WorldCAD Access

Future of CAD Journalism in Good Hands

Next year I'll have been working on the editorial side of computer-aided design for 25 years. (Sept 1985 was my first month at CADalyst magazine.) In those two-and-a-half decades, the CAD publishing industry exploded, particularly in the area of AutoCAD. Magazines, books, independent and user group newsletters, online forums...

And then the Internet shifted us away from paper-based products, and we now have digital magazines, email and Web-based newsletters, ebooks, blogs, online forums...

The original editors and writers are retiring or (sadder to say) dying. The current group of core editors have one-to-two decades of experience, and are still working hard even as thoughts of retirement flicker through.

I sometimes wonder, "Who will take over?" Which is why I am thrilled to see strong voices emerging from the blog scene, names like Matt Lombard, Deelip Menezes, Steve Johnson, and numerous others. While some of them have been in the CAD biz for a decade or more, it is blogging that lets them speak up in a way never before possible. 

None of these guys are parrots, as are too many casual bloggers; their experience lets them think deeply about issues, become outraged at injustices, and pontificate on how CAD software could become better. Over the last couple of years, I've watched with pleasure as their writing improved and became more sure-footed. 

What's not for freedom-of-the-press lovers to like about headlines like these?

• 3D Connexion Space Pilot review and abuse of superlatives
• Inventor Fusion Is Finally Out, But...
• A touch of Tehran taints the AUGI Special Election

"Users come first" was the mantra Lionel Johnston had when he launched his fledgling CADalyst magazine in the Kootneys, and it's terrific to see decades later his vision carry on through today's writers.

For some, there is no kneeling at the feet of CAD vendors*.

---

*) What's that supposed to mean? Here's an example: the media kit of a competitor to CADalyst magazine offered vendors four pages of editorial for $10,000. Similar practices continue today.

blog nauseam Begs Adesk: No Acad for Mac, Please

Steve Johnson this morning makes very good arguments against porting AutoCAD to the Macintosh (at Why AutoCAD for Mac is a bad idea), but I disagree with him.

Mr Johnson argues that Windows has its roots infecting (my word) too much of AutoCAD; in any case, Autodesk's $250 million worth of personal and other cuts should prevent it from spending the manpower and dollars on coding a Mac version. 

He summarizes, "Reversing or working around that [Windows->Mac] process is a very substantial undertaking."

I disagree. Creating new CAD programs is trivial these days. Even one-man programmers do it, like the touchscreen-oriented MoI. 'Nother example: small CAD company IMSI/design produced the better-than-LT DoubleCAD in under two years (I think that was the timeframe). An example from Autodesk Labs: the new Project Dragonfly online "CAD" program.

I suspect that Autodesk would not port AutoCAD/Win to the Mac. They would start from scratch, linking code modules to create something fresh that happens to use AutoCAD's command structure/APIs and reads/saves in DWG format -- all wrapped in the OS X interface.

They would... they would be reading a Mac version of Deelip Menezes' book, "OpenCAD: A Step by Step Guide to Developing a Professional CAD Application." But instead of using ODA's APIs, Autodesk'd use their own. 

(On the other point: Autodesk is not just firing employees; Autodesk is also hiring in some areas.) 

The tough one is whether Acad/Mac would sell, and here I agree with Mr Johnson, who writes, "Any Mac user with any sense wouldn’t touch the first new Mac release with a bargepole." While today's Mac market is hundreds of times larger than when Autodesk made its original attempt 20 years ago, a brand-new Acad/Mac today must compete against established vendors -- VectorWorks, Graphisoft, Ashlar Vellum, and so on -- who spent the last 20 years improving their Mac-based software.

- - -

At time of writing this, the Macheads must still be asleep; 67% of the comments are begging for AutoCAD/Linux. 

Deelip.com's Future-of-MCAD Series

Deelip Menezes this last week wrote a series of articles that ended up becoming a thesis on the future of CAD software for mechanical design. I'm not sure that he intended it this way, since you can detect the development of thought, going from one posting to the next.

In brief:

• "Real" MCAD was parametric-based since PTC burst onto the scene.

• Direct modeling was the underdog technology employed by CoCreate, IronCAD, Cadkey (KeyCreator), and others.

• Direct modeling was not taken seriously until SpaceClaim arrived. (Coincidence? Perhaps.)

• Since the arrival  of SpaceClaim, direct modeling was added to Solid Edge, NX, and is being added to Inventor and Pro/E, with something vague happening over in France with Dassault's software.

• That leaves SolidWorks and Alibre with no direct modeling roadmap.

Mr Menezes' summary: customers are being (will be) dragged into direct modeling by CAD vendors, much like the ribbon interface being forced upon them.

I recommend you read his series, the many comments, and muse upon them:

1. Inventor Fusion and SolidWorks Confusion
2. AutoCAD Fusion
3. Kernel Confusion and Legacy Models
4. GRANITE Cross-Release Interoperability
5. What is Digital Prototyping - Part 2
6. Kernel Conclusion
7. Direct Editing and the Future

"From Russia with PLM"

LEDAS is supporting the Isicad CAD/PLM Web site at isicad.net. It has news, an industry glossary, wiki-style vendor listing, as well as extensive travelogues of industry events:

• The prodigal son of Autodesk -- ODA Conference
• Wish you were here -- COFES Conference

Blogger Conduct

Many bloggers are new to the whole realm of public publishing, and sometimes don't know the rules. For instance, a CAD dealer who is also a blogger, was on the phone with me for another matter. Talk switched to blogging when he told me of his verbal battle with another blogger, who was upset that the dealer reprints his tutorials in their entirety.

The dealer figured he was right, since he includes a link back to the tutorial site. I tried to point out to him that copyright law requires permission from the copyright holder (in this case, the tutorial blogger). Since the tutorial blogger was upset by the wholesale copying, clearly the dealer did not have permission.

Without permission, you can (1) copy snippets to make a point in your own blog entry; and (2) rewrite the other person's thoughts in your own words -- added-value, as it were.

The dealer defended his wholesale copying by claiming the tutorial blogger benefited from the links provided by the dealer. I hardly think so. If the tutorials are reprinted in full on one blog, there is no incentive to go to another that's identical in content.

In the end, the dealer blogger did not agree with me. And in the end, it is up to his readers whether they want to patronize a parrot site.

upFront.eZine Celebrates its 600th Issue

The upFront.eZine newsletter that goes out today is our 600th issue, and it carries these two feature stories:

• Autodesk Holds a Manufacturing Tech Day
• CATIA for Design

Read for free by subscribing, and join our readership of 10,000 subscribers in a community of 70 countries.

(The newsletter is free due to the generous sponsorship of great CAD software companies like current advertisers Okino Computer Graphics and Siemens PLM Software.)

Issue #599

Last week's issue offered these stories:

• AutoCAD for the Mac
• Overview of Energy Analysis Software in England

You can catch up by reading them -- and all 599 earlier newsletters -- at the upfrontezine.com archive site.

PTC Launches "Warm & Fuzzy" Blog

PTC's new blog is named "Social Product Development." I don't quite get it, but then it has just one posting, so far. (It's being written by two veeps of marketing at PTC.) Perhaps the blog will answer the question that its first entry ends off with:

Does social computing have its place in product development?

I would answer, "Yes, and it is called 'email'." I suspect, however, that that's not the answer they're thinking of -- maybe it's more along the lines of a PTC-branded version of Twitter, maybe.

Link.

Top 5 Postings on this Blog

The five most popular postings on this blog have been (links now work correctly):

1. Complex [AutoCAD] Linetypes

2. PTC Drops Out of Billion Dollar Club

3. Google Updates SketchUp v7  

4. PTC: We Heart Pirates 

5. Free! CAD Parts Library 

The top 5 referring sites are:

1. My own upfrontezine.com

2. www.jtbworld.com

3. www.bricsys.com

4. www.deelip.com

5. www.cadtutor.net 

(Souce: Feedburner)

DS Doesn't "Get" Blogging

Dassault Systemes launches a new blog, "3D Perspectives: A casual talk about 3D & innovation out of the cloud." 

Official Blogger Kate Bourdet writes casually enough in her early postings, describing Dassault's philosophy, design, and so on. DS tends to be one of the more secretive CAD companies, and so I looked forward to reading this new blog.

But when it comes time to read the blog and leave comments, look out!

Beware the Blog Chart

Blogging is all about conversation, but lawyers hired by Dassault have effectively shut it down. Before reading a single word, you have to agree to the Blog Chart (whatever that means. Sounds like something from Monty Python's Holy Grail: "To complete this task, you -- must -- read -- the -- Chart!" "Oh no, not the Chart!").

The Chart, it starts off bad...

By visiting the Blog, by using the Blog and by uploading content, you agree to be bound by the following Chart [the what?]. If you do not agree with any of the terms of this Chart [the what?], please do not use the Blog.

...and it gets worse...

8. Any user of the Blog may report to DS any Content or any comment in one of the Blog [sic] that he [sic] believes constitute [sic] an offense by sending a notification by Registered Letter Return Receipt Requested at [sic] the following address: Dassault Systèmes, DS “PR and Media Relation” Department, Attn Kate Bourdet, 10 rue Marcel Dassault CS 40501, 78946 Vélizy-Villacoublay. This notification must be dated and must include:

• The lastname, firstname, profession, address, nationality, date & place of birth of the user and, if corporation [sic]: legal form, corporate name, registered office, representative ;
• A description of the offense reported and the exact URL or a description of where the alleged offense is located ;
• A statement by you of the merits of your request to withdraw the alleged content (with the facts & legal texts related to this request);
• Whether a copy of the mail sent [sic] previously to the author or to the editor of the alleged content requiring withdrawal or modification, or the justification [sic] that the author or editor couldn’t be reached.

Whatever happened to leaving comments, objecting to the comments of others -- aka, "freewheeling blog discussion"? (cf: PTC users angry about my comments on the sale of the company.)

Not in the rarefied air surrounding Vélizy-Villacoublay, France, apparently, where the right of free speech (aka dissent) seems to have become a legal matter to be smothered by bureaucratic paperwork and wrapped tightly in red tape. 

Here's a free tip for Dassault: blogging software allows you to delete offensive comments. You can even preview comments before they are posted. No Registered-Letter-Return-Receipt-Requested required. 

I don't agree to the Chart (the what?); I'm not reading the writings of Mme Bourdet. 

Tales of Two Woes

Once in a while, my RSS reader lists two headlines in a row that shouldn't be together. From this morning, this unfortunate pairing:

rtara [CAD Insider]: Tony Blair Visits Gasabo3D in Rwanda
Steve Johnson [blog nauseam]: What a crock!

Roopinder Tara recounts meeting Tony Blair today in Rwanda, while Steve Johnson reports in the continuing problems Autodesk's contractor is having overhauling its discussion groups.

CAD Insider

Mr Tara was impressed that the former British prime minister quickly caught on to what Gasabo 3D does: 

"So you take what is given here," says Blair indicating the paper [of a 2D drawing], "and make it into 3D?"

The problem, Mr Tara explains to Mr Blair, is that Rwanda is an unknown, that "the world does not yet associate Rwanda with engineering services" like India or China.

blog nauseam

In contrast, Mr Johnson is unimpressed by the repeated failed attempts by Autodesk and contractor Jive Software at cleaning up the upgrade mess:

Autodesk is listening? Yeah, right. In this case, Autodesk is doing a great impersonation of a fence post.

I rarely visit AutoCAD forums, so the problems do not affect me. Online discussion groups are an early version of cloud computing, however, and so this weeks-long snafu serves as a practical warning about trusting your data to the cloud. As reported on blog nauseam, Autodesk/Jive's problems include:

• Publishing private email addresses
• False error messages
• Inability to login
• Text formatting problems

Would you trust your CAD data to such an enviroment? More here [jivespace].