Collected on LinkedIn:

Almost 1,5 years ago in response to the famous Nordic Open Letter to Autodesk I wrote an article presenting current state of Open-Source Initiatives in AEC. Thanks to everyone at OSArch - Open Source in AEC who got involved in it!

It took some time to publish it, but finally it is out! You can read it on a blog of Association of Finnish Architects Offices!

Link to the text:

After almost 2 years, I would love to add some extra points to it:

1. Open-Source software for AEC got better! Speckle, BlenderBIM Add-on!

2. IFC.js is no longer IFC.js. It is now called That Open Company (Formerly IFC.js)! They managed to get support of major players on the market and created a space to learn, thatOpenUniversity! Personally, I am doing some courses there right now!

3. I spend countless hours learning Revit API. Big thanks to Autodesk for allowing us to expand their software with it. They did a lot of serious work there, and it is something which is completely hidden from general users. And the more open API is, the more we can create and improve!

4. I managed to develop my own add-in for Autodesk Revit, Drafter. I am more than happy to say that it helps with a lot of problems the famous letter complains about! So try it before complaining again ;) It is also super cheap, so there is no reason not to buy it and support my work! My Revit is so cool with it 😊!

5. I was thinking about making my add-ins open source. Go to Patreon page of PyRevit to learn why I didn’t. If you use pyRevit, go there and do the right thing! The same extends to the creators of dynamo packages, other free software or addins you may use like DiRoots!

6. It is up to normal people and offices to support the developers, to allow them to create free, open-source and useful solutions (in and out of proprietary software). Not up to developers to work for free! This is the only way we will be able to fully utilize the possibilities modern software is giving us.

And we have to do it! As I said in the article, we really need the best tools we can have! We are architects, engineers, BIM coordinators, designers, and other professionals who each day envision a better future for our cities and communities, better ways for people to live and work, and more sustainable methods of using the scarce resources we have. Our work makes a difference!11