How many firms do you know of that are actually using Revit?
I know of 5 firms that currently use Revit in my city which is St Louis. One of them is HOK one of the largest Architectural firms in the world.
How many have decided to just stick it out with ADT after evaluating it..or actually trying it as the main brain?
I know many companies that actually have ADT, but only 3 that use it for its full abilities.
Is Revit really the way things are likely to go...or do you feel Revit may die on the vine, a victim of too much too soon?
Well, Revit really isn't a young program... it's been around I believe 8 years, it just wasn't part of Autodesk before that. Revit will be around for a long time too. I know this for several reasons.
First, Autodesk as a company whole is putting major funding into their Lifecycle Management programs. Yes, its separate from their Entertainment division and Manufacturing divisions, but its really the core to Autodesk's future business model. Revit is the "center piece" of Autodesk's BSD initiative. BSD is what Autodesk calls "Building Solutions Division" and BSD is the total of their Architectural product line. In turn, this BSD division is the centerpiece of the Autodesk Lifecycle Management programs.
So Autodesk wants their lifecycle management initiatives to succeed, to do this requires their BSD division to succeed, which requires Revit to succeed.
ADT is now being build as AutoCAD for Architects, frankly I wouldn't be surprised if the next ADT release was actually named that. While under the BSD banner, its thought of as more of a transitional program between AutoCAD and Revit in terms of client needs. Its long term status will be determined by how long 2D drafting and services will be profitable in the industry.
Yet, the rest of the Autodesk product line is gearing up toward a transition to data information sharing. This goes well beyond Revit Building, Revit Structure, and Revit Systems. Autodesk is currently working on products designed to tie in this building model to the construction process as well as long term building management solutions... all based on this digital model.
Seems many ACAD/ADT users feel that they'd be throwing away everything they've learned to go Revit.....and so, loathe it...okay, they have some other valid reasons as well.
You'll fall in love with Revit if you actually use it for any length of time. I've been using AutoCAD since 1989 and ADT since it came out... my introduction to Revit over the past few months has been amazing. Yes, some people won't like it as its different, but all in all its a great program if you use it the right way. The right way is to model everything you need to model and don't model the things you don't need to model. In other words, there are times where you may have a standard 2D detail you've used for years in AutoCAD... don't redraw it in Revit unless you are bored. Just use it. Yet overall I find it to be a nice program. Some people call it intuitive.. I don't think it is. But it is a very comfortable program to design/draw in once you learn it. Its a program that becomes more intuitive the more you use it and break your old AutoCAD habits.
I think it will do well.
(Ps. Behind AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT, Inventor is the highest selling product in the Autodesk portfolio. Revit out-sold Inventor in the last quarter.)