Bentley Commences Phase One of MicroStation V8 Beta Program

March 1 – Bentley Systems, Incorporated announced that the first beta version of MicroStation V8 is available and the first phase of the beta program is underway.

More than 200,000 Bentley SELECT subscribers, registered third-party developers, Bentley Integrators, and MicroStation Value-Added Resellers who have access to SELECTservices Online can now take advantage of the largest beta-test program in Bentley's history for this groundbreaking new version of MicroStation.

The commencement of phase one of the beta test program marks the completion of the expanded file format, which provides testers a stable basis for creating and using MicroStation designs and models throughout the entire program. Phase 2 begins when all new features of MicroStation V8 are included in the beta release.

The beta-test period is anticipated to last for approximately six months, with regular updates to the beta occurring periodically throughout the program.

MicroStation V8 takes advantage of underlying architectural changes, giving users numerous new production and project-level capabilities, and is more tightly integrated with other Bentley engineering information creation applications and Bentley's Viecon engineering information management solutions.

MicroStation V8 includes Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), one of today's most popular programming languages from Microsoft. Using VBA, standard desktop applications are able to interact with MicroStation, increasing user productivity. The simplicity and wide availability of VBA tools provide MicroStation V8 users with more and easier customization than ever before.

MicroStation V8 combines the strongest features of the MicroStation Development Language (MDL), MicroStation BASIC and MicroStation V8's JMDL-based "DGN Package.'' Because the tools utilized by Visual Basic are virtually unlimited, developers and users alike now have much greater flexibility.

The beta version of MicroStation V8 is available by direct download from SELECTservices Online or on CD-ROM through Bentley's MySELECT CD service.

By all accounts, this is a major upgrade for MicroStation, and represents a significant step towards enabling interoperability with AutoCAD by virtue of these "underlying architectural changes." The inclusion of VBA is another significant enhancement. Okay, actually they're all significant enhancements. It will be interesting to see what develops.

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