WorldCAD Access

Robert Shear on Plant 3D

Autodesk is slowly introducing its new Plant 3D software, first through large-volume resellers, and then wider distribution in the spring. Even the 30-day demo version is limited to downloaders from Canada and USA. 

Senior industry manager Robert Shear told me that the AutoCAD add-on took three years to write from the ground up, with the help of some acquired technology. The quick way to distinguish between the company's two plant & process add-ons:

• P&ID -- 2D, connections, processes, etc (shipped last year).
• Plant 3D -- 3D, adds tanks, pumps, etc.
  
  (Plant and process, he says, is "anything measured in gallons.")

Mr Shear explains that Intergraph, Bentley Systems, and AVEVA target the high end of the market, and so Autodesk is competing with a lower price and fewer capabilities. Specifically, they are targeting retrofits, and the documentation existing plants, rather than new construction.

When I asked the price, I got "We'll get back to you on that" as an answer. Fewer capabilities means no analyses, although data can be coordinated through an API with external applications, like Pipestress. 

From my meeting with NTP Truboprovod in Russia, I understand that regional standards are needed to sell into international markets. Here Mr Shear indicated the software so far has standards for North America and Northern Europe, with Central Europe due soon. 

www.autodesk.com/autocadplant3d

Update

Pricing for Plant3D is US$8,995 for standalone license in USA, while Europeans get to pay a nice round e10,000.

Press Release Arrives from 1969

Email can be slow. Last week, I got an email sent to me at the beginning of May. As I understand it, sometimes mail servers get overloaded and so store messages for later delivery. Kind of like the rare horror story of Lazy the Mailman storing his route's mail in the basement.

Today I noticed an email at the very top of my email client (my Inbox is sorted by date). Opening it, the send date was revealed to be:

Date: Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:14:07 -0700

A press release from nearly the pre-history of CAD. How exciting! An electronic document that was perhaps OCR'ed from paper to digital by a mysterious process.

That entered the Internet perhaps through another portal -- CompuServe, perhaps?

That moved from a mysterious mainframe computer, no doubt, onto a minicomputer of some sort, and then transfered by an unknown process to Direct Mail for Mac OS X.

That was able to predict the future, precisely 14,518 days in the future, of something of significance occurring on September 29, 2009. What might be the meaning hidden behind 1 - 4 - 5 - 1 - 8? Or through the patterned sequence 9 - 29 - 2009.

That somehow knew in an uncanny fashion that a company known in the future as "Catalog Data Solutions" would one day announce "the ability for any company to promote their online CAD models and drawings on 3DModelSpace."

Might 3DModelSpace be the bright future predicted to be perfected by technologists and foretold by the gasping Popular Science and Popular Mechanics magazines of the 1950s?

Not at all. The Fuller Brush salesman is at the door:

About 3DModelSpace.com

CAD model downloads are a proven way to lock-in your component products during the design phase and generate new sales when those products are built. 3DModelSpace was launched in 2008 as a search engine for designers and engineers to quickly find CAD models and drawings of the products they need. For manufacturers and distributors 3DModelSpace delivers high quality click-throughs by designers and engineers at highly relevant decision points during their design/product selection process. 3DmodelSpace reaches over 2,000,000 CAD users [the number is 250,000 earlier in the press release] because it is built directly into Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire and is featured in the Autodesk Manufacturing Community. 3DModelSpace is a CAD model search engine, not a CAD library - it directs designers and engineers to your website where your brand is promoted, leads captured, CAD downloads generated and products sold. To have your CAD models included in 3DModelSpace visit www.3dmodelspace.com/promote

(Emphasis mine.)

How Slow is that USB Drive?

I always figured that USB thumbdrives were pretty much the same. After all, they all adhere to the USB v2.x spec, which is supposed to define fast transfer speeds.

(Note that all USB drives use FlashRAM, which is slow for writing, but reasonably fast for reading.)

I came to the realization that there are differences when Windows Vista refused to use a 1GB USB drive for ReadyBoost, complaining it was too slow. This surprised me, for another, identical looking drive was speedy enough for ReadyBoost. (I get most of my USB drives free, from software vendors, ranging from 32MB to 4GB.)

I decided to test the speed of all my drives, to see which are the speediest. I found a couple of Windows programs to download that test drive speeds. But I backed off in a hurry, when the first one contained a virus.

I then searched for a similar program to run on Linux, and quickly found that Linux has drive test software built-in:

1. Open the terminal window (like the DOS window in Windows).
2. Enter the following command:

sudo hdparm -t /dev/---

Replace the --- by the name of the drive. To find the name of the drive, use the System Monitor program's File System's tab.  On my computer, the hard drive is sda3, while one of the USB connectors is sb1.
3. You are prompted to enter your password, and then the test runs.
 
The read tests found a huge difference between those two identical-looking USB keys: one read data at 14MB/sec, the other at just 1MB/sec. I got those speeds from other USB drives, as well.

The results of testing other devices:

• Built-in hard drive: 33MB/sec
• Fastest USB drive: an 8MB Imation drive -- 24MB/sec
• Other USB drives had speeds of 8MB/sec and 12MB/sec
• Portable, external Western Digital hard drive (connected through USB): 25MB/sec

I also tested some SD memory cards:

• HP-branded 16GB SD card: 18MB/sec
• Class 4 4GB SD card: 16MB/sec
• Same card attached with a card reader: 15MB/sec
• MMC+ card: 12MB/sec
• PNY-brand 2GB SD card: 10MB/sec

10th Anniversary of Posting IntelliCAD Source Code

Today is the tenth anniversary of the IntelliCAD Technology Consortium web site going  live with source code for IntelliCAD 2000 freely available to constortium members. The ITC's executive director from back then, Ronald Prepchuk, provides us with a slice of history:

One thing I discovered was that it was the intention to roll IntelliCAD into Visio to make one product. Feeling that would be a disaster I set out in December of 1998 to write a white paper on fixing IntelliCAD...

On April 15, 1999 I delivered it to Jeremy Jaech, President of Visio... A couple of weeks prior to the public announcement in July of 1999 I was approached and told that Visio would be creating a new organization called the IntelliCAD Technology Consortium and that if I wanted a job there one would be available.

You can read the rest at www.autodsys.com/press/PR-092909.htm, as well as get the link for downloading his 10-page PDF document written ten years ago.

When Good USB Keys Go Bad

Within one month, I had my two biggest USB keys go bad on me. Windows had spent a couple of weeks complaining about problems on my 16GB USB thumbdrive, and then one day the drive was no longer recognized by Windows or Linux.

Right before my trip to Russia, I loaded my second biggest USB key with backup data. During the trip, I plugged the 4GB keydrive into my computer, and there was no recognition by Windows or Linux that it existed.

Last night, I tried again. The 16GB one was still dead; but I noticed something different about the 4GB one: the metal stem seemed short. I tugged at it, and found that the rectangular part (that plugs into the computer) had receded into its plastic body.

I pulled the metal connector out to its proper length, applied some crazy glue to keep it in place, and now have a working 4GB USB drive again.

Further Cutbacks

As a newsletter editor, I see real effects from cutbacks. Such as when email addresses suddenly become undeliverable -- the employee no longer works there.

Another sign is the cutback in travel. CAD vendors aren't flying in the media to wine and dine them and to demo the soon-to-be-released software in person. 

The cheaper, almost-the-same alternative is the WebEx demo. WebEx and GoToMeeting events certainly do save time and travel money -- and are just as effective as sitting in person in a CAD vendor's conference room several timezones away. But WebEx still costs money to host.

And to save even more money, several "online" meetings I've had recently were telephone-only. If there are visuals, they consist of a PDF or PPT file emailed in advance.

Just some observations.

1,000,000 is the new half-million

It used to be CAD vendors were pretty excited to ship the five hundred thousandth license of their vertical software. Now, the new yardstick is stretched to a million.

(Yardstick? I had to explain that one to my son's girlfriend, who needed a straightedge measuring device for cutting yarn. And then I one out of the shed. "You see this as a measuring device," I told her; "But I see it as a punishment device." Yah, the 50s and 60s were the days of corporal punishment.)

So we had a modest SolidWorks quietly saying, "Yup, we done a million [commercial + educational seats]" over the summer.

Today, it it's the turn of PTC:

PTC ... today announced the 1,000,000th start of CoCreate Modeling Personal Edition. The CoCreate Personal Edition is the world's first free explicit 3D CAD software [launched in January 2007].

The company doesn't give any background as to what the number is made up of. And then there is that curious use of the word "start." Any guesses what it might mean?

McAfee Be Gone!

Last night my dad arrived, after spending five months up north connected to the rest of the world with just a slow modem line. After the "Hello"s, it's "Can you update my computer?" Overnight, I get his notebook computer updated with megabytes and megabytes of the latest fixes from FireFox, Windows, AVG anti-virus, and whatever else is clamoring for attention.

One update was for Flash. As I downloaded the update, I noticed two programs being downloaded from the Adobe Web site: Flash and McAfee anti-virus. What!?

I hadn't asked for it, and the computer already runs AVG quite nicely, thank you. I was miffed, and of course immediately uninstalled the unwanted intruder. 

This morning, I learned I was an early victim of a new relationship, as described in this businessspeak:

McAfee and Adobe Systems today announced a global alliance partnership to jointly deliver new solutions that will offer more comprehensive security to both companies’ customers.

Later, the press release reverts to traditional English:

Further, as part of the partnership, McAfee has made a free diagnostic tool, McAfee Security Scan, available as an optional download to customers when installing Adobe Reader and Adobe Flash Player software from Adobe.com

Except I didn't see no option for not installing McAfee. But at least you are now forewarned.

AVSO: FY Down 28%

Avatech Solutions today reports that its fiscal year revenues were $35.4 million, down 28.6% from a year ago.

As a result of cutting expenses by $2.3 million, the company had a loss of just $0.3 million. It could have been worse, but Avatech managed to sell off one of its software packages for $0.5 million. And it has $2.7 million in the bank.

The company is one of the world's largest integrators of Autodesk software. Despite that, says ceo George Davis:

The building and manufacturing markets were significantly impacted by the global recession throughout fiscal 2009, which resulted in an unprecedented reduction in spending on the types of software and services we provide. 

Avatech spun off its consulting and services offerings into a standalone business named MSD Consulting, which earned a $1 million for the company.

Source.

Interviewed: Sean Flaherty on Vectorworks 2010

In interview with ceo Sean Flaherty of the awkwardly-named Nemetschek North America, he tells me that the emphasis of the just-released Vectorworks 2010 is on continuing to move the software from CAD to BIM [building information modeling]. 

That means moving architectural design away from specific design patterns, and towards a more flexible "any kind" of design. He gives renovation work as a prime example: contractors don't know what is behind those old walls. Solid modeling gives Vectorworks users the ability to add solid primitive chunks to smart walls -- and the walls stay smart.

"That the architectural market is not focused on solid modeling is the biggest problem for BIM moving forward," he asserts. The solids modeling in his software contrasts with the inability of other architectural packages to handle surprises; Revit is the one brand name he mentions. Vectorworks 2010 allows wall sculpting, where users can add and remove portions of smart walls, and they retain their parametrics.

He is pretty excited about the abilities the Parasolid kernel gives Vectorworks. "We are on a steady path integrating PLM from Siemens," he says. 'Steady path' tells me that there will be more forthcoming, a hunch Mr Flaherty agrees with.

New to Vectorworks 2010 is the D-cubed Constraint Manager, which allows bi-directional editing between 2D plans and 3D models, as well as modifying object by changing their dimensions. Multi-core CPUs were supported by Parasolid modeling for Windows, and now Macintosh users get the same benefit -- at the cost of PowerPC Macs users no longer being supported.

As for the economy, Mr Flaherty reports that he sees it recovering after a bad summer, based on sales of his software. Vectorworks Spotlight (for theatre lighting design) really helped the company through that rough patch.


Vectorworks Fundamentals 2010 starts at $1,295; their most popular version is Vectorworks Architect at $1,995. Learn more at www.nemetschek.net/fundamentals/fundamentals-new-features.php

Sold! CadSoft -- No, Not That One

Premier Farnell of England pays e7 million (US$9 million) for both the German-based CadSoft Computer GmbH and the US-based CadSoft Computer Inc. The 20-year-old CadSoft has sold its EAGLE software (PCB design, schematic capture, board layout, and autorouter) to 40,000 engineers.

(This sale has nothing to do with that other CadSoft that sells Envisioneer software for architects and contractors, and is located in Canada.)

Premier Farnell sells 400,000 electronic products and distributes another 4 million through its Farnell, Newark, CPC, Premier Electronics, MCM, Akron Brass, and TPC Wire & Cable divisions. So, what does it want of CadSoft Computer? It finally gives Premier Farnell electronic design software.

The co-owners of the German CadSoft Computer could make another e5 million should certain criteria be met following the sale.

Source.

Can nVidia Pull Off a Tegra?

Interesting article on Tegra, nVidia's competitor to the Intel Atom, by Kevin Tofel at jkontherun: Confirmed: Nvidia Working on Chrome OS Tegra Devices. With the ASUS EEE series of netbooks, Asustek blew apart Microsoft's conception of what the next generation of computer should look like. Now nVidia hopes to do the same:

Consumers still want support for x86 and Windows, but why? It's all in the application support these days, but with the rise of the web as “the ultimate app store,” Nvidia is poised for the shift.

Poised, yes. But making the shift, the way that Asustek did, is another matter. Here is a point made by commenter HereAndNow [along with my comments in italics]:

One of the key benefits of moving to Web apps is that, without any porting effort, they will run on:

• Any OS (Windows, OS X, Ubuntu, ChromeOS, Android, Moblin, iPhone, Symbian, WebOS, Blackberry, WinMo, …) [Any OS that has a Web browser capable of handling today's advanced Web sites, that is.]
• Any device type (smartphones, netbooks, notebooks, desktops, tablets, eReaders, photo frames, carputers, …) [Web browsers have to be adapted for the device, however.]
• Any CPU architecture (x86, ARM, MIPS, …).

Plus:

• Web app improvements or bug fixes can be propagated to millions/billions of users instantaneously. [Well, I'm not keen about automatic updates that induce fresh bugs.]
• Web apps can be offered for free/sale/subscription, to any user located anywhere in the world. [Language is an issue.]

The good thing is that HTML5 & WebGL are advancing quickly, so web app developers will be able to base their implementations on native browser standards, instead of proprietary, CPU & power-hungry plug-in technology like Flash & Silverlight.

And that's what I am finding. As long as the device supports the Opera Web browser, then I am a happy man.

Russian Flashback: T-FLEX V7

I'm editing my interview with TOP Systems from Moscow, Russia, and came across the part where executive officer Sergey Bikulov is telling me about his company's involvement with North American distributor Martin Sales International. 

I recalled that name, and checked my press release archive. Sure enough, from 4 July 2000, here is what they had to say:

We've changed our 3D kernel from ACIS to Parasolid, and the attached releases (long and short versions) have that and other information about our new Version 7 of T-FLEX Parametric Pro.

Although we are not extremely well known in North America (we've been selling here since 1992), our product is very successful in Russia and China. One of the reasons that we can sell the product in those countries for hard currency (where end users can easily obtain current pirated versions of the well-known products for free) is that our parametric engine is much more powerful than the engine licensed by our competition. In addition, we have feature-based modeling for both 2D and 3D solid models, not just for solid models. 

Complex parametric designs are more popular in Russia than in the west. I can't give you a definitive answer why, but the mentality of a great parametric designer is similar to the mentality of a great chess player, planning many moves ahead. Chess is more revered in Russia than in the west, and many grand masters have come from Russia. It is also interesting that the ProE parametric engine is also of Russian extraction. 

It would take another nine years for me to meet Sergey Bikulov and his team of talented programmers. (The article on TOP Systems is scheduled to appear in the October 6 issue of upFront.eZine.)

3D Models From 2D Digital Photos

Foto 3D CX from Strata takes multiple photographs taken by digital cameras, and then turns them into fully textured 3D models. It appears that you print out an alignment mat, place the object on top, and then take photos, rotating the model by hand between each photos.
 
(For objects too large for the mat, Foto 3D lets you apply feature pins.)

Foto 3D generates a 3D polygon model, which you can modify. Clipping planes let you slice off portions, such as the base.

This page has a flash animation that illustrates what I've been writing about: www.strata.com/products/strata_3d_cx_suite/strata_foto_3d_cx/

Myth: Your Computer is Underpowered

Microsoft is spreading the myth that computers are underpowered, and need to be replaced to run Windows 7.

I first read the myth in a "tech" column of a British newspaper (wish I'd kept the reference). The "tech" writer noted that netbooks struggle to run Vista. There are just so many facts wrong in that sentence:

• Netbooks don't run Vista; they run either XP or Linux.
• Many notebook and desktop computers struggle to run the badly-written Vista; there is an entire class action law suit on this issue.
• Testing shows that 7 runs just fine on netbooks. 

I am puzzled how "tech" columnists can write such nonsense yet keep their jobs. Perhaps because newspapers operate one step down from a Consumer Reports level of technical proficiency.

And just now I got an email blast from HP restating the myth:

Replace your underpowered PCs and get Microsoft Windows 7 for free!*

Hold it. I thought 7 was supposed to be lighter than Vista, making our "underpowered" PCs powerful again. Well, that is the plight for Microsoft and its hardware captives: each new release of Microsoft software must overburden current CPUs so that the HPs of the world can resell the same product (computers) to us. Microsoft upgrades have nothing to do with improving work efficiency, but with selling disposable blades and razors over and over again.

The truth, of course, is that your computer is not underpowered; rather, it is overburdened by inefficient software written by Microsoft programmers. (The other truth is that computer speed has stalled, so the new, more powerful computers simply are not that much more powerful.)

For proof, run Linux on your computer. In my case, Linux Mint is such a pleasure to run on my netbook that I resent the few times I need to reboot into Windows 7, for instance, to run AutoCAD 2010 for articles I write.

Consider that Linux Mint has the same functionality as Windows 7, yet runs comfortably on a netbook with 0.8GHz GPU, 512MB RAM, and 4GB solid state hard drive. 

The hardware is not the problem; Microsoft is the problem. 

- - - 

*) Not for free, actually: "Your first [Windows 7] upgrade kit will cost US$12.99 in shipping and handling." 

New ebook: Bricscad for AutoCAD Users

The latest ebook from upFront.eZine Publishing is the 144-page Bricscad for AutoCAD Users ebook. It describes the similarities and differences between the two CAD programs, and would be of interest to CAD users interested in transitioning to Bricscad.

You can get more info at the book's Web page: www.upfrontezine.com/b4a

Of related interest may be TurboCAD for AutoCAD Users at www.upfrontezine.com/t4a

CAD from a non-CAD company

What would a CAD program look like when developed by a non-CAD company? This is the question that drifts through my mind as I read through the list of new features in SketchUp 7.1, released today by Google:

• Rendering engine works faster with big models; "orbiting, zooming and drawing are quicker and smoother."
• Import and export COLLADA and KMZ files.
• Get Photo Texture accesses Google Maps Street View images.
• Nearby Models uses a geo-location snapshot to search 3D Warehouse for nearby buildings.
• Upload Component directly uploads models to 3D Warehouse.

• Dimensioning and object snaps added to LayOut v2.1 (part of SketchUp Pro).

Recall the shot that Autodesk took at SketchUp (and Rhino) during last spring's launch of 3D mesh modeling in AutoCAD 2010? Google now fires back. In speaking of LayOut's new ability to dimension and snap to elements of SketchUp models, the anonymous Google voice says during a video:

You might even be able to stop using your old CAD system altogether.

Or, maybe not. 

Comment #2 complains about the update: "Is there any way to downgrade back to the previous Collada exporter? ...the new exporter doesn't preserve group or component names. This is a deal-breaker for me." Ouch.

Oh, and welcome to the uber-precise world of CAD.

Source.

Social Product Development

PTC has introduced Windchill ProductPoint 1.1. This software allows for product-engineering collaboration that delivers what PTC calls "social product development"...

...sorry, but when I read that phrase I get the same creepy feeling. Not only that, but ProductPoint requires SharePoint, so the social ends right there for me. Source.

Design MCAD, Experience-Free

Downright scarey is the title of this new book from John Wiley and Sons: Autodesk Inventor 2010: No Experience Required. Now, I know that Wiley uses the "No Experience Needed" tag for all their beginner-level computer books, but that's no excuse.

No experience needed to design with Inventor and other MCAD software? There outa' be a law against that! Source.

Bidding War Over MSC

MSC Software was all set to be bought out by Symphony Technology Group for $7.63 per share (roughly $370 million). Then last week came a better offer from an unnamed third-party for $8.15/share.

Symphony matched the offer, and now MSC says they're "carefully considering the Symphony Revised Offer and the Third-Party Offer." Over the past few months, the company's share price has hovered just under $8.

Source.

Cimatron Faces Delisting

In early March of this year, the share price of Cimatron fell below a dollar on the NASDAQ stock exchange. The company has now been warned to get its price up, or face delisting.

Cimatron still has some time; the price needs to reach $1 for just ten days by March 15 of next year. Even then, the company can get another 6-month grace period. After all, NASDAQ doesn't necessarily want to lose a paying customer.

Cimatron says it's "examining several potential courses of action." This could include buying up shares or moving to another stock exchange.

The Cimatron product line includes the CimatronE and GibbsCAM.

Source.

Fail: Update

HP computers run software that downloads updates from HP. Problem is, there is a bug: the downloads cancel partway through. I've noticed the same faulty behaviour on both on a notebook and desktop computer from HP.

Thus it was with some amusement I noticed that that last week's update in included a fix for the "Install Canceled Issue." Needless to say, the download was canceled partway through (see figure).

CAD in Your Browser, Some Day

Al Dean notes that Autodesk is (again) twitching to stream AutoCAD over the Internet [Develop3D]. Making it more feasible may well be WebGL:

If you're not familiar with WebGL, it's the evolution of work that Mozilla started a few years ago with experiments called Canvas 3D -- essentially a way of accessing OpenGL from within the browser, through the HTML5 canvas tag. Earlier this year, [Mozilla] started a standardization effort within the Khronos Group which oversees OpenGL, and have made very rapid progress [vladimir].

Problem: Marketing Non-Windows-centric Products

Until yesterday, it was easy for most CAD companies to market their products to reviewers and opinion-shakers. CAD ran on Windows, 97% (est.) of the time. 

Yesterday, Autodesk's external pr firm offered me a no-cost version of Sketchbook Mobile for the iPhone cell phone:

We'd like to offer you the opportunity to download the app for free to try it for yourself ...and upload your own work on the Flickr Gallery.

Oops. Autodesk is now faced with marketing a piece of software running on hardware used by 0.00097% (est.) of all CAD users. I had no choice but to reply:

What, on my Nokia cell phone? [My kids all have Sony-Ericssons, 'cause they're cool.]

Autodesk also had no choice. Alias runs on Mac OS X (and Windows); iPhone runs a version of Mac OS X. Logically, it made sense to (first) port the sketching app to the Apple cell phone, seeings how Windows Mobile 6.5 is No-where's-ville, and porting to Android is just too much like hard work.

Writing OS-independent code is now making more sense all the time.

Kubotek Pre-announces V9

No doubt Tier-2 MCAD vendors -- like Kubotek, IronCAD, and Ashlar Vellum -- are grinding their teeth at all the free publicity the Tier-1s are getting for their recent "discovery" of direct modeling and editing, a.k.a. "What else can we sell to customers in a mature market?"

So much so that Kubotek USA says it's the leader in this niche:

Kubotek, the leader in history-free direct 3D modeling, announces that KeyCreator Version 9 will be available this fall.

I think they need to drop a couple of words from their descriptor, to be clearer: "the leader in history-free direct 3D modeling." Conversely, they should add "history" to a later sentence in the press release, again to be clearer:

This revolutionary new approach also provides a simple and intuitive alternative to traditional [history-based] solid modeling which constrains models based on how they were constructed.

Top new feature in V9 is the improvement to placing 3D smart dimensions on solids: driven dimensions control direct editing without constraints. The three-minute YouTube video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Snhy-EKTl4 provides many examples -- and includes the dig that they've been doing direct editing since 2003.

I'm watching the video and I'm thinking, "Yup, that's how easy CAD should be."

Source.

Wireless Mouse Needs 2 USB Ports

Logitech sent me last spring their wireless mouse/keyboard combo. I like a big mouse, and so I have been using this one for several months now. I'd tell you which model it is, but Logitech leaves that crucial information off the mouse.

Being wireless, it needs a USB port for the wireless transmitter.

Being wireless, it needs a battery. This particular model includes a rechargeable battery and a recharging cord. Every so often, I have to plug the cord into a second USB port, and then attach it to the mouse through its mini-USB connector. 

For several hours then, I have a cordless mouse connected to my computer through a cord, taking up two USB ports. It just doesn't seem right to me.

upFront.eZine Back from Summer Break

The other half of the daily WorldCAD Access weblog is the weekly upFront.eZine newsletter, and after taking its annual late-summer break, it is back.

This week's issue features a 3,000-word description of ASCON and its KOMPAS parametric MCAD software, and some insights into the Russian CAD marketplace. You can read it at at the upFront.eZine archive site: www.upfrontezine.com/2009/upf-614.htm

• The Difficult Years
• Owning the Distribution
• Defining Its Market
• Research and Development
• Live Demo
• The Problem of Internationalization
• Inside the KOMPAS Kernel
• The New KOMPAS V11
• KOMPAS Next Generation
• The American Market

The article is also available in Russian through the isicad site at isicad.ru/ru/articles.php?article_num=13302

Over the next two months, I'll be featuring other Russian CAD vendors -- a terrific way to understand what's happening "over there."

To receive upFront.eZine every Monday evening in your email In box at no cost, simply send an email saying "subscribe upfront" to editor @ upfrontezine.com. 

Autodesk's Shut-Down-the-ODA Campaign Continues, Unabated

In legal papers filed on Tuesday, the Open Design Alliance asks the court in Autodesk vs SolidWorks to force Autodesk to stop being a bully.

I am of the opinion that Autodesk's sole interest in this series of legal actions in the courts and US Trademark Office is to shut down the ODA through draining legal action. In court papers, however, the ODA has a different take on why the biggest CAD software company in the history of the world is spending so much on lawyers:

Autodesk apparently intends to monopolize the DWG format as a proprietary trademark, and thus would require anyone who wants to access a .DWG file to either use its AutoCAD product or otherwise obtain a license from Autodesk."

Autodesk Seems to Not Want to Settle

Monopolizing DWG is one way; shutting down the ODA through legal exhaustion is another. Here is a piece of evidence for my hypothesis:

On Friday, August 28, 2009, counsel for Autodesk and counsel for the ODA conferred by telephone and resolved almost all of the outstanding issues. [Only reimbursement of ODA's costs was still outstanding.] The call ended with the ODA’s counsel offering a suggested resolution to bridge the remaining issues.

Autodesk’s counsel stated that she would take the offer back to her client to confer and reply. Instead of responding as promised, Autodesk, without warning, or conferring with the ODA, filed its Motion to Compel the following business day.

In its latest volley against the ODA, Lewis and Roca (Autodesk's outside legal firm) demands the following:

• That the ODA produce 45,000 documents in one week.
• That the ODA president sit in a deposition for a third time on the same topics.

In return, Autodesk offers to:

• Refuse to narrow the scope of the documents.
• Refuse to narrow the scope of deposition sought in a significant matter.
• Refuse to compensate the ODA for costs incurred.

Notes the document: "Such costs might be small and trivial to Autodesk, a multi-billion dollar corporation, but they are substantial for a three-person-staffed nonprofit corporation like the ODA."

Several pages of the new legal papers describe Autodesk's many fruitless attempts over many years to get the generic .dwg file extension exclusively for their own. That is followed by tables and tables showing the similarity between Autodesk's previous and current demands for information.

Autodesk's Violations

The 28-page document ends with a list of legal moves that Autodesk allegedly violated:

FRCP 45(c)(2)(B)(i): Autodesk failed to give notice that it was filing a motion.
FRCP 45(c)(1): Autodesk placed an undue burden on the ODA.
FRCP 45(c)(3): Autodesk placed an undue burden on a non-party (the lawsuit is against SolidWorks, not the ODA).
FRCP 45(c)(3)(A)(i): Autodesk failed to give sufficient time for the ODA to respond.

Adobe Q3: Down 21%

Adobe ceo Shantanu Narayen told financial analysts that his company's revenues fell to $697.5 million in Q3 -- down 21.3% from a year ago. Profits fell by 30.8%.

"Our Acrobat Business continues to be impacted by the economy while our Web Conferencing solution, Connect Pro, had a strong quarter," summarized cfo Mark Garrett. Adobe added 127 employees, but most were for R&D and "located in lower cost geographies." That, after laying off 600 in time for last Christmas.

The company has $2.6 billion of cash in the bank.

The pending acquisition of Omniture will add roughly $1.3 billion in annual revenues. "The addition of Omniture's online marketing suite will help customers measure, analyze, and optimize the impact and value of those experiences, creating a continuous feedback loop to maximize business results," explained Mr Narayen.

 
More analyst-speak:

Mark Garrett, Adobe: "We are not assuming a lot of cost synergies in this. It's accretive without that."

Sarah Friar, Goldman Sachs: "And maybe Shantanu on the broader product synergy thought."

Source.

• To read the upFront.eZine Tour of Russia in Russian, visit the Nanocad Web site at www.nanocad.ru/information/blogs/index.php?page=blog&blog=WorldCAD_Access

• For photos from "The Future of MCAD" roundtable, visit the isicad Web site at isicad.ru/ru/articles.php?article_num=13276

• For a copy of my keynote address at the Roundtable, see isicad.net/articles.php?article_num=13280 ; for the Russian translation: isicad.ru/ru/articles.php?article_num=13277 ; for the Chinese translation: macrosblog.seesaa.net/category/6462261-1.html


• To read in-depth analysis of each Russian CAD vendor visited, follow along each week in upFront.eZine, starting with www.upfrontezine.com/2009/upf-614.htm; for the Russian translation: isicad.ru/ru/articles.php?article_num=13302

[Disclosure: Some of the firms mentioned in this special series of reports provided assistance with airfare, hotel accommodation, ground transportation, and meals.] 
.

Russia Tour, Day 8: isicad

The final day of meetings went well. I answered many questions the isicad division of LEDAS had on marketing and pricing of CAD products. (Russians pronounce isicad as "easy cad" i is a long e.) Do you price high? Or low? Or employ a formula? I attempted to sketch out a price-sales curve, and wondered if general demand might in fact be somewhat price-insensitive.

The six of us went for a 2-hour lunch, and then one went with me to the airport. Actually, they hired a taxi cab, which waited at each point along the way. (Taxis are cheap in this town, because there are too many of them.) While waiting, the driver hauled out a portable DVD player to continue watching his movie.

Along the way, we stopped at the railway museum, one of only two in all of Russia. This one has a huge collection of steam, diesel, and electric locomotives, including Russia's fastest at 271km/hr. (See photo; click to enlarge.) I got charged triple, being a foreigner. So at the next museum, I said nothing and got the Russian rate (20 cents).

We stopped in the center of Novosibirsk, where the streets were closed for a festival of some sort. We walked around the outside of the opera house (largest in Russia, and featured on The Amazing Race) but found it was closed. Stopped in the basement a small, tiny museum of old technology, where I also experienced using a toilet with no seat. Back outside, we were entertained by a female mime, who pranced along with us down the street. And stopped by the small Orthodox church that marks the middle of Russia (in the east-west direction).

Unfortunately, we experienced all these things in the rain. Arriving at the Novosibirsk airport, the sun came out. Naturally. 

Arriving at Moscow airport, I was met by my greeter. These people work in pairs: the one who speaks English meets me, and then calls for the car and driver, who is parked some ways away (to avoid having to pay for airport parking). This greeter had very clear English, because he has family who lives in Toronto, Canada. He explained, "Everything in Russia is designed to frustrate the tourist!"

The burley driver wielded his car (a Toyoto Camry) like a stiletto, deftly slicing his way through the traffic, impatiently flashing high beams behind any car going slower than his 130km/hr [80mph]. Once in the city, he slowed to 100km/hr.

My new hotel is like the one in St Petersburg, an older one marked by a discrete door. Ring the bell, get permission from the security guard, up the tiny elevator, down a half-flight of steps, ring again, and enter to the third floor holding a tiny office and a dozen hotel rooms. This one features the fastest wireless Internet I've experienced on my trip; best of all, it's free!

Since I arrived at the hotel after 7pm, the one-person staff had ordered breakfast #1 for me, something that involves sour cream. Sigh.

Sunday, the tour guide picks me up at 9:30am so that we can get into the Kremlin when it opens at 10. Monday, I return to Canada.

Russia Tour, Day 7: LEDAS

 The staff of LEDAS was very conscious of my lack of sleep, and thoughtfully adjusted their schedule to accommodate me. (Photo at left: dawn in Siberia; click for larger image.)

From what they showed me, it seems to me that LEDAS could well be creating a revolution in the CAD world. Not a Dassault V6 kind of revolution, but a smaller one that affects many more people. Here are two:

Assemblies for Rhino. Adding constraints to Rhino means creating history in Rhino; once you have history, you can extend Rhino to handle parts and assemblies. They demo'd creating a piston engine by constraining parts into an assembly in Rhino, and then applying motion to see the piston worked by the crankshaft. 

Another demo showed a robot arm moving a part -- and then the part controlling the position of the arm. What they lack is collision detection, but that's being worked on. D-Cubed, look out!
 
(Russians tend to pronounce Rhino "reno", because their i sounds like a long e in Russian.)

Out-constraining AutoCAD. They showed me the the types constraints that AutoCAD 2010 is unable to perform, such as geometrically constraining an arc to a spline through tangency; they showed how Catia is able to do it (just to prove it is possible). They also showed me how AutoCAD does not fix the endpoints of one spline to the endpoints of two others. 

LEDAS is writing the constraint system for the ODA, Bricscad, and others in two phases: (1) match the constraint system found in AutoCAD 2010; and then (2) outperform AutoCAD's feature-wise. 

Here is the part that makes this stunning. Currently 85% of their work is consulting, and only 15% on developments, like for Rhino and ODA. It is the plan of owner David Levin to change the ratio to 50/50, meaning the 15% will more than triple in the coming years. 

Think what this band of 10 PhDs, 10 Masters, and 10 Bachelors could accomplish then. Well, here's one: direct modeling and editing. They showed me the initial stages of their efforts to code an equivalent to Siemens' synchtech -- with the benefit that Siemens keeps their tech so secret that LEDAS cannot be accused of copying it!

- - -

Finally, they demo'ed Driving Dimensions running on SketchUp in a Mac -- to emphasize the point that they also do Mac OS X development, and to counter my earlier statement that Russian CAD seems to ignore the Mac!

Later today I have another round of meetings at LEDAS (just a pleasant 15-minute walk through a pretty aspen forest from my hotel). This evening, I'm back in Moscow for a full day of sightseeing on Sunday.

Russia Tour, Day 6.5: What Is It?

While having lunch yesterday in a wooden cafe, we noticed this historical artifact on the window sill next to our table. We spent some time trying to guess its purpose. The round parts rotate, except for the leftmost one; it is fixed.

(Click image for a larger view.)



Any guesses? My thought is perhaps it is used to spin wool?

Russia Tour, Day 6: Novosibirsk, Siberia

At five minutes to midnight, I left Moscow on S7 (the former Siberian) airline, the SouthWest airline of Russia. Four hours flying time and three hours timezone change puts me in Siberia seven hours later.

Siberia! Although this is not the frozen Siberia of the gulag horrors. Although locals tell me that they generally get one (maybe two, some would argue) month of summer a year.

This is southern Siberia, in the "Golden Valley," so-called because of the golden color taken on by the aspen trees in the fall -- like Colorado without the mountains.

Novosibirsk was built a hundred years ago where the tracks of the Trans Siberian Railroad cross the Ob river. Now having a population of 2 million people, it is strategically located 4 hours from Moscow and 4 from Beijing.

I'm writing this from the quaint hotel room in the suburb town of Akademgorodok, purpose-built by the Soviets 50 years ago as a university and research center. After the fall of communism, many students and faculty broke away with their own businesses, such as David Levin of LEDAS, the guy who put this whole remarkable trip together. (In the figure above, Mr Levin takes a cell phone call on the shore of Ob Sea.) 

Being government funded, Akademgorodok has suffered from the reduction in post-Soviet funding. So you walk through a town that looks just like it did 50 years ago, but 50 years older. The beauty comes from the forest being conserved inside the town, and from the nearby Ob Sea and its sandy beaches.

Mr Levin tells me that Akademgorodok benefited from a form of democracy during the otherwise communist times. The government was eager to accelerate science during the Cold War, and so provided free housing along with a relative freedom of rights. There was even a class structure, where the very best scholars received their own house, while lessor learneds had to do with increasingly smaller apartments according to their scholastic stature. 

This is indeed a fascinating place.

Russia Tour, Day 5: NTP TRUBOPROVOD

The morning meeting was with NTP TRUBOPROVOD. Think of them as Russia's Intergraph. They have software for designing and analyzing pipelines, vessels, and so on. A separate division performs the design work.

Being Russia, the standards are unique, and so they help American vendors implement Russian standards. They watched with interest today's launch of Plant3D by Autodesk. Naturally they would like to enter the American market, but recognize (1) it is crowded; (2) their software needs translation (partially complete); and (3) they need to set up databases with American piping standards. Some of this work is already completed for the European market.

"What about Africa?" I wondered. "Which standard would be used there, Russian or one of an African country?" Whichever one is the cheapest standard, came the wry reply.

Front-loaded Maintenance

Not that NTP TRUBOPROVOD is expensive, deputy director Victor Magalif told me. The complete START piping package is $5000 -- about 4x cheaper than ones from the USA. What costs more, however, is the annual maintenance that includes all updates and fixes:

- 2nd year 60% of initial cost
- 3rd year 50%
- 4th and follows 40%

There is a reason for the high front-loaded annual fee: training.  

www.TRUBOPROVOD.ru 

About the Photo

Moscow's subway system, "the Metro," seems to always be crammed full. Some 10 million passenger trips are made each day. Extremely long escalator carry passengers deep underground, for the stations were designed to double as bomb shelters.

Russia Tour, Day 4: TOP Systems / Autodesk CIS / Nanocad

Today was the triple headliner, meeting three companies in one day.

But before heading out, I got into a hotel lobby discussion with my keeper, Dimitry Slutsky and Monika Dietrich of Spatial in Germany.

Ms Dietrich said she finds that Russians can write English well enough, but that speaking is difficult, especially for programmers. That's because, explained Mr Slutsky, "Programmers are shy. We Russians prefer German- and American English over British English or French-accented English."

Spatial is trying to sell its products to Russian CAD vendors, but fins they are interested only in translators. Most translation is made through STEP or IGES; translating directly to brand names, like SW or Inventor, is rare, but there is some some interest now.

Everyone is looking at SpaceClaim because of their history and their founders; they are not as successful as we might thought they would be, someone noted. Just then  Sergey Bikulov of TOP Systems came by: "It is better to learn from the mistakes of others," he concluded.

Somebody in the group noted that it is private Russian companies who have stopped buying in this recession;  government agencies continue to buy.


TOP Systems

They make T-Flex mcad software. (See photo above.) What particularly intrigued me was (2) their full lineup developed by just a staff of 70; and (2) their own parametrics system. By full lineup I mean they have CAD, CAM, CAE, and CAPP. The booklet that describes all available options and features is rather thick. 

Their's was the first 2D parametric software, developed way back in 1992. Basically, you just draw in 2D and constraints are added automatically. Dimensions are optional, as are geometric constraints and dimensional constraints.

Mr Kozlov told me he is frustrated that foreign vendors sometimes add features that no one uses, but then customers ask if t-flex can do it. So, they added the feature just to keep up with the checklist requests. For example: rendered views in 2D drawings -- something not defined by Russian standards. They would rather spend the time on solving real problems, like good cross-section views of threaded junctions.

Then I got this silly thought: what if one day there was just one drawing that contained the parametrics for everything the world? Whoever owned the drawing ruled the world. 

www.tflex.com

Autodesk CIS

We had conducted most of business over dinner the night before, but agreed we needed to meet for another hour. Since the new 17th-floor offices of Autodesk CIS are on the outskirts of Moscow, Mr Slutsky guided me through the Moscow Metro system -- whose subway cars are even more crowded than the streets above. 

Nanocad

This was 09/09/09, a day considered auspicious by Russians for the unusual nature of the triple 9. (Lots of Russian women want to get married on this day.) It was the day Nanocad launched their new software. And it was the day I visited them.

This is their concept:

• The base software is free, the AutoCAD-like Nanocad 2. 
• The price of their 20 vertical products is just the maintenance cost, ranging from $200 to $450 a year.
• Next month, they release Nanocad 2 as open source.

After telling me their corporate history and demo'ing the new software, it was Q&A time. First, they asked me questions left for me by participants in their online forums. Most asked about the future of CAD. I was asked to pick the beset question: after a quick rescan, I picked #8 asked by Mikhail Ioshin:

Do you think that CAD is diminishing the creativity of engineers or rather supports it. 

A similar question was discussed at yesterday's roundtable. I tend to go along with the "less" hypothesis. Then it was time for the staff of Nanocad to question me. The Q&As were video taped, and the company plans to post it on their Web site.

www.nanocad.ru

Following the grilling, Nanocad took me out for dinner. We ordered fish; the waiter brought the fish over for us to approve. It was coocked in the thick layer of salt, and then the cook flambe'd the fish with a flourish. He covered the fish with a cloth, and then took a hammer to the edges -- this was to remove the caked salt. Needless to say, the fish melted like butter in our mouthes.

When Wireless Internet Almost Works

I'm at a hotel here in St Petersburg where Internet access is cheap: about $3 for the day (as compared to $30 a day charged by hotels in Europe). 

The hotel front desk gave me the signon info, but my netbook would not connect. Both Linux Mint and Windows 7 gave cryptic error messages. They both acknowledged that the hotel's wireless existed, but complained that "the settings are incompatible."

Incompatible wireless networking? The system used by this Russian hotel seemed standard enough. After some poking about the network settings, I finally discovered the problem: identical SSIDs.

It appears that I connected to a hotel's wireless Internet some time ago, whose SSID (identification) name was "Hotel." The SSID for this hotel in Russia is also "Hotel." 

Both Linux Mint and Windows 7 are programmed to use the same wireless settings for the same SSID. This is a convenience feature so that the computer connects more quickly to the Internet. But the settings for the old Hotel SSID naturally did not match those needed for the current network named Hotel.

The solution was to manually erase the settings for the old Hotel network connection, and then my computer used the new settings.

Russia Tour, Day 3: Roundtable on the Future of MCAD

 This afternoon, all major Russian CAD vendors showed up in a conference room at the Sheraton Hotel in Moscow. Companies included Dassault Systemes, Siemens PLM Software, Autodesk CIS, Top Systems, ASCON, Nanocad, NTP Truboprovod, Spatial, PTC, SibCAD soft, LEDAS, isicad, PTS-Russia, and POINT. Also, reporters from CRN, PC Week Russia, CAD & Graphics, and CNEWS were in attendance.

After hearing me go on for 45 minutes about the state of MCAD in general and in Russia, the floor was opened for two hours of discussion.

It began badly, when the first questioner demanded of me the marketshare numbers for each CAD company in Russia. Errm... Moderator Vladimir Malukh quickly pointed out that I am a CAD journalist, not a market researcher, and that my 45-minute monologue has been my opinions on the marketplace.

After a brief coffee break, the discussion became more regulated, as Mr Malukh asked directed questions, and elicited responses. One of the outcomes was a proposal that Russian CAD firms form an association to fight for common concerns, such as how engineering is taught in universities. 



Afterwards, Autodesk CIS (Russia) took me out for dinner. To give me a taste of real Russian life, we flagged down an illegal taxi, negotiated the price, and we got a ride in an old Lada. Dinner was at the top of the Hyatt hotel, on an outdoor patio, with a view of Red Square and the Bolshoi opera house. 

After dinner, we tried to see Red Square at night, but found it was blocked off for a concert of military music. For the trip back, we rode in a Mercedes with blackout windows.

It's now 11pm here and I am back in the hotel. For the first time, I saw my Russian hosts showed concern for my safety -- now that is it nighttime. Dmitry Slutsky of isicad (trip organizer) gave me a cell phone, and then told me to call him when I return to the hotel following my evening out with Autodesk CIS. 

Returning to the hotel, the traffic was so heavy that it was decided I would get out across the street from the hotel. One of the Autodesk staffers came along to escort me to the hotel.

(How long does it take to get there? "About 15 minutes... Unless there is a traffic jam." -- standard statement by Moscow drivers.)


CAD in Russia

I am beginning to get an appreciation for the state of CAD in Russia, which may well have the most unique problems in the world. 

One person told me that communism ended at the wrong time. 1989 was just when CAD was getting underway, and the turmoil following the unleashing of democracy stunted CAD's growth.

Growth was hindered twice more by (1) the conversion of state-owned industries to private hands, which greatly reduced workforces (or simply plundered the businesses), and (2) the huge rate of piracy. 

Autodesk has found that businesses that switch from pirated software to legal sw also fix the rest of their business: they no longer avoid taxes and underpay staff. They are called "white businesses." The government is cracking down, too, because of new legislation and because of the additional taxes they can collect.

(Why is Windows popular here? Because in Russia it used to cost the same as Linux.)

Russia has its own standards, which differ from DIN and ISO. It has the 33-letter Cyrillic alphabet. It has a strong set of home-grown CAD vendors eager to expand to the rest of the world facing CAD vendors from The West.

Russian CAD vendors complain to me that the foreigners (Autodesk, Dassault, et al) are funded by the deep pockets of their Western head offices, and the Russians simply haven't the same level of funds.

But at least CAD software is a clean industry; very few have been shot. As for businessmen arrested for criminal activity and then losing their businesses -- well, Russians tell me, they just don't know: the government's story could be right, or the businessman could be innocent. They just don't know.

The problems are fascinating; it will be even more fascinating to watch them being solved. 

(Extensive coverage of today's round table will appear in a future issue of upFront.eZine.)


About the Photo

After dinner, we tried to see Red Square at night, but it was blocked off for a concert of military music. We could only peer in from the edge of the security fence. In the photo above, a Red Square museum is framed by the entrance to GUM, the state-owned department store. 

(Click thumbnail for larger image.)

Russia Tour, Day 2: ASCON and SoftDev

Ascon

This company appears to be the Russian CAD vendor with the largest market share, 20% (vs the 26% of the non-Russian Autodesk). Like much of the source for technology in Russia, the three co-founders worked at a military manufacturing plant. (The same story is true for just about any middle-aged programmer today.) The PC arrived in Russia in 1988, and they began to figure out how to program it. The subsequent fall of communism allowed entrepreneurs to flourish, and the three launched ASCON. 

(There are no public software firms in Russia, owned by shareholders as we know it in North America. Instead, co-founders tend to be the sole shareholders as well as the board of directors.)

By the early 1990s, they had the first Windows-based MCAD program in the world, beating SolidWorks by two years. Throughout the 1990s, they found it hard work selling software into a market saturated by free (pirated) copies of AutoCAD -- about 99%, half-joked the ceo. KOMPAS for Windows was launched in 1997; parameters were added in 1998. Copyright law was strengthened in Russia, and today 80% of Russia's space-related agencies use KOMPAS 3D.

They aim to provide reasonably priced MCAD software for the mass market, and so it is priced under $4,000, which includes first year maintenance and free training. They hope to export their formula for success to North America.

As to my question, why no Linux in Russia? ASCON and other firms sell what customers are using, which is Windows. Naturally, ASCON is keeping an eye on Linux, and once its marketshare exceeds 10%, then it will be time to make their move.

As for direct modeling, they have a similar mindset as that of SolidWorks: it has a specialty placement in the design process, and so it is no priority for them. 

www.ascon.net

SoftDev

This software company was specifically set up to outsource the expertise of Russian programmers to Western firms. 50% of the work for its staff of 70 today is CAD, the other 50% business processes.

This company operates under NDAs that do not allow it to boast of its client list nor of its successful projects. Appropriately enough, their offices are located in a former military complex; female guards continue to man the entrances. 

I grew frustrated as the interview regressed, for there wasn't much they could tell me. Finally, the ceo called in several programmers who wanted to meet me, and to ask me questions. I had been told they read upFront.eZine and this blog; I was stunned that their questions actually did refer to back issues of my publications! Part of which resulted in a lively debate over whether man will ever make it to Mars (I say not); for them, getting to Mars is merely an engineering problem to be solved.

Current hot topics like the cloud, direct modeling, and Linux are irrelevant to them: they program what their customers want. If the customer wants a cloud-based direct modeler running on Linux, then that's what SoftDev will deliver.

www.softdevspb.com

(Detailed interviews with both companies will appear in upFront.eZine starting September 15.)

About the Photo

The fortress on Hare Island, the original construction site by Peter the Great that founded Saint Petersburg nearly 400 years ago. This island fort and its 300 canons convinced the Swedes to consider not longer claiming this area as their own. Losing the subsequent war convinced them completely.

Russia Tour, Day 1.5

Jet lag is affecting me, so I've gotten up at midnight to do a bit of work in my hotel room.

Before I left, I researched the eight companies I'm visiting this week, and one thing stood out: almost all are dependent on Microsoft. In most cases, none of the software runs on Linux or Mac.

Being Russia, I would have thought Linux would be popular in the technical fields these companies support, but no. Especially -- especially! -- since they tend to have their own kernels. So, highly independent on the kernel, but highly dependent on the rest of the code.

That'll be one of the questions I'll have for them. If you are wondering about anything, send an email to grabowski@telus.net

Speaking of jet lag...

I was fascinated by the Airbus A330's navigation system, which showed that we had traveled 49,000 miles in just four hours. (Click photo above.) The closer the airplane got to Zurich, the higher the mileage zoomed, until about an hour before landing the counter stayed stuck at 115,076 miles -- the total trip distance is just 4,000 miles. (The distance remaining was accurate.)

Now, that kind of concerns me, because the display shown to passengers is retrieved from the airplane's navigation system. I wonder (1) what causes this bug; and (2) why it still exists.

My New Camera: Same as the Old Camera

After my Canon S1is suffered from the sensor problem, I bought a Canon SX100 is as a stop gap. It had the 10x zoom, etc I need. But I continued to keep an eye on a more capable one, especially with movable LCD screen.

A month ago, I made my decision: I bought a reconditioned  S1is for $85 -- my third one. It has more features than the SX100is, yet is compatible with add-ons I've bought since I acquired my first S1is in 2004.

I discarded the SX100is (my daughter will take it over) after I found the following flaws in it:

• Photostitch mode works only horizontally; it lacks vertical and 2x2 stitch assistance. There is no reason to eliminate the other modes, except for Canon to make this lower-cost camera ($300!) less desirable.
• No zoom during movie mode. Here Canon boasts about the high-power Digit generation-whatever processor, and they disable optical zoom for this camera! (Digital zoom is available, but it creates quite an ugly image when dealing with 640x480 movie images.) 

So two features I use a lot are handicapped by Canon. Instead of buying a new $450 camera from them, I sent my $85 to an online camera store.

PS: I  conacted Canon Canada about the failed sensor, but after a month they have failed to respond. Canon claims to provide free repairs of these units.

• 
  

Russia Tour, Day 1: Saint Petersburg

 Getting off the airplane in St Petersburg airport, I saw an unusual small jet with the wings above the body, and the jet engines on top of the wings. Looked upsidedown. Them there were the WWII-era-looking fuel delivery trucks.

My ride was waiting for me, and she took me into town along Moscow Avenue, a 10km-long (6-mile) street leading into town, lined with Stalinist architecture. "In the 50s, you know," she said. The architecture is not dismal. There was the steel beetle-looking BMW dealership near the airport, and a Gaudi-looking apartment block that features randomly-place window openings. 

You would never guess there is a hotel where mine is located. Even my guide had a hard time finding the anonymous front door in the center of St Petersburg. "In the communist years," she explained, these were apartment buildings for large families. "In the capitalist years," she continued, they were sold off privately, and the 4th floor was turned into a hotel. Which is why is has just 16 rooms and a tiny office.

Lenin and Stalin are making a come-back here. There was an enormous statue of Lenin in the center of an enormous traffic circle, Reading in the newspaper in the airplane, I learned that the new history book for schoolchildren newly praises Stalin's positive and less positive initiatives.
 
I had been promised that Internet is cheap in Russia, and it is. $3 for 24 hours at this hotel, and a good wireless connection, too. Contrast that with the $3 that a kiosk at Zurich airport wanted for 8.25 minutes of Internet. I guess the Swiss have to keep up their reputation of being precise timekeepers.

---

The photo shows a man testing a barbell he had just found. After I snapped the photo, he headed indoors and announced his find triumphantly to his wife.

Russia Tour, Day 0: YVR/YYZ/ZRH/LED

Here it is: Day 0* of the upFront.eZine tour of Russia. It's hard to believe it's happening after just two months of planning, beginning when David Levin of Ledas (and of isicad) sent an email, subject line: Coming to Russia?

It came to my mind (in particular while reading your reports about Bricsys and Graebert) that probably it would be interesting and useful in many aspects if you could visit Russia to meet several interesting actors of the local CAD/PLM market. For instance, it's likely your reports about ASCON, TopSystems (TFlex) and maybe activity of world CAD leaders in Russia (for instance, Autodesk-Russia is extremely active) would be valuable both for Western and Russian readers. If you find this in principle reasonable, we can try discussing more details. 

Heh: there was just one answer I could give Mr Levin: 

I would love to visit Russia, and to meet with software companies there. Russian software companies are held in high esteem by us in "the West," but little is known about them. I look forward to seeing what we can arrange -- perhaps for September?

So, precisely two months and 137 emails later, here I am at Vancouver International Airport, at the start of 11,825-kilometer worth of flights that go though Toronto and Zurich to arrive at St Petersburg Sunday afternoon at 2:15pm (1:15am, Pacific time).

In one of his last emails before my departure, Mr Levin reminded me that in Moscow MCAD can have a meaning different from "mechanical CAD":

Note that "MCAD", when pronounced in Russian -- especially in Moscow -- has a strong association with a popular abbreviation for "Moscow Circle Automobile Doroga", where Doroga means Road and which is for a highway around Moscow. No problems, just FYI. 

----
*) This is Day 0, because I arrive in Russia tomorrow, Day 1.

The upFront.eZine Tour of Russia

This tour introduces Russian CAD vendors to the world through blog updates here on WorldCAD Access, and in fuller reporting later in the upFront.e Zine newsletter. The tour entails 15,400 miles of travel and meetings with eight CAD companies.

Itinerary

September 7: St Petersburg

• Meetings with ASCON and SoftDev.
• Night train to Moscow.

September 8: Moscow

• Roundtable discussion with MCAD vendors and Russian media: The Future of MCAD. See isicad.net/articles for details.

September 9: Moscow

• Meetings with Top Systems, Autodesk CIS, and Nanosoft.
  

September 10: Moscow

• Meetings with Dassault Systemes and NTP Truboprovod.
• Red-eye flight to Novosibirsk.
  

September 11: Novosibirsk

• Meeting with LEDAS.
  

September 12: Novosibirsk

• Meeting with isicad.
• Return flight to Moscow.

Travel, Meetings, and Roundtable:
Coordinated by isicad -- "From Russia with PLM"

Participating Sponsors, Vendors, and Publications:

        
                     
              

                 
    

[Disclosure: Some of these firms provided assistance with airfare, accommodation, ground transportation, and meals.]

DOS Commands

While updating my "Tailoring AutoCAD 2010" ebook, I thought I would add a paragraph on accessing DOS commands in Windows:

You can still run DOS commands in Windows, even in 7: from the Start menu, choose Run, and then enter cmd. Notice the window that appears; you can now enter DOS commands. For a list of DOS commands available on your computer, enter help. To copy and paste text, right-click the window, and then select an option from the shortcut menu. To exit DOS mode, enter exit.

Here is the list displayed by Help in VIsta; I've boldfaced the ones that get used the most:

ASSOC -- Displays or modifies file extension associations.
ATTRIB -- Displays or changes file attributes.
BREAK -- Sets or clears extended CTRL+C checking.
BCDEDIT -- Sets properties in boot database to control boot loading.
CACLS -- Displays or modifies access control lists (ACLs) of files.
CALL -- Calls one batch program from another.
CD -- Displays the name of or changes the current directory.
CHCP -- Displays or sets the active code page number.
CHDIR -- Displays the name of or changes the current directory.
CHKDSK -- Checks a disk and displays a status report.
CHKNTFS -- Displays or modifies the checking of disk at boot time.
CLS -- Clears the screen.
CMD -- Starts a new instance of the Windows command interpreter.
COLOR -- Sets the default console foreground and background colors.
COMP -- Compares the contents of two files or sets of files.
COMPACT -- Displays or alters the compression of files on NTFS partitions.
CONVERT -- Converts FAT volumes to NTFS. You cannot convert the current drive.
COPY -- Copies one or more files to another location.
DATE -- Displays or sets the date.
DEL -- Deletes one or more files.
DIR -- Displays a list of files and subdirectories in a directory.
DISKCOMP -- Compares the contents of two floppy disks.
DISKCOPY -- Copies the contents of one floppy disk to another.
DISKPART -- Displays or configures Disk Partition properties.
DOSKEY -- Edits command lines, recalls Windows commands, and creates macros.
DRIVERQUERY -- Displays current device driver status and properties.
ECHO -- Displays messages, or turns command echoing on or off.
ENDLOCAL -- Ends localization of environment changes in a batch file.
ERASE -- Deletes one or more files.
EXIT -- Quits the CMD.EXE program (command interpreter).
FC -- Compares two files or sets of files, and displays the differences between them.
FIND -- Searches for a text string in a file or files.
FINDSTR -- Searches for strings in files.
FOR -- Runs a specified command for each file in a set of files.
FORMAT -- Formats a disk for use with Windows.
FSUTIL -- Displays or configures the file system properties.
FTYPE -- Displays or modifies file types used in file extension associations.
GOTO -- Directs the Windows command interpreter to a labeled line in a batch program.
GPRESULT -- Displays Group Policy information for machine or user.
GRAFTABL -- Enables Windows to display an extended character set in graphics mode.
HELP -- Provides Help information for Windows commands.
ICACLS -- Display, modify, backup, or restore ACLs for files and directories.
IF -- Performs conditional processing in batch programs.
LABEL -- Creates, changes, or deletes the volume label of a disk.
MD -- Creates a directory.
MKDIR -- Creates a directory.
MKLINK -- Creates Symbolic Links and Hard Links
MODE -- Configures a system device.
MORE -- Displays output one screen at a time.
MOVE -- Moves one or more files from one directory to another directory.
OPENFILES -- Displays files opened by remote users for a file share.
PATH -- Displays or sets a search path for executable files.
PAUSE -- Suspends processing of a batch file and displays a message.
POPD -- Restores the previous value of the current directory saved by PUSHD.
PRINT -- Prints a text file.
PROMPT -- Changes the Windows command prompt.
PUSHD -- Saves the current directory then changes it.
RD -- Removes a directory.
RECOVER -- Recovers readable information from a bad or defective disk.
REM -- Records comments (remarks) in batch files or CONFIG.SYS.
REN -- Renames a file or files.
RENAME -- Renames a file or files.
REPLACE -- Replaces files.
RMDIR -- Removes a directory.
ROBOCOPY -- Advanced utility to copy files and directory trees
SET -- Displays, sets, or removes Windows environment variables.
SETLOCAL -- Begins localization of environment changes in a batch file.
SC -- Displays or configures services (background processes).
SCHTASKS -- Schedules commands and programs to run on a computer.
SHIFT -- Shifts the position of replaceable parameters in batch files.
SHUTDOWN -- Allows proper local or remote shutdown of machine.
SORT -- Sorts input.
START -- Starts a separate window to run a specified program or command.
SUBST -- Associates a path with a drive letter.
SYSTEMINFO -- Displays machine specific properties and configuration.
TASKLIST -- Displays all currently running tasks including services.
TASKKILL -- Kill or stop a running process or application.
TIME -- Displays or sets the system time.
TITLE -- Sets the window title for a CMD.EXE session.
TREE -- Graphically displays the directory structure of a drive or path.
TYPE -- Displays the contents of a text file.
VER -- Displays the Windows version.
VERIFY -- Tells Windows whether to verify that your files are written correctly to a disk.
VOL -- Displays a disk volume label and serial number.
XCOPY -- Copies files and directory trees.
WMIC -- Displays WMI information inside interactive command shell.

For detailed help, enter the command name with /?, such as dir /?. To copy text from the command window: right-click, chose Select All from the shortcut menu, and then press Enter (shortcut for Copy).

Looking at the list, I see a whole bunch more commands we never had (or needed) back in the DOS days. Some of the commands -- such as SORT, FOR, and IF -- made batch files as powerful as simple programs.

Back in 1984, I wrote a DOS batch file that read through a file containing data on vehicle accidents, and chose all those that needed to be examined in greater detail. What I liked about using DOS is that there was no need to open and close files, as in other programming languages.

To this day, I still use DOS to rename an entire folder of file names. 

World's Biggest Bug

Yesterday I was writing a blog entry when I noticed the Web browser seemed to seize up. I wondered if the problem might be a bug in the brand-new Opera 10, but the same problem occurred with FireFox. I examined the HTML code, and found large amounts of spaces between lines. I began erasing them, but found the process slow-going.

So I copy'n pasted the HTML code into the Atlantis word processor I use, and quickly found the problem for the seize-up: the code and the many blank lines took up 13,000 pages! I've got Atlantis now doing a search'n replace of all the blank lines. It's been running for 2 hours now, and looks to be about 40% of the way through.

The blank lines are probably due to a bug in TypePad's new editing environment, which suffers from other problems as well. For example, pressing Enter creates two breaks (br) codes, instead of a paragraph code (p). The breaks then play havoc with bulleted indents.

Would an 85% Price Chop Make You Switch?

Bricsys is boasting that the EZ-Plant landscape planning software ($295) running on Bricscad V9 software is much cheaper than when it runs on AutoCAD:

• EZ-Plant on AutoCAD = "over $4000" [$4,295, actually]
• EZ-Plant on Bricscad = "under $700" [$660, actually]

Dave Petrosky of EZ-Plant says:

The value of the new, combined solution is tremendous -- it offers 100% of our functionality at 20% [15%, actually] of the cost... the redefined price point has redefined the size of our market...

This "100% of functionality" is a switch from AutoCAD's old marketing phrase from the 1980s, "80% of the functions for 20% of the cost." 

Still, for low-cost add-ons, switching to a low-cost, mostly-AutoCAD-compatible CAD package makes financial sense.

Source.

Sold! HPC Buys Esperient

Right Hemisphere has sold Esperient and its Creator software to Home Partners Corporation. According to the email blast sent out this morning, very few Esperient employees lost their jobs. Otherwise, the future is bright:

HPC is committed to developing Esperient Creator in the long term and has provided all necessary funding to allow us to expand the development team and ensure the long term future of the product. 

All I could find out about HPC is that it is a "provider of Home Improvement project support and contractor matching services to residential homeowners."

The Creator software reads 50 3D formats, and then creates interactive 3D content with built-in procedural modeling for architecture, education, interactive training, and so on.

Source.

CSG Updates MEDUSA4

CAD Schroer Group is releasing version 4.0 of their MEDUSA4 Design Automation Suite. Improvements include:

• Very compact plant models, suitable for emailing.
• Better speed, quality and file size for STEP, IGES and 3D DXF interfaces.
• New Teamcenter interface.
• Enhanced database connectivity. 
• Support for URLs and searchable text strings in drawings and PDFs.
• New MPDS4 REVIEW module. 

MPDS4 Plant Design software get intelligent architectural components and new multi-replace and automatic pipe fall tools. Parametrics, SMART Edit, Smart Drafting and dimensioning are enhanced in the 2D drafting module.

More info here. And a free version is available from this page.

Problem is, CAD Schroer Group tells me it is probably illegal for me to tell you any of this, because today's email containing the press release also includes this warning:

This electronic message contains information that is confidential. The information is intended for the use of the addressee only. Please note that any disclosure, copy, distribution or use of the contents of this message is prohibited and may be unlawful.

Surprise! Graphisoft Ships ArchiCAD 13

Almost discreetely, Graphisoft yesterday announced ArchiCAD 13 through its corporate "The ArchiCAD Update" e-newsletter. New features include:

Graphisoft's BIM Server accesses files in the office and over the Internet. It uses Delta Server technology to transmit only changes to drawing files, increasing apparent network speed. In addition, it blocks data errors to prevent file corruption.

And support for 64-bit Windows.

Also:

• Door and window previews can be annotated associatively in the Interactive Schedule window. 
• Flexible project alignment lets you edit diagonal wings naturally; annotations are adjusted automatically to the final layout orientation.
• Intelligent "soft" insulation fills
• Project-specific library parts are saved in the ArchiCAD project file.
• Improved DWG layer management and exporting of multiple layouts into a single DWG file.
• BIM elements are classified as load-bearing or non-load-bearing structures; includes thousands of standard steel products.

ArchiCAD 13 ships in the middle of this month. 

www.graphisoft.com

BIM: Now Available in Five Dimensions

I don't think they are the first on the block, but a press release from Hard Dollar boasts about five-dimensional building information modeling:

• 3D BIM -- Integration from the 3D CAD model to visualize potential clashes.
• 4D BIM -- 3D model plus time (scheduling) as the 4th dimension. 
• 5D BIM -- 3D model plus costing over time. 

What will be the sixth dimension? 

Until then, there is the wording of the press release's heading to savor: Hard Dollar Industry Thought Leader Addresses 5D-BIM Advantages at Microsoft Project Conference 2009.