FAQ

or rather, miscellanious problems and solutions.

How to ensure adoption of Cadalus?

The industry is caught in a chicken-and-egg problem at the moment: Everyone uses AutoCAD, ArchiCAD and Revit, therefore universities teach AutoCAD, ArchiCAD and Revit, therefore everyone learns AutoCAD, ArchiCAD and Revit, therefore everyone uses AutoCAD, ArchiCAD and Revit. To break this cycle, Cadalus needs to have explicit support from the industry, so universities can confidently start teaching Cadalus. By using a co-op model, the industry is involved from the start.

Should Cadalus be free?

Ideally, yes. Charging for the software creates an unnecessary barrier in an already fairly gatekept industry. Given the strong professionalization of the user base, there's a strong sales argument to pay for high-priority bugfixes and support (becoming a member), to avoid a day of lost work or downtime. If Hans-Peter can now lay out his living room slightly better, or Dmitry from Unregulatistan now is able to design a building which won't fall over – that's great, but also not the sort of audience which would have paid for such a software to begin with.

Should Cadalus be open source?

As a Blender extension, it is required to be. However, even if it wasn't, there is a good reason to go open source: To avoid the risk of vendor lock-in, to encourage interoperability, and to avoid the risk of mismanagement ruining the software forever – you can always fork.

Are there regulations, Norms, Lobbying, which requires proprietary solutions?

Maybe. But for once, the lobby is on our side: There are very few creators of proprietary CADs and BIMs, but a lot of AEC businesses responsible for unimportant things like our entire built environment. Whatever regulations in place surely can be adapted to allow for something like Cadalus to exist.

Is there a financial reason to become a Cadalus member?

At its current rate of 460€/month, across a 40 year carreer, the average architect can expect to pay 220k € to Autodesk. Given there no doubt will be price hikes throughout, this number can be expected to grow well beyond a quarter million euros, per architect. Cadalus meanwhile would be more like an investment: Once the software is mature, you may choose to drop out of the co-op, and keep using the software – for free. In the long run, this will save you a lot more money.