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Most Popular and Best are not Synonyms

I’ve noticed a peculiar response to the 2012 UK Construction Computing Awards. You know, the awards Graphisoft and ArchiCAD consistently do really well at, winning BIM Product of the Year in both 2011 and 2012. The awards that Revit doesn’t fair as well in. The response I see from one segment of the community is to dismiss the awards (as provincial, alleged, etc.). The argument boils down to “my software is more popular and therefore better. Ergo, this award should be dismissed because it doesn’t confirm my worldview.”

Let’s put aside dissecting whether the award was deserved or legitimate, or which program is better.

That’s not the point.

A Quick Thought Exercise

Where else in our lives do we accept that most popular is a proxy for better? Junior High School? Dating? Sports? Beer? Education? Housing?

Let’s briefly explore housing as an example. By the too common logic of my software is better because it is dominant in the US market, then suburban ranches and colonials are superior to architect designed homes because the mass-produced builder homes are omnipresent and more people live in them.

How about something even closer to our particular debate. If Revit’s popularity relates to its value to our profession, then an even more popular program (Autocad or SketchUp) must be even better! Seems like a flawless argument right?

Remember the Alamo iPad

There are examples where best and popular coincide (the iPad, for instance). And just because something isn’t the most popular doesn’t mean it’s secretly the best (just about every non-iPod mp3 player ever…). So don’t conflate this post as some subtle way of saying ArchiCAD is better because it has a smaller market-share. That’s a bullshit statement too. Popularity and market penetration are dependent on way too many other factors than just the actual value of the product. For further reading, check out this article from the Economist about the poor state of beer in South Korea.

So the next time the pissing match starts, remember that popularity doesn’t count for much. Don’t use it as a crutch or as your go-to explanation of worth. Unless you want to base your whole argument on the benefits of peer-pressure.

Comments

  • December 3, 2012
    reply

    What does that say about our profession that we easily make the most popular the best without actually looking at all the other possibilites. Its sort of like the movie Inception with some of these platforms and their supporters; they have created in their mind the answer they want to hear, which is they are leading the revolution. Yet a whole other set of designers and architects have been in the trenches for a long time prior to their arrival. It was sort of amusing when people started talking about this new technology called BIM, whilst another part of the profession had already been creating BIM files for a long time. I also think other softwares loose points by not having been IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) certified as long as Archicad, nor having the ability to easily and effectively communicate with everyone else in the sandbox. There should be something in the BIM definition about universal communication as a part of it’s required function. You can’t BIM if you don’t like communicating with your peers effectively.

  • December 3, 2012
    reply

    Dull Dave

    Don’t forget… more PCs than Macs, thus PCs must be better, period.

  • December 6, 2012
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    Chad Conrad

    These are all great statements and comments. Jared, interesting perspective and analogies. I find this whole ArchiCAD vs. Revit thing so interesting in how people can become so attached to something that is not even a tangible things but a bunch of 1’s and 0’s. We interface with our computers and software so much in our daily lives that we become so personally attached and defensive of this issue. I know which I prefer but this is because I made a very concious choice 10 years ago and so very glad that I did.

  • December 7, 2012
    reply

    Djordje

    Yes, a Toyota Camry is definitely better than a Porsche …

  • December 7, 2012
    reply

    Djordje

    … and …

    The only reason that Revit took hold in the Middle East is that everyone who had an AutoCAD license – that is, almost everybody – had a free Revit license. The boxes were in storage, until someone read an article, decided he is now a BIM expert, and proposed to the management to implement this “new” technology for free, by dusting off the boxes.

    Then they tried to use it, but that’s another story …

  • December 7, 2012
    reply

    I’ve mentioned this before…

    When I’ve researched different applications for purchase, salespeople from AutoDesk have told me, “We are not the best but we are the biggest. And for that reason alone, there will be a steady supply of people able to work immediately… So why would you consider anything else?”

    That just never felt right to me. Plus I always need to do some amount of training and set up with all new people re: office standards, etc…

    Cheers!

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