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Inside this Issue
CAD vendors are going to be pushing collaboration on us this year. There's
PTC adding Groove's peer-to-peer technology to the next release of Pro/ENGINEER
and Windchill ProductView. Autodesk says all their new profits this year will
come from collaboration. SolidWorks has e-this and Web-enabled that.
This
is supposed to be new? Yup, this collaboration stuff's purpose is to entice
users to upgrade, cross-grade, spend on extra services, or just plain purchase
new.
It was just a year ago
that we editors were replacing "collaboration" with "the C-word"
because we were getting sick of reading about it endlessly in press releases.
What are users supposed to benefit from "it"? Here's PTC's list, which
is doubtless similar to everyone else's collaboration offering, and my comments:
Is this a case of technology for the sake of technology? Not a lot of this
helps the drafters get their work done. OTOH, I suppose it can sit on the hard
drive, unused, until needed -- sort of like NetMeeting.
Seriously,
though, just how collaborative do the CAD vendors want to get? I am going to
guess that just inside their comfort zone. There isn't going to be collaboration
with CAD software from competitors.
The following books are available now, or later this year. Click the URL for more information or to purchse. Some books carry a discount off their list price.
Architectural
Engineering Design: Mechanical Systems (US$99.95)
by Robert
Brown Butler
Published by McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0071385460
Architectural
Engineering Design: Structural Systems (US$99.95)
by Robert Brown
Butler
Published by McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0071370374
Shape
Interrogation for Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing (US$44.95)
by
Takashi Maekawa and N. Patrikalakis
Published by Springer Verlag
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/3540424547
Tutorial
Guide to Pro/ENGINEER 2000 i2 (US$52.00)
by Shawna Lockhart
Published
by Prentice Hall
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0130405973
CAD
Design and Visualisation for the Theatre (US$37.99)
by Christine
White, Gavin Carver
Published by Butterworth-Heinemann
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0240516176
3D
Autocad 2002: One Step at a Time (US$unk)
by Timothy Sean
Sykes
Published by Prentice Hall
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0130081566
Learn
AutoCAD LT 2000i Tips and Tricks (US$39.95)
by James Padgett
Published by Wordware Publishing
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1556228244
Instant
AutoCAD: Essentials Using AutoCAD 2002 (US$40.00)
by Stephen
and Christine A. Ethier
Published by Prentice Hall
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/013094324X
In a report on last week's Autodesk Investor's Day, Jay Vleeschhouwer of Merrill Lynch comments, "We expect the next Inventor release in the next few months, and the next AutoCAD 'aggregation' release is about a year away, plus 'extensions' in the interim for subscribers." <http://www.cadwire.net/commentary/?17212>
Martyn Day reports from England: "A UK dealer set up a new company to sell Revit, on the condition that they get exclusive rights for three years. I understand that this may well stand even after the takeover. Autodesk UK is said to be livid."
Is Autodesk grooming Carl Bass for the position of ceo? The current ceo, Carol Bartz, may step down once Autodesk achieves her goal of US$1 billion in annual sales -- a goal that has been frustrated in previous years, but may finally happen in FY 2003.
CADopolis boasts 60 AutoCAD add-ons at 10% off list price, 150 shareware titles, and 900 Web links. http://www.cadopolis.com
The Visio 2002 IFC Model Exchange add-in works with Visio Professional
Building Engineering drawings for importing, authoring, editing, and exporting
of IFC and IFC-XML compliant files. http://download.microsoft.com/download/Visio10Professional/ifc/2002/W98NT42KMeXP/EN-US/ifc.exe
Visio
2002 Service Release 1 adds Microsoft SharePointT Portal Server integration,
Hebrew composition support, ClearType control, and several security fixes.
Visio
2002 SR1 Professional: http://office.microsoft.com/downloads/2002/v10r1pen.aspx
Visio 2002 SR1 Standard: http://office.microsoft.com/downloads/2002/v10r1sen.aspx
GTX released its GTXRaster CAD Series v7 for raster editing in AutoCAD 2002. Price not mentioned. http://www.gtx.com
IDEAL's Scan-to-Network Solution scans and automatically extracts title block information from scanned drawings to an archiving database such as Access. http://www.IDEAL.com
RealityWave now has exporters for Pro/Engineer, VIZ, and 3ds max that save designs in XGL format (combines XML with OpenGL). http://www.realitywave.com/form.asp
Former NYC major Rudolph Giuliani delivers the keynote address at the 2002 Bentley International User Conference, May 20, at the Atlantic City Convention Center. http://www2.bentley.com/biuc/default.cfm
The annual INTERGEO show for geodesy and geo information takes place Oct 16 - 18, 2002 in Frankfurt on the fairground. http://www.hinte-messe.de
People/Companies on the Move
Joe Croser <joe@croser.net>
a director with Adrem-DCX in London has set up CroserConsulting, specializing
in CAD consultancy for the AEC industry.
John Leavy <john@leavyconsulting.com> has shut down Leavy Consulting, his MicroStation consulting firm, and re-started it as Web site consulting firm. Writes John, "I think it's my true calling."
CADwire.net will deliver daily CAD news, analysis, articles and information to RAND's ENGINEERING.com Web site.
The cadgurus.com Web site, run by Ramsey Systems, will start serving daily content -- free MicroStation tips, quotes, and articles on various CAD-related topics -- this week.
Actify made Mike Walsh its new president and ceo. Mr Walsh was previously corporate vp at Navigation Technologies.
Computer News Summaries
With v8, AOL will change its browser from IE to Mozilla (nee Netscape). The 33 million new Netscape users will have an impact on those Web sites favoring IE only.
Users of Hewlett Packard's and Compaq Computer's products and services are against the proposed merger, according to a survey released by Merrill Lynch. - CNET
Creative (aka Sound Blaster) is taking over graphics chip designer 3Dlabs (high-end Wildcat and midrange Oxygen boards) for US$103.7 million.
The new NR-70 "PalmPilot" from Sony has a clamshell design: http://www.sony.co.jp/sd/products/Consumer/PEG/PEG-NR70V/index.html
Extracts from Jim Allchin's deposition on WinXP's componentization: http://www.theregus.com/content/4/24279.html
Market News
Intergraph has an Amended Rights Plan to protect against coercive takeover tactics. Intel is not mentioned ("The Company is not aware of any present effort to acquire control of the Company"), but I've noted in the past that it would be cheaper for Intel to acquire Intergraph than pay fines and royalties on Intergraph's Clipper CPU technology -- as is currently being disputed in the courts.
The WorthWhile Web
http://www.humanclock.com
The
Human Clock
Once in a rare while, a unique Web site idea comes along...
Letters to the Editor
Re: Revit
"I went with Revit's AutoCAD challenge because I was unhappy with Autodesk's
poor attitude to small customers, like myself. Revit went far beyond what was
necessary to help me when I encountered some difficulties.
"Large
companies, like Autodesk, aim at stock performance; small companies with new
products, like Revit, aim at getting noticed. They work hard to win your loyalty.
"Yesterday, I received
a newsletter from Revit painting a beautiful picture of this business deal.
They mention that this proves how important Revit's software is. While this
may vindicate their ideas, it scares me to think that I have invested in this
system because of their excellent service, and I know this will be changing.
Does anyone really believe that Autodesk will honor my subscription with Revit?"
-
Richard C. MacCrea
Mountain
House Plans
The editor replies: "I am sure that Autodesk will honor the Revit subscription plan, because Autodesk itself wants all customers on subscription. The service you have received may not, however, be at the same level in the future."
"In reference to the correction from Revit employee, Revit Technology
WAS their name; their product will be ADT4i. David WAS the CEO's name."
- Brian Grishaber
"Good observation on Autodesk and Revit. Regarding PlanetCAD, I believe
Prime Computer's acquisition of Computervision was a hostile takeover."
-
David Weisberg
Technology
Automation Services
Re: Inventor and EDS
"SolidWorks already fully supports direct Solid Edge, ACIS, Inventor,
and ParaSolid file formats. Could this be an indication of some of the pitfalls
of [Autodesk] going it alone with a proprietary architecture, such as ShapeManager?
"If they had utilized
ACIS, instead of writing their own kernel, wouldn't they have been able to leverage
of all the new files formats you mentioned Spatial has just added? They would
have been able to do this without having to divert their limited resources from
other vitally-needed enhancements to Inventor?"
-
Joe Dunne
SolidWorks
The editor replies: "Autodesk has indeed cut themselves off from ACIS. In a couple of years we'll see if ShapeManger was a smart competitive move, like Inventor, or an unsuccessful competitive move, like Actrix."
Re: Visio
"Unbelievable that you should quote a Visio-referenced
article from the 'Sun' newspaper. As a Brit I can assure you that the
'Sun' is THE WORST RED BANNER TABLOID in the world. Anything and everything
written in this paper is absolute C**P, either stings, scams, or sex-related,
and not forgetting the page 3 girls."
- Kevin
Knowles
The editor replies: "I know of the Sun's reputation, which is why I was surprised that Microsoft arranged to have their products appear as a part of this newspaper's advitorial placement (ads that pass for editorial)."
Re: Olympics
"Congratulations Canada and congratulations USA.
A fine effort at Salt Lake City. But what about those Aussies. A supreme effort
in achieving a 100% gold medal count. OnYa Aussies!"
-
Peter Alford
Hyder Consulting
Australia
"Congrats on the big Olympic win! Our friends from Canada are visiting
next week, and couldn't resist calling yesterday to express their joy."
-
Amal Abed
Spin Doctor of the Moment
"Centor's XML-powered business insight solutions unlock new, incremental
profitability and efficiencies by rapidly discovering and analyzing performance
measurements previously hidden in underutilized and inaccessible information."
-
WWW.CENTOR.COM
(Writing clearly would be better. Thanks to Kevin Biersdorff for finding that 'word blender.')
"The Internet...has managed to get people -- especially kids -- reading
and writing again."
-
Bruce Grierson
The Vancouver
Sun