As Dassault's new Web page proclaims, "Don't wait 10 moons. Join us now!"
As an editor says, "Keep repeating to myself: I will not comment on this... I will not comment on this... I will not comment on this..."
Virtual reality cults? Scandinavian gods made human? Judge for yourself: minimoys.3ds.com/
Well, SpaceClaim doesn't directly address Autodesk in its Direct Modeling Challenge -- Bring it on! email blast of today. But the coincidence is uncanny: the same morning Autodesk announces general availability of Inventor Fusion TP1 [tech preview #1], the challenge appears in email boxes:
If you have a modeling challenge, we want you to bring it on -- to us! Yes, thhat's [sic] right.
Then, in a live webinar on July 29, SpaceClaim will demonstrate how their software solves the most compelling design problem submitted.
The spin: that SpaceClaim's software is better at solving complex problems than the fresh-faced Fusion.
Autodesk marketing is ramping up its We-Are-Mac messaging. You may have noticed the initial steps, a few social-media releases, such as the Which-Features-Do-You-Want? survey for a possible Macintosh version of AutoCAD. (From the wording of the survey, Autodesk was hoping users would be fine with a less-than-AutoCAD-LT feature set.)
More recent was the "Official: Mac Users Love Us" press release that rejoices at how much the Mac version of Alias is beloved of users. The headline and body contain "momentum" wording: "Alias 2010 Adds to Autodesk’s Growing Portfolio of Mac Design Tools."
Alias Design joins the increasing number of Autodesk 2D and 3D software tools available for Mac OS X, including SketchBook Pro, Autodesk Maya, Autodesk Mudbox, Autodesk Toxik, Autodesk ImageModeler and Autodesk Stitcher.
(Notice that the list consists of non-CAD programs only.) The momentum wording is key to understanding that there will be more Mac news from Autodesk. My guestimate is that the Mac version of AutoCAD will be announced at Autodesk University -- announcement meaning something along the lines of "We will ship something at some point [in 2010]."
In addition, I expect Autodesk marketing to mount a similar campaign for Linux next year, building on the few apps they already have running on Linux.
Ares and Bricscad
Graebert and Bricsys will be beta-testing and/or shipping Linux and Mac versions of their (non-IntelliCAD) CAD systems over the next 6-24 months. Will Autodesk be as effective at squashing them as it was of IntelliCAD 11 years ago? At that time, the FTC stomped on Autodesk to prevent possible anti-competitive behavior.
Without government intervention, the best chance for Graebert and Bricsys is for Autodesk to initially ship AutoCAD/Mac with no API.
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(Details about Ares and Bricscad for Linux and Mac in this and next week's editions of upFront.eZine, available free.)
Nicholas Carlson of Silicon Valley Insider presents reasons for not doing business in China, never mind the one-billion+ customer base! These reasons are based on practical experience; here are a couple of them:
Read all of the reasons at Screw China!
From the "Keeping a Lock on Industrial Vault Design" press releases shipped by DS SolidWorks this morning:
Using SolidWorks and SolidWorks Simulation helped us [Vault Structures] design and test the door about 70 percent faster than if we'd used AutoCAD, saving $150,000 in reduced prototyping costs.
Who designs bank vault doors with AutoCAD? The time and cost savings comparison should have been, of course, with Inventor.
Engadget publishes a photo of Steve Wozniak asleep during a Palm Pre demo:
1:05PM And it's official. This Palm conversation has lulled Woz to sleep. We kid you not.
(A blogger had posted a photo of me snoozing off during the SolidWorks press event last fall in Barcelona. I blamed the jetlag.)
A key aspect of productivity is to know intuitively the operation of software. This is no different from fingers memorizing the locations of keys on the keyboard -- and the reason the Dvork keyboard failed.
Companies like Microsoft and Autodesk seem determined to impede productivity of users through frequent changes to their software's user interface. Case in point: AutoCAD's Dashboard. Lasted a mere two years.
Last year: the new ribbon.
This year: the very cluttered ribbon.
Next year? Something even worse, I imagine.
Bill Fane writes...
I find it interesting that over the years we have changed from the rigidity of sequential step-by-step command-line entry, through the convenience of random-entry dialog boxes, to the ease of step-by-step wizards.
There is irony in today's announcement from Bricsys that Global Force DIRECT is now handling distribution of its Bricscad software in India and North America.
The head of GFD is Tony Flynn, former head of marketing for Bentley Systems.
An earlier incarnation of the Bricsys corporation produced the architectural TriForma software, subsequently bought by Bentley.
I heard the news direct from today's Bricsys press release, but CAD editor Randall Newton also passed on the news. Randall spent a season at Bentley, as well.
After the manner of Bill Fane: "There are three kinds of people in the CAD community: those who pass through, and those who circulate around and around."
When it comes to technology...
"Play with everything but stick with what's works best for you."
AUGI [Autodesk user group international] Revit MEP Moderator Matthew Danowski posts his longish letter of complaint to Autodesk. I'd been hearing from Revit upgraders on their dissatisfaction of the software.
A few of his complaints include:
There were 33 responses at the time I wrote this up. I am guessing there will be service packs coming up to solve some of these bugs.
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