking over:

Android-PC-Worldwide stats

So we need to up our game- get more connected and get systems in place that allow us the flexibility to gather what information is needed to bring back, integrate and share with the team.

It isn't hard - we just have to shed old bad habits and agree to head in at least a similar direction. waiting for AI and ML to take over and solve our problems isn't going to work for a while (century or so) and there is so much more we can achieve with less waste and effort to achieve truly great things if we can just get to it.