Revit 8.0 Beta- To download or not?

[zanzibarbob7]

I've been aboard since just before 7.0 was released and am as excited about 8.0 coming out as the rest of you. Now that it is available I have a dilemma. Do I download it now or wait until the official release, AND many of the bugs have been worked out. Is this release just for you experts to use and comment on or will those of us who not familiar enough to make intelligent suggestions benefit from downloading 8.0.

Do I have to meet some criteria, other than holding a seat in Revit? The comment about the potential bugs in the Beta version is cause for some concern. I want to continue working on our projects without jeopardizing, them or their stability.

Would some of your old Revit hands please comment.

[hand471037]

Would some of your old Revit hands please comment.

I'd download it and just play with it, and only use it on a 'real' project if is there is some killer feature that you just have to use 'cause it's so cool or it solves some problem.

For example: when Revit 7 hit, I downloaded it, and started testing. However, my boss saw the Shadows, loved them, and bam, we're using it on all the Schematic Sets but waiting on anything in DD or CD's until it's more 'stable'. A few builds later, due to group issues, we decided to jump everything to Revit 7 to solve those issues. This did come back to hurt a bit with the whole rotation of Callouts thing, but then a later build came out that solved that issue (THANK YOU!) and we're smooth sailing.

Opposite example: at a different firm a big project on 4.5, when Revit 5 hit, we didn't upgrade 'till much later, for there wasn't anything that directly was needed, so we could take a little more time to get used to the new version first.

However, being Revit, we're talking a much smaller window of testing, like a month or so at most, prior to roll-out, instead of the much larger window required for AutoCAD/ADT & LISP migrations. YMMV.

[zanzibarbob7]

Jeff,

Thanks for the advice. We are almost through with our current project, which will give me more time to explore 8.0. Signed up for the Beta, but as you know, it may take a few days to get things in order with Autodesk before I can download. Looking forward to it.

Revit is very exciting and the community here is the best.

Thanks again,