www.upfrontezine.com
Two Oceans in One Day
The CAD social event of the month was the Revit launch,
which took place last week in Cambridge MA USA.
Tuesday: 4 April
I've decided to use this trip to perform an experiment that tests
the following theory: "Is it possible to go on a business
trip without a notebook computer?" In past trips, I found
I needed just email and word processing capabilities. So, I am
taking only my Palm III on this trip, along with its modem and
the MultiMail Pro email software (US$40 from http://www.actualsoft.com)
that I downloaded the week before. I had hoped to get Palm's brand-new
foldup keyboard, but local computer stores are either sold out
("But we have four in our warehouse"), or have no idea
what I am asking for ("Could I interest you in a Palm IIIc?").
Vancouver: I get up at 4:00 a.m. to catch a flight that leaves Vancouver BC at 6:30 a.m. As the airplane takes off from YVR, it banks out over the Pacific Ocean, then heads eastward to Toronto.
Toronto:
Arriving 15 minutes early in Toronto, I have an hour to collect
my luggage from carousel #99; convince U.S. Immigration let me
into their fine country; and find the gate for my connecting flight.
With the Star Alliance and the recent Air Canada/Canadian Airlines
merger, this is called a United flight, and an Air Canada flight,
and a Canadian Airlines flight -- but it is an Air Canada Airbus
A319 that I'm on. The movie is Bicentennial Man, which
I find dull.
As the aircraft is taxiing for takeoff, there is a noise like
a hacksaw attempting to cut off a portion of the plane's undercarriage.
The captain says we'll have to return to the terminal building,
as soon as traffic control can assign a gate. Some passengers
are concerned about connecting flights, but not me. I've still
got 25 hours before Revit's gala starts. The captain reports "The
probe indicator on the outside of the plane needs replacement,
which should take just five minutes." The 5-minute repair
job becomes a 55-minute delay.
Boston:
The pilot spends 20 minutes circling over the Atlantic Ocean.
For me, that's two oceans in one day. After landing, we wait again
while passengers from an Air Lingus (Ireland) plane deplane. My
suitcase is one of the first at the luggage carousel, and I take
a taxi to the Sheraton Commander Hotel in Cambridge, across the
river from Boston. To the taxi fare are added US$4.50 worth of
airport, tunnel, and freeway tolls.
The hotel
is an ugly-looking rectangular brick block, which explains why
Sheraton doesn't show a picture of its exterior at their Web site.
The hotel clerk assigns me a room, but another clerk reminds him
the room is being set up for an event. "You are staying two
nights with us, sir?" He gives me their Commander Suite as
compensation; the room, however, has peeling wallpaper, wobbly
lamp bases, a noisy air conditioner, and a leaky bathtub. What
is it about northeastern hotels always seeming slightly run-down,
I wonder.
I use my Palm to check my email. I find the best approach is to
connect twice: (1) collect headers only; then (2) select the messages
to download in full. A message from Laura Kozikowski enthuses:
"I had no idea that you were in Boston this week! If you
are checking email and have a few free moments while you are in
town, please give me a call because we would love to have you
come visit us at SolidWorks headquarters." The Revit event
doesn't start the next day until 4pm, so I reply with an affirmative.
Wednesday: 5 April
Contrary to the prediction of the 4-day forecast of rain, the
day is sunny, but bitter cold and windy. Laura calls, giving me
directions to the SolidWorks
office in Concord -- about a half-hour from Boston.
The taxi driver doesn't know where Concord is located. He gets
help from the bored dispatcher and another driver. Heading out
along Route 2, the trip gives me a tour of Cambridge, Arlington,
Lexington, Lincoln, Littleton, and Concord -- many of them historically
significant when the colonies revolted against Great Britain more
than 200 years ago. I am sure the barren rolling hills will be
much prettier once the leaves come out.
Given the flat-rate nature of the trip, the taxi-driver speeds
along Route 2 at 80 mph (130 kph). I put on my Walkman CD and
listen to Pat Metheny's "The Road to You."
The driver has no map. The more we drive through Concord, the
more he guesses. I convince him to stay on Route 2, just like
Laura had directed. Finally he pulls over at Arena Farms to ask
for directions. He comes back pleased: we're on the right track.
A turn on Route 62, then another onto Baker Avenue. I pay him;
no tip.
Laura introduces me to Joe Dunn, the enthusiastic field
technical manager. He and I had been exchanging emails regarding
the circumstances surrounding SolidWorks lawsuit against Alibre.
Joe drives home the point that SolidWorks' sales doubled in 1999,
now at 43,000 seats plus 53,000 education seats. The goal is 250,000
seats and being the leader in mechanical CAD. He considers no
other package equal to theirs, other than keeping an eye on Autodesk's
Inventor. Indeed, Joe tells me that he likes Inventor because
"it shows AutoCAD users that there is more to CAD than AutoCAD"
-- a theme that has been common in SolidWorks ads.
SolidWorks is sold only "indirect," meaning via 230
resellers around the world. Joe is emphatically proud that SolidWorks
does no direct sales, but I wonder how long that can continue
given the direct-sales model that the Internet encourages. SolidWorks
is scornful of the current Internet frenzy among other CAD vendors,
a point I agree with. SolidWorks has a Web site, the ability to
email drawings with an integrated viewer, and conduct Web broadcast
tutorials. Joe says they plan to release their eDrawings software
for AutoCAD drawing files.
Laura finds me some time with ceo John Hirschtick. I had
seen his picture, but wasn't prepared for him being more than
a head taller than me. John admits he hasn't subscribed to upFront.eZine,
but is constantly receiving bits emailed to him by others. I tell
him that I can see a natural fit between SolidWorks (mechanical)
and Revit (architectural). He says a link already exists: he is
an investor in Revit, and sits on the board of directors.
Laura, Joe, and I have lunch at a nearby Italian restaurant, then
I return to Cambridge. I have a couple of hours available to tour
the grounds of
Harvard University and the adjoining shops of Harvard Square.
Wandering around with my backpack, I must've looked like a student,
since I am stopped twice for directions. I am snapping so many
pictures with my Epson digital camera that I go through three
sets of batteries that afternoon. That's what I like about my
camera and its 64MB memory card: I can take so many more photos
than with a traditional camera. I end up taking 155 high-resolution
pictures on the trip.
Four o'clock and time for the Revit event
at the Aurthur M Sackler lecture hall. There are 125 invited attendees,
but very few media. From what I and others could see, there is
no one from CADalyst, Cadence, or Penton Publishing.
Revit ceo Dale
Lemont hosts the two-hour event, calling this "an
important moment in the history of CAD." The parametric architectural
software will be sold by monthly subscription. In stark contrast
to SolidWorks, Revit will have no resellers -- everything by the
Web. Nobody says it for sure, but I finally decide that Revit
is short for "revise it."
Dale refreshingly admits much is missing from Revit, and that
the following functions will be added over the next 24 months:
massing studies, stacking, canted walls, sloping structures, turn
on more AccuRender functions, multi-user enhancements, estimation
at all stages, product catalogs, schedules, architectural detailing,
Web collaboration, ASP capabilities, landscape, HVAC, plumbing,
and electrical.
The product will be available in early May; delivery has slipped
by two weeks. A new release is promised every 90 days in first
year -- "Tough on us book authors," I note wryly to
the Revit employee sitting near me.
The product launch is followed by dinner
in the courtyard of the Fogg Art Museum, located across the street.
The museum features a small but broad collection of art: religious,
African, modern, and classical. My wife would have enjoyed viewing
the paintings by van Gough, Monet, and Renoir.
Each of our nametags have a color. I find out that -- ironically
enough -- green indicates you had ordered beef, while red indicates
vegetarian; my color was yellow, for salmon.
On one side of me sits a representative from Atlas Ventures, who
asked me what I thought of Revit and the launch. How do you answer
a man who has sunk millions of dollars into this?
On the other side of sits Brad
Holtz (of CAD Rating Guide fame) and next to him,
Geoffrey Langdon (of architectural CAD shootout fame).
The thought underlying this whole event is "SolidWorks or
Numera?" Would Revit rocket into orbit, or burn out at the
launch pad? We reminisce over CAD ventures that have burned through
their money over the years. Brad declared himself the winner in
remembering the worst CAD launch ever: TriumphCAD spent all its
money on ads -- no product ever shipped.
We muse over Revit's business model. "How long does Revit
have before investors would want their money back?" The problem
with a monthly subscription model is that money trickles in more
slowly. Take 60 Revit employees earning an average of US$100,000/yr
each. Assume Revit nets $100/mo per subscription. That means they
need 5,000 subscriptions just to break even. "The question
is," summarizes Brad, "How long will it take to ramp
up to 5,000 subscriptions?" As I write this, I also wonder
about "subscription churn" where gains from new subscribers
are offset by losses from unsubscribers.
Just as we complete our analysis, an earnest young Revit employee
comes by our table to introduce himself. "I'm in charge of
developing the business model in conjunction with Harvard Business
School," he explains. The three of us roar with laughter:
"Funny you should mention that...". We give him our
analysis -- at no charge.
Futurewatch of the evening: MegaCADD, a DOS-based 3D modeler popular in the mid-1980s, is coming back next month under Windows.
Update on SolidWorks-Alibre lawsuit: The "Plaintiff's Original Petition" states that the lawsuit is over an employee, Thomas Kopinski, whom SolidWorks claims signed a "Non-disclosure, noncompetition and developments agreement" with SolidWorks on August 7, 1996. Kopinski recently went to work for Alibre and was allegedly reminded by SolidWorks that he had signed the agreement before he left. Alibre then allegedly started recruiting SolidWorks employees after Kopinski arrived at Alibre, which triggered the lawsuit.
Dessault
CATIA Version 5 Release 3 ready for Windows 2000
Haestad Methods
New versions of its software trilogy -- SewerCAD, StormCAD, and
WaterCAD -- are now available.
-- April 6 --
Chunghwa
Licenses AutoCAD Mechanical Power Pack
Solid
Edge Wins CADENCE Magazine Award
Unigraphics
Receives $1.7M from HR Textron for iMAN
-- April 7 --
Harris
Prototyping Tool Cuts Lockheed Martin Costs
Ricoh,
VisualEdge Market REPRO:fx II Controller
Penton's
IMET 2000 To Focus on Internet Technology
KUHN
Makes $2.2M PTC Order
PTC
Obtains $1M Order from SCP Global
Bechtel,
Webvan Streamline Project Using Cephren
-- April 10 --
Eagle
Point Develops New Website
