SolidWorks: 300,000 Still Use AutoCAD

This morning's press release [yahoo.com] from SolidWorks contains a curious statement:

These [new eDrawings Pro] capabilities will help more than 300,000 AutoCAD users who use SolidWorks software...

It may well be legitimate, but I have always found the 300,000-number hard to believe, because (1) it sounds like SolidWorks is unable to convince users of any other CAD package to switch; (2) the number is too rounded; and (3) the number has been stuck at that level for some time now.

I had the impression that SolidWorks made it sound as if 300,000 of their SolidWorks users are former Autodesk customers. The surprise is today's admission by SolidWorks that those 300,000 customers continue to use AutoCAD.

Comments

[Rob M]

The difficulty with the statement is the verb."use" Use as in, have autocad, or open legacy drawings with autocad, or receive supplier/customer data in ACAD format.

Give them a break for the round numbers. It's not like they can survey their userbase every month and determine exactly how many still "use" ACAD in any way shape or form. It's probably based on a survey that produced an "estimate" that got handed over to marketing

[Jason]

A large number of those are probably educational as well....meaning schools that were converted from Autocad to Solidworks.

[Don Brinks]

I am one of the 300,000. But, believe me, it is not by choice. Legacy data forces me to keep Mechanical Desktop 5 and AutoCAD 2005 on my machine and use them once in a while. I find the Autodesk products to be unstable compared to SolidWorks. It is the unstable nature of the Autodesk products and the lack of response in fixing the problems that drove my company to SolidWorks. I have never regretted that decision. I do regret the need to continue using Autodesk products.

[Natarajan Ramamoorthy]

I do not find it surprising that "300000 AutoCAD users who use SolidWorks software communicate with colleagues to design better products." Detailing in SolidWorks to produce 2d drawings is great and requires lesser effort than to use a 2D CAD software for obvious reasons. Using AutoCAD by a SolidWorks user should not be considered a 'crime' since it could be attributed to various reasons. Remember SolidWorks provides 3 licenses of DWGEditor for every license of SolidWorks. Are we to say that SolidWorks insists that use DWGEditor in preference to its native detailing capability. For legacy data it would be prudent to just modify the 2D data, for whatever the reason may be, instead of going thro' a 2D-to-3D-to-2D process for a simple modification.

I guess it is best left to the user to choose whatever method he/ she wants to show productivity for the situation at hand and I guess it is best left at that. As mature CAD users, we can understand the statistics that more than 300000 AutoCAD users may have chosen SolidWorks for reasons beyond what the 2D-alone environment can deliver.

[Ed Jenkin]

I used to work for a SolidWorks reseller and I believe there information is correct. They have always made a note in the system so they can see what system that a company has migrated from they could give accurate number regarding all of the other swap outs form ProE and IGS/Ideas/Edge as well.

[Joe Bucalo]

Back when I was publishing CKD Magazine (CADKEY related), we maintained subscription information about our readers and learned that most companies have 2 or more CAD systems in active use.

First, when changing from one CAD system to another, there is no "EASY" button to convert all your legacy files to the new system. Therefore, you must continue with that system to maintain these files.

Second, job shops require multiple systems to avoid the errors from translating files from different systems. It is faster, easier, and cleaner to own a copy of each CAD system and open your customers files in the system in which the file was created.

[Joe]

What I have found amazing in SW ads is the fact that they "use" AutoCAD to sell their product. If the product is solid and they truly believed in it, they would drop the comparison all together. However, I hardly believe that is the case. Their latest ad depicting their learn curve is outrageous. They show the piece of string totally vertical. Well, anybody who knows anything about graphs and learning curves would interpret that as impossible to learn! I have to confess though, I did try SW and found it to be too "childlike" in it implementation. Perhaps though that is what their users prefer. One poster noted stability as an issue. I can only say that if you visit their newsgroups and follow the conversation you will very soon realize that they have just as much an issue with stability as Autodesk. As far as AutoCAD being just a 2D environment that is rubbish. Truth be told, the 3D capabilites of AutoCAD are just as powerful if not more so than either SW or IV, albeit different. These like so many other features of AutoCAD were and are hardly ever explored by most users. As far as 300K is concerned, that number is most likely a wish. It's been that nearly 2 years.