When Autodesk ceo Carl Bass said this last April, I figured he was just talking to the crowd. The audience consisted of the editors and readers of TechCrunch:
I’d say two to three years from now, every one of our products will be used online. The only way to use them will be online.
But this week Autodesk vp of building industry strategy Phil Bernstein said much the same thing in an interview with Business Standard magazine:
Our portfolio has almost 200 pieces of software. Right now, we are moving some apps (collaboration and analysis tools) to the cloud. Our long-term strategy is to move everything there.
When Autodesk pushes everything on the cloud, it's going to produce one heck of a hiccough if this cloud thingy proves to not work out so well for them long-term. A lot worse than that Release 13 hiccough.
Sources:
- Carl Bass interview on TechCrunch: http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/04/keen-on-carl-bass-why-autodesk-remains-incredibly-relevant-tctv/
- Phil Berstein interview on Business Standard: http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/autodesk-aims-for-120-mn-users/492513/%20Autodesk
But do customers really want this or does that matter anymore? Was thinking about getting Inventor but not after hearing this.
Posted by: Tim Neumann | Nov 15, 2012 at 09:52 AM
Autodesk seems to be pulling a SolidWorks-V6 here, by teasing that software will no longer run on the desktop in just two years time.
Unlike the fear-uncertainty-doubt route that Solidworks execs choose to take, Autodesk execs need to make clear their plans -- and calm the nerves of its desktop-using customers.
Posted by: Ralph Grabowski | Nov 15, 2012 at 09:59 AM
HSMWorks users and resellers thought they had a problem when Autodesk purchased HSMWorks because of how Autodesk handled the acquisition. Wait until Autodesk forces all of them to the cloud. For sure no one is talking about this nightmare on the HSMWorks official forum!
The smartest thing HSMWorks users and resellers can do now is move to another CADCAM system as soon as possible.
Jon Banqeur
CADCAM Technology Leaders group on LinkedIn
Posted by: Jon Banquer | Nov 15, 2012 at 11:14 AM
Add me to the list of existing customers who are planning on moving to different software. I don't want my intellectual property stored on Autodesk's servers. It is that simple.
Posted by: CW | Nov 15, 2012 at 11:23 AM
Instability is not something CAD users need.
Posted by: Ralph Grabowski | Nov 15, 2012 at 11:40 AM
The part that people forget, and Carl neglected to mention, is that as the technology develops (e.g., Project Twitch, Project Blink), our customers will be able to host our applications themselves. So when Carl said "cloud only," IMHO he should have said "non-desktop." We have many customers today who would rather put our applications on their own internal server and have hundreds of their employees run them from that one spot. This would allow the data, which is getting larger and more complicated with each project, to stay in one place rather than copying it around from desktop to desktop. With server-based solutions, certainly offline modes will develop for things like air travel or lack of internet connectivity (e.g. down in a basement at a construction site). For users who would want to use our applications on one of our servers, they could pay for time used which would cost them less than buying a copy of one of our applications only to use it for a brief period. So in terms of intellectual property protection, if you think of keeping the applications and data on your servers instead of ours, this is not your traditional desktop-only solution.
Posted by: Scott Sheppard | Nov 15, 2012 at 02:14 PM
When being interviewed live in front of a camera, it can be easy to misspeak. Thank you for the clarification.
Posted by: Ralph Grabowski | Nov 15, 2012 at 02:19 PM
How in the world could Autodesk's CEO forget to mention this critical piece of information?
Sounds like the backlash from Autodesk users being forced to rent software on a continuous basis or put ITAR information on a public server caused Autodesk to change their mind. The way Autodesk does business isn't exactly honorable or commendable.
Jon Banquer
CADCAM Technology Leaders group on LinkedIn
Posted by: Jon Banquer | Nov 15, 2012 at 02:28 PM
Misspeak might be an over-statement. I would characterize it as incomplete. Mobile devices outnumber PCs already, so there will come a day when doing something chained to a PC, instead of using the device I have with me, will seem foreign.
Posted by: Scott Sheppard | Nov 15, 2012 at 02:33 PM
Yep. 'Cause the entire world has mobile connectivity for free. Available anytime, anywhere you might use your laptop. And everyone wants all their PCs connected to the reliable and friendly, attack-free Series of Tubes of the Interwebs. Yeah, I can see that. Ah! I almost LOL'd.
Posted by: Max | Nov 15, 2012 at 03:05 PM
I'm not sure Scott's attempt to dig Carl out of this hole qualifies as a clarification. There are all sorts of problems with the arguments in it, but it's pointless taking it apart. Ultimately, it doesn't matter what Scott says because he doesn't make policy. Carl does.
Posted by: Steve Johnson | Nov 15, 2012 at 09:06 PM
...also because Autodesk will do what it wants to do. Judging from today's conference call with financial analysts, it sees social mobile media as r-e-a-l-l-y important to its future. Sigh.
Posted by: Ralph Grabowski | Nov 15, 2012 at 09:24 PM
ADSK thank you for the gift ...... it does not matter if I won't have more the control of my data and I am forced to renew the license every year and even though I'll have to pray because my DSL connection always functions..... but so I can show to my friends as I am good at drawing with Inventor on my smart phone :)
Thanks again
Posted by: Andrè Raison | Nov 16, 2012 at 06:42 AM
Could the emphasis on the cloud be a negative for Autodesk. This reporter on Yahoo Finance seems to think so:
>JMP Securities views Autodesk's weaker than expected Q3 revenue as a >potential negative for Adobe, since Adbobe is going through a >similar transition from desktop to cloud software as Autodesk.
Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/autodesk-results-potential-negative-adobe-120853195.html
Posted by: Ralph Grabowski | Nov 16, 2012 at 08:36 AM
The cloud computing will be a big cheat for the future.... these people only think to their wallet.
I do a simple example:
For my job I use 3-4 programs(even more) of different brands... every year I am forced to renew all licenses?
As a freelancer for me is unsustainable.
Posted by: Giovanni Margherisi | Nov 18, 2012 at 08:33 AM
These programmers can really prove that if "you can dream it, you can do it". Read this article in MIT review about how the cloud is vulnerable and company secrets on the cloud can be stolen:
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/506976/how-to-steal-data-from-your-neighbor-in-the-cloud/
"Researchers at University of Wisconsin, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the computer security company RSA have shown it is possible for software hosted by a cloud-computing provider to steal secrets from software hosted on the same cloud. In their experiment, they ran malicious software on hardware designed to mimic the equipment used by cloud companies such as Amazon. They were able to steal an encryption key used to secure e-mails from the software belonging to another user."
Posted by: Srihari Gangaraj | Nov 19, 2012 at 11:37 AM
Hey,
look what Adobe do last week offering all Adobe Solution cloud based!
Posted by: T.Sprehe | Nov 28, 2012 at 12:40 AM