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I blog about this every once in a while. Most technology previews are like milk cartons. They have expiration dates on them. When a technology preview expires, the technology preview no longer operates. A preview has a time bomb in it that makes it stop working on a particular date. We do this so there is a sense of urgency to try a technology preview and get back to us. Our customers are busy people, and without this, they would just say "I'll get to that later." When a technology preview expires, any data that has been created by it continues to be valid. It's just that the data cannot be edited using the technology preview since the preview does not run anymore. Certainly new data can't be created either. This approach allows us to get early feedback on the general idea, user interface, performance characteristics, and general correctness of the results.

Here is a list of active Autodesk Labs technology previews and their associated expiration dates. The list is sorted by expiration date - so act fast if you want to provide feedback on these technology previews before they retire or graduate.

Expiration Date	Technology Preview
February 28, 2013	http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/factory_modz"> Project Facrory.Modz() for Inventor
February 28, 2013	Process Simulation
March 15, 2013	http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/falcon"> Project Falcon stand-alone program
March 31, 2013	http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/revit_fabmep"> FABmep Import for Revit MEP
March 31, 2013	DesignScript
April 1, 2013	http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/fusion"> Inventor Fusion (Windows version)
May 1, 2013	Project Sci-Viz for 3ds Max
June 30, 2013	http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/civil3d_river"> River Analysis Extension for AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012 / AutoCAD Map 3D 2012
August 6, 2013	http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/revit_maximo"> Maximo Integration for Autodesk Revit 2013 products
August 12, 2013	http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/basejump"> Project Basejump for AutoCAD Map 3D / AutoCAD Civil 3D
August 30 15, 2013	http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/falcon"> Project Falcon for AutoCAD, Inventor, and Revit
January 31, 2014	http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/inventor_mesh"> Mesh Enabler for Inventor 2013
July 1, 2014	http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/inventor_simplification"> Inventor Simplification

Technology previews have a specific end date so no one confuses them with perpetual functionality that is associated with a product offering or subscription service. In fact, technology previews are offered for free to Subscription, non-Subscription, and educational users alike. A development team is focused on a technology preview for a project interval. While they are, they want the feedback and the ability to make a decision so they can continue development of the technology or quickly move on to something else. We appreciate it when we debut technology previews, people try them right away, and provide us with an up or down vote. Your experience shapes the future of our technology indeed.

Sniffing the cartons to see what can still be tasted is alive in the lab.