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Issue #258: 17 July, 2001

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Inside this Issue

• M&A
• OLMC
• Readers Respond: Does CAD Degrade Drawing Quality?
• Below the Radar, and other regular departments

Eagle Point Software will merge with Talon Acquisition, a newly-formed wholly-owned subsidiary of JB Acquisitions, which in turn was formed by Eagle Point director and former executive officer John Biver.
In addition, Digital Canal (formed by former Eagle Point ceo Rod Blum) will purchase Eagle Point's Building Design and Construction Division and its Structural Division for US$1.1 million in cash.
Each share of Eagle Point's common stock will be converted to US$6.40 cash -- a $0.70 premium over today's closing price of $5.70. Following the merger, Talon will cease and Eagle Point will continue as the surviving corporation.

Autodesk was Buzzsaw.com's largest shareholder, and last week signed an agreement to acquire 100% of Buzzsaw. By the end of August, Autodesk hopes to complete the acquisition of the 60% it doesn't already own. That 60% was at one time worth US$54 million; Autodesk is buying it for just US$15 million. Autodesk previously invested US$22.5 million in the company.
The move is a reversal from one or two months ago, when Buzzsaw said it was not looking for a buyer. Instead, it was looking for $10 million to keep it going, and was hoping to be profitable by year's end.
Buzzsaw says the change in ownership will not affect its customers' day-to-day business with ProjectPoint, Construction Manager, Plans, Apprentice, and Océ Repro Desk. In addition, Buzzsaw plans to "aggressively continue to increase our integration with Autodesk's [software]." Buzzsaw and several other Autodesk-related Web sites are already found in AutoCAD 2002's file dialog boxes, so what does "increase our integration" mean? Possible AutoCAD shipping with a ProjectPoint pull-down menu.

The c-word (collaboration) is dreaded by online editors such as myself, so I came up with OLMC, short for "on-line mechanical collaboration."
Last week, Autodesk launched its Web-based Streamline service for nearly US$1,000/user per year. It lets you view and markup 2D plan and 3D models from Autodesk's line of mechanical software. Autodesk says it plans to add support for software from other vendors. That could be stymied because...

...this week, PTC announced it is testing Pro/COLLABORATE [darn, they put the C-word in the product name] The spec list for the service sounds just like Streamline, with one important difference: it's free for maintenance-paying Pro/E users. The catch, however, appears that you may need to also purchase WindChill.
Currently in beta at http://www.procollaborate.com , Pro/C-word will launch officially in August.

"I know many people who use CAD and are of the mentality that 'CAD can't be wrong.' I also know many users who do not know the fine points of their CAD system, and unknowingly create bad drawings and bad parts.
"Having been an instructor of five different CAD systems, I blame the CAD instructors for not passing on the little-known fine points of how to properly create drawings and parts."
- Ken Dellenbach

"The problem is at the Technical schools, and Community Colleges which should teach the fundamentals before venturing into CAD."
- Rocco Lanzetti

"I disagree with Mr. Ainsworth's comment that CAD alone isn't a factor in the quality of drawing output. For years, software has tied our hands with limited features that we _had_ to work around or simply live with.
"I have worked with over a dozen CAD/CAM products. and all have limitations that defy most 101-level drafting courses. Even today, they have limitations. What do you do when the software cannot follow the rules of your industry's historical
practices? You can't easily drop one product for another after years of investment and training. It's worse if you work in an industry that gets little attention from the vendors (e.g. shipbuilding).
"We're hostage to the software industry; the only tangible differentiation is provided by the willingness (real, not fluff) of vendors to listen to user needs and respond to them properly. All too often though, the vendor's marketing folks overpower the technical folks and the results suffer. All in the name of revenue and stock prices."
- David Stein
SAIC-AMSEC LLC

"There may be benefits to using CAD (I'm not yet convinced). But improved productivity isn't one of them. The US Army Corps of Engineers funded research to determine why spending 100s of millions of dollars over many years didn't boost productivity. The results of the research are intigruing. Here's a link:

"Exploring the Unrealized Potential of Computer-Aided Drafting"
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/suresh/www/chi-96/chi-96.html

"Between declining quality and flat productivity, one wonders why we use CAD at all. One explanation may be that our ambitions are ever greater. Consider spreadsheets. Studies show that choosing Excel over manual calculation doesn't result in more spreadsheets, but Excel does enable superior analysis.
"This quirk may be true with CAD. So while 2D CAD was a bust (return on investment), designing to satisfy today's expectations without tools like Rhino, SolidWorks, and 3DStudio/MAX is nearly unimaginable."
- Jason Osgood

Cyco Software has shut down its development in the enterprise EDM market. The company has reorganised itself, and laid off staff. Cyco will emphasize development of its Cyco AutoManager WorkFlow and AutoManager Meridian products.

think3's thinkdesign is being used as a basis for the development of Dassault Aviation's proprietary AMADEUS design system, a pre-processor of aircraft shapes.

New Software Releases

Upperspace has released DesignCAD 3D Max (US$300; combines 2D drafting and design with 3D solid modeling), DesignCAD 3D Max Office (includes more symols), and DesignCAD Express v12 (US$100; 2D-only).

Cyco Software announced AutoManager WorkFlow v6.3, which supports AutoCAD 2002 and its standards manager, associative dimensioning, block management tools, and layer-tools. http://www.cyco.com

After announcing job cuts totaling 8,300, Compaq announced it will no longer attempt to regain its #1 position from Dell.

Psion has given up on the development of new handheld computers.

Western Digital will ship its 100GB Caviar 7200rpm hard drive (US$299) next month.

Nemetschek North America is supporting the Professional Learning Series tour Columbia, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, Providence, Seattle, and Houston. Complete schedule available at http://www.nemetschek.net/pls

The editor replies: "The Theorem Web site emphasizes its STEP and PDES translators."

"upfront.eZine #257 made incorrect statements about the new Autodesk store for third-party applications <http://www.autodesk.com/partnerproducts>. The commission is 30% for products under US$1,000, and 20% for more expensive products. The information about products is provided by the participating companies, and can be updated any time they choose. The contract is less than 5 pages, plus a couple of small exhibits. Digital River can also stock and ship physical product."
- Guido Haarmans
Autodesk Inc.

The editor replies: "OTOH, 13% is a lot less than 30%, especially for small developers."

Will Polaroid soon go under? The company is close to bankruptcy, and is exploring a merger or sale. Last week, it won a reprieve from lenders good through Oct. 12 on an expiring US$363 million line of credit. The company says it will miss payments to bond holders next month. - AP

The editor replies: "Sounds like an anti-productivity measure to me. I know what you mean about not wanting to upgrade mid-project. Let's see if Autodesk treasures the customer more than its policies."

Re: Whatever God Didn't Build, Autodesk Did
"Whoa!! Unholy alliance indeed!
"Not in major plant design, Autodesk didn't. Just to educate the majority of AutoCAD-only users, this is the domain of PDS, PDMS, and Bentley. What proportion of BIG (3D) projects in petrochemical, mining, and high-end civil have been accomplished in AutoCAD/Autoplant? If unsure, Autodesk, please ask your Celestial Partner: He might answer "'Devilishly little'."
- Gordon Dolan
Australia

The editor replies: "This comment by Autodesk, which they have used in North America as well, seems to forget about automobiles, airplanes, and even most buildings."

"Congratulations for your great job and information that you gave us."
- Raul Gonzalez

"I appreciate the great work and effort you put into each upFront.eZine. This is one single newsletter I relish reading each week. Your timing is great too, Tuesday morning seems an excellent idea!"
- Sabir Ahmed

"I find your content a refreshing source of CAD news. Every time I read it, I learn of important industry developments not covered elsewhere."
- Blake Courter

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