Less Costly CAD Software Could Reduce Piracy Rates in the Construction Industry.

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10 Jul 2006

The high cost associated with buying legally licensed computer software is the driving force behind software piracy, and with the low cost of cracking and replicating software, the piracy market remains very lucrative despite of the adoption of international treaties on copyrights and anti-piracy laws. These high costs have also helped drive open source software applications as a viable alternative to expensive licensed software.

With the recent launch of BricsCad V7, engineers, architects and design companies in the Middle East will now be able to legally own an effective alternative to the more expensive AutoCAD. BricsCad uses the industry standard AutoCAD DWG as its native drawing format and can read and write AutoCAD DWG directly without any conversion.

Distributed by Tecnoserve, a regional software and technology solution provider, BricsCad V7 will sell for less than 10% of the price of AutoCAD.

Market surveys carried out by BricsCad showed that an increasing number of companies in the region are using pirated copies of AutoCAD mainly because of its high cost. This situation encouraged BricsCad to continually develop and upgrade its software package and Tecnoserve to push it into regional markets.

“We already have a number of users in the Middle East and their feedback has been very encouraging,” said Erik De Keyser, founder and CEO of BricsCad. “We are very pleased to have companies like Dar Al-Handasah, Adnan Saffarini Engineering Consultant and National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC) as BricsCad users.”

Commenting on the use of pirated software, De Keyser said: “Companies and even individuals face serious legal risks when employing illegal, pirated software. But with the high prices associated with buying or licensing software, especially in specialized industry segments such as building and construction, buying legal software becomes a major cost element. We developed BricsCad with precisely this issue in mind. Not only does BricsCad provide top notch functionality, it is also very cost effective.”

Explaining the efficiency of BricsCad, De Keyser explained that like AutoCAD, the product’s native file format is DWG and you can you can open and save AutoCAD files without any conversion or data loss. “Users can continue working on drawings that were started on in AutoCAD and freely exchange files with AutoCAD users,” he explained.

“BricsCad is seen as an ‘almost clone’ of AutoCAD and users get the functionality they need for their work at a very favorable price. Not only that, the user interface is made in a way that a CAD operator trained on AutoCAD will fully master BricsCad after a few hours without any additional training,” De Keyser adds.

According to the Business Software Alliance (BSA), the foremost organization dedicated to promoting a safe and legal digital world, software piracy levels in the Middle East have declined in 2005, with the UAE leading the way with the lowest piracy rate in the region.

“Government support to anti-piracy campaigns has been crucial in making this possible. Despite this substantial progress, the focus should consistently be rendered to overcome the many challenges and to bring regional piracy levels to the global average by all. Our company’s product is sought to even reduce the rates of software piracy reported in the Middle East,” he noted.

BricsCad NV is a Belgium company with long traditions in developing design software. The team of developers has more than 15 years of experience and a proven track record delivering top notch CAD technology. Today BricsCad has more than 35,000 customers throughout the world, and their best known product is BricsCad V7, a powerful and affordable alternative to AutoCAD.

Tecnoserve FZ-LLC is the Middle East distributor of BricsCad V7 and operator of the Middle East software portal www.cadresources.net. The company is a specialised solution provider to the building and construction industry, and is presently implementing a complete project management solution for Dubai Municipality. Tecnoserve has teamed up with a number of local and international software developers to provide applications needed by the region’s striving construction industry. Detailed information about the BricsCad software and contact details can be found on the regional website, www.cadresources.net.