Bentley is surveying AutoCAD users facing Autodesk's forced retirement program; respondents will receive a free gift.

"Help us help you by taking a two-minute survey at www.bentley.com/AutoCADusers/retirementsurvey," said Bentley Systems, Incorporated, today to all AutoCAD users facing Autodesk's forced retirement of their AutoCAD 2000i and AutoCAD LT 2000i products. Bentley will use the survey responses to tailor its upgrade program, which will include special program pricing and services, to the needs of these AutoCAD users.

Survey respondents will receive a free gift of a subscription to BE Magazine plus a copy of PDF Composer. PDF Composer lets users easily package all of their AEC drawings, including MicroStation and AutoCAD files, into a single PDF document. These interactive PDFs make it possible to quickly navigate through an AEC project using hyperlinks, bookmarks, and pages to access information.

To fill out the AutoCAD user survey, visit www.bentley.com/AutoCADusers/retirementsurvey.

Complete details of Bentley's special upgrade program for AutoCAD users will be announced in the coming weeks. To sign up in advance for one of two half-day program preview seminars being held next month (December 1, 2004, in Tampa, Fla., and December 8, 2004, in Tulsa, Okla.), visit www.bentley.com/AutoCADusers.

About Autodesk's Forced Retirement Program
Autodesk states on its website: "After January 15, 2005, Autodesk will no longer sell upgrades or crossgrades from any AutoCAD 2000i-based products or Autodesk Inventor Series 6. Additionally, Autodesk will no longer provide technical support, apart from existing maintenance patches that are downloadable from www.autodesk.com."

Source: Bentley, Nov. 22, 2004