On the one hand, Autodesk Marketing is this year successful at getting the AutoCAD-oriented Weblogs (of which there are an overwhelming number relative to the rest of the CAD world) to generate "ground level" "buzz" about AutoCAD 2007 -- software that won't be available for licensing until Thursday.
So, how successful will AutoCAD 2007 be, given that (1) the primary feature is 3D; (2) the 3D requires workstatation-level hardware; (3) the price of AutoCAD is going up; and (4) customers also have to purchase more expensive hardware for 3D.
I heard from a CAD instructor last night, who gave me this insight: "We skipped 2006, and are now getting ready to teach 2007." (He also bought five copies of my "What's Inside? AutoCAD 2007" PDF book.) I thought, now that makes sense:
AutoCAD 2006 didn't have much in the way for end-users: dynamic input isn't much liked, and dynamic blocks are too complex to figure out. But easier-to-use 3D, now that's useful -- especially in the education setting.
I suspect AutoCAD 2007 will be a roaring success if companies are feeling the need to upgrade their computers anyhow -- you know, those 3-year hardware cycles that had been stretched out to 4 and 5 years after the orgy of spending around the Y2K bug.
I work for a subscription customer (15 seats). We didn't install ACAD2006, for various reasons. But we were genuinely excited about 2007s 3D capabilities. Untill we found out the hardware requirements. We will not be upgrading our CAD stations, except any that come due for replacement on our maintainance program. As a mechanical manufacturer, we are more interested in actual design tools, than generating pretty pictures. So it will be interesting to see how many of the new features we can actually use.
Posted by: KevinT | Apr 03, 2006 at 09:31 PM