Keith Bentley, CTO of Bentley Systems

More questions...

(previous questions here)

by Roopinder Tara, June 21, 2007

• Why the code name Athens for the next release of MicroStation?
  We're starting to name them after Olympic cities. Of course, Athens was the first, alphabetically and chronologically
• What excites you the most about the Athens release?
  The paradigm has a lot more “Dynamics” (as in dynamic views, models and elements)
• What do you think of the competition like Revit and ArchiCAD?
  They are both good products. Revit has some nice concepts, but I personally think it’s a divergence from AutoCAD and a mistake for them and their users. There’s nothing about Revit that can’t be better implemented in a multi-discipline platform like MicroStation. We don't really see ArchiCAD very often.
• Do Bentley and Autodesk exist in their own worlds without too much direct competition?
  Of course we compete, but nowadays there’s a lot of coexistence and interoperability.
• How do you choose between fixing problems for current users or adding new features?
  If anything, we favor the current user, making them faster, more productive, compatible. Our software is extremely backward compatible. Also we don't take anything away from the toolset.
• What led you into software?
  My first job was working on DuPont's own P&ID software, which they later replaced with Intergraph.