issue
#308
10 September 2002
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a l k i n g a b o u t c a d
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#308
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Contents
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Readers Respond: CAD Data Standards Should Not be Free None of the upFront.eZine readership was interested in the SolidWorks sourcecode nearly getting out in the wild, but there was many a rebuttle to Jay Robert's editorial, CAD Data Standards Should Not be Free. - - - "'Let us all be grateful to God -- he made all necessary
things simple, and all complex things unnecessary,' wrote Grigory
Skovoroda, a 17th century Ukrainian philosopher.
"Mr. Roberts is out of touch with his ex-customers. It is
his type of reasoning that leads to CAD vendors who 'don't get it'.
They pay lip service to increased production for their users by
including collaboration and Internet features, thereby justifying
upgrade prices.
"Mr. Roberts makes a very good case in all, but I feel one
very key point was overlooked: that is the value of interoperability
weighed against the value of propriety lock-in.
"Some movies are good, and some are bad. Same goes for open
standards: some are good (ASCII, OpenGL, C, Unix, etc) and some
are bad. What do a couple of examples prove?
Protection of Proprietary Programs Problematic In his CADwire commentary on "SolidWorks Code Theft Thwarted", Joel Orr wrote, "Stealing and selling SolidWorks' source code is unquestionably wrong." <http://www.cadwire.net/commentary/?20904 > Dear Joel: I'd like to question it. The problem with software theft is that it is defined by the copyright holder, contrary to the spin generated by the BSA, RIAA, and others. Copyright holders distribute their software either as freeware (copy freely, with no payment expected), shareware (copy freely, and pay if you find it useful), demo (copy freely, but with inherent limitations), and software (pay first, then see if it works for you, with no return privileges at most retail stores). And then there are the software companies (like Microsoft and Autodesk) who have a department actively chasing software "pirates," but then confuse their message by giving away thousands of copies of their software. One head says, "Pay for our software," while the other head says, "Use our [same] software free." Case in point: Autodesk's recent give-away of 10,000 licenses of Inventor Series and Architectural Desktop software (worth, the company says, US$51 million) to schools in China, of which the BSA (Autodesk is a member) says has a piracy rate of of 92%. If Dassault Systems changed the license terms for SolidWorks, then suddenly last month's FTP download would no longer be a crime, but a statistic of the software's popularity. I could point to the success of Linux, Apache, Mozilla, and other free software packages -- indeed, upFront.eZine is distributed as shareware. But these depend on the hobbyist-like enthusiasm of unpaid volunteers. And not all open software has been successful; you don't tend to hear about the failures. No open-source CAD product has a large following. Nevertheless, let me throw you the words of Larry Wall, inventor of the Perl programming language, who says that software programmers today are still stuck in the Age of Modernity <http://www.wall.org/~larry/pm.html> and suffer from cult-like thinking. The Cult of Seriousness decrees that you have to keep your source code hidden, because other people might laugh at how bad your code is, and make you fix it. Or worse, Mr Wall says, someone might steal your bad code and make it better. Then you would be out of business, and Life is Serious Business. Why did SolidWorks give a copy of their sourcecode to GSSL? To find bugs in the code, and make it better.
Fed Up! Co-Editorial Discussion by Martyn Day and Rachael Dalton-Taggart One morning, a couple of weeks ago, the email systems between London, Colorado, and Britsh Columbia buzzed with a flurry of messages that originated with Subject: Fed Up. The British print editor, the American pr person, and the Canadian ezine editor keystroked each other for a hour or more. upFront.eZine received permission to reprint the exchange, provided all insults were retained. The transcript was edited for brevity and family values:
Martyn Day wrote: I'm fed up with all these new bloody CADzines! I blame you, Ralph. This last month it's just got plain silly, there's now upFront (the original), TenLinks Daily, Cadwire daily, CADdepot, PLM news, AEC cafe, Pro/E Digital Digest, CAD Spaghetti, CATIA Digital Digest, AEC Tech News, MCAD Tech News, CAD Manager's Newsletter, and there's a SolidWorks one, but I forget the name. And I think I get sent others. There surely isn't enough advertising to cover this lot, and even if there was, does our industry generate enough content to make these add any value? Well, at least the CAD software developers can feel loved; their marketing gets a good airing, I guess. If a CAD manager read all the ezines sent to him, I don't think he'd have any time left to do any work, or see his family.
Rachael Dalton-Taggart replies: You're just a miserable old loser, Mart! Other than some new ezines, the rest of the ezines are all old. Plus every CAD magazine (except yours) has an online/ezine news system. Something to remember, Martyn, is that I recommend to all my clients to start with online/ezine advertising. Well, not that they have taken my advice yet, but I am steering them away from print advertising as a big waste of money. As far as I can see it, there is only one guy doing solely print-based editorial -- and he's being a grouch. Get with it, Martyn! Quit complaining at Roopinder and Ralph just because they are seeing some success, and instead start making your own online properties work for you.
Martyn Day replies: Define success. In the USA, I guess that's $$$. I don't define the success of my job in a dollar value, that's why I am not in sales, and that's why I'm not unfortunately a rich capitalist pig with a nice house, Porsche, yacht, and Bahamas hideaway. I think there are too many individuals chasing too little advertising and willing to lose too many scruples in the process. People advertise in upFront because what Ralph says is totally down to his view; he obviously isn't swayed by large amounts of cash <g>. Similarly people advertise on Tenlinks because it's a major point for filtered and partly filtered data. Yes, I am paper-based (in the main) Rach, some say that's an advantage, maybe it's not; however, I don't care. I write because I feel the need to explore/ understand/ explain what's going on. Most of these ezines are there to spread silage. Where's the added value? Where's the editorial? And if there is editorial, how independent is it? Who's paying for all this? FACT: There are, all of a sudden, too many ezines. FACT: There's too much unfiltered repetition. FACT: There's too much crud marketing. The explosion of ezines has little to do with "exciting times in the CAD market" and more to do with the fact that a daily or weekly email newsletter is cheap to produce, and provides more possible hits for attracting advertising -- they can almost be produced bespoke. Some marketeers may be flattered that their message gets relayed by so many sources, but the fact will remain: if it's not analyzed or discussed by those who care, the marketing message is 'brown bread' (Cockney slang for dead).
Rachael Dalton-Taggart replies: Ooooh! I think I nearly offended the Mart man. That's achievement! I honestly feel there are too many CAD publications out there in total -- print, online, ezine, whatever. I felt that the recession had to wipe out many of them, but it didn't. All it has done so far is cast out a number of very good editors on their own. Responses to ads are better through online/ezine than print, partly because they are more easily tracked. The day the ad comes out in an ezine, the advertiser usually sees a jump in activity/calls etc. With print ads that's much more difficult to track and tends to become a long-term branding exercise rather than a point-sales exercise. But, market differentiation is critical. Give it another two years and there will be just a couple of print magazines in the whole industry. This means by holding in there, focusing on print-based publications, Martyn, you could have a huge market differentiator in the next year or two that will make a critical difference. Market forces will dictate that the publications that provide the real information, sorted, filtered, explained, and so on, will be the winners. There is only just so much room for 'press release servers.' Branding, market position, 'first in' recognition (which Roopinder has achieved so well at) are key to survival. There's only a finite amount of space for all these, and it's survival of the fittest.
Martyn Day is group editor of 'MCAD' and 'AEC' [print] magazines <http://www.cadserver.co.uk>. Rachael Dalton-Taggart is principle of Strategic Reach public relations <http://www.strategicreachpr.com>.
below the radar A summary of CAD industry news you may not have read elsewhere, or that I find interesting: 'Design News Online' <http://www.manufacturing.net/dn/index.asp> reports that Intergraph has been granted a patent for a CAD-neutral API [application programming interface]. "The invention includes building a library of generic CAD functions, each for directing a graphical manipulation process. The invention interprets received function calls and translates the call to a generic function call for invoking a generic CAD function. A processor then executes the generic CAD function, irrespective of the platform used to call the function." [I think this refers to the ability of Intergraph's software to run with a single user interface in a variety of CAD packages, such as AutoCAD and MicroStation.] VX Corporation's free trial program of its VX CAD/CAM software lets you check out its "true in-context hybrid modeling, Class A surfacing, assembly modeling, and mold design." Download apparently from http://www.vx.com [although I failed to find the download link.] Earlier, I noted that IMSI would soon be shipping TurboCADCAM, its first vertical application based on TurboCAD <http://www.turbocad.com/ >. The price will be US$995, but, the press release adds, "Please contact IMSI at 800.833.4674 for details and information about special introductory pricing." [I am disappointed: there goes IMSI again underpricing its products. Earlier in the year, they had told me the verticals would be priced at $1,995. Selling CAD software for cheap just doesn't work!] Gibbs and Associates has licensed PTC's Granite to help its GibbsCAM software be better at translation. http://www.GibbsCAM.com [I wonder how much PTC makes from Granite licenses? PTC's market valuation has fallen to below that of Intergraph's, and is cheap enough for Autodesk to buy 51% in cash, and still have $100 million left in the bank.] You can view 1,100 images from the Pasadena & Foothill Chapter AIA Biennial Design Awards 2002 competition at http://www.webscape.com/AIAawards2002/ . QuickTime plugin is needed to view panoromas only. CAD vendors no longer speak of bugs, but of "issues." Robert McNeel & Associates has a new term for beta: "work-in-progress," as in "Rhino 3.0 Work-in-Progress Release 5 (WIP5) is now available. There are hundreds of bug fixes and tune-ups since WIP4." You can find out more about Rhino 3 from http://www2.rhino3d.com/wip/ XL2CAD overcomes problems associated with OLE placement of spreadsheets by drawing them in AutoCAD R14/2000/i/2/LT, IntelliCAD 2001, TurboCAD v8, and General CADD using native geometry. Details at http://www.dotsoft.com [OLE: such promise; such failure. Did you know IBM first invented it for OS/2?] The HP Designjet 5500 offers direct file submission via the Web in seven file formats without the need for a driver or the application. HP says its new plotter is up to twice as fast as its predecessor, the 5000. Pricing starts at CDN$17,151. http://www.hp.ca A number of readers may remember Bob Godgart as the inventor of CAD Overlay (now an Autodesk product) back in the late 80s. Mr Godgart is now ceo of Autotask, a company that has come out with software for managing projects. Autotask Inside for AutoCAD is described as "the first integrated product to manage people, process, time & cost for design centric organizations using AutoCAD." Autotask is currently a Web-hosted service with monthly fees, and by year-end will be available for installation behind the firewall. http://www.Autotask.com
seminars and conferences Bentley UK FORUM: October 2-3 in Bristol, England at the Marriott Hotel City Centre. http://www.bentleysystems.co.uk/Agenda.doc Computers for Construction 2002: October 22-24, Dallas Convention Center, Dallas TX USA. http://www.computersforconstruction.com Product Lifecycle Management Road Map 2002: October 29-30, Dearborn MI USA. http://www.dhbrown.com/events/plm2002.cfm Worldwide Advances in Rapid and High-Performance Tooling: December 6 in Frankfurt, Germany. http://www.euromold.com
People/Companies on the Move Elysium is partnering with CAMTEX.GmbH to provide consulting and software solutions across Germany. Advanstar Communications has moved 'Cadalyst' magazine to a new publications group called Manufacturing Group, along with 'Sensors' and 'Frontline Solutions' magazines. Cadalyst's editors will be lead by group editorial director Barbara Goode, previously the editor-in-chief of 'Sensors' magazine. TenLinks.com says that it had more than one million page-views in August, along with 150,000 unique visitors. Gideon Informatics will promote and support Haestad Methods' water resources software and services in the India subcontinent. http://www.gideoninformatics.com IDELIX Software added Morgan Sturdy to its board of directors. Synaps has promoted Dr. David Kokan to the position of vp of engineering and David Vaughn, contributor to the position of vp of product management. Merrill Lynch estimates that PTC sold ICEM for approximately US$15 million.
Computer News Summaries Starting October 1, hard drive vendor Maxtor is reducing the warranties on all its products from three years to one. A class action suit against Microsoft is going ahead in Florida. All Florida residents who bought computers with Windows or Office can claim they were hurt by Microsoft's monopolistic practices by having to pay higher prices and being prevented from using alternative software. - The Inquirer Duke University's law school has received an anonymous US$1 million gift to fund advocacy and research aimed at curtailing the recent expansion of US copyright law. - CNET The FCC [American federal communications commission] continues to mandate broadcasters to meet a 2006 deadline to turn off analog TV signals. Once broadcasters switch to digital, they will be forced to give up 108MHz of radio spectrum, which will be used for emergency services, two-way radios, and mobile-phone companies. - Wharton School China is spending US$2.5 billion over five years on R&D of CPUs, network software, operating systems, databases, Internet applications, and more. - Market Watch China A Gartner report estimates that over the next five years, Linux OS marketshare will increase from 6% to 18%, and that Microsoft's OS marketshare will increase from 32% to 33%. - http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate Microsoft on Monday issued the first service pack for Windows XP, but the update may not appear on some new PCs, such as Sony's, until next year because: XP was launched with few major bugs; an automatic update feature keeps users current with new fixes <http://support.microsoft.com>; and many businesses still favor Windows 2000 over XP. Market researcher Gartner estimates that computers with Windows 2000 will account for 41% of new PCs sold to businesses this year, compared with about 16% with XP. - CNET
The WorthWhile Web http://www.rex6000.org/
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=5283
http://www.visibleearth.nasa.gov/
http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/
Letters to the Editor Re: Looking for Employment "I found myself in the same position in 1984 during one
of the worst recessions Florida ever saw. I went through the phonebook
checking off every company that had any possibility of needing even
temporary drafting, and visited them until I brought home work.
Every day I went out, I brought home a week's worth, until one of
them asked me to bring in my equipment and work freelance in their
office. That lasted several years. - - - Re: Is Our Children Learning? "<tongue-in-cheek mode=on> I find the emphasis on
reading in the elementary schools an incredible waste of time. Reading
is a very large use of time; it is implemented in inefficient and
disorganized ways; and is seen by many (especially by those who
manage the libraries) as the tool that will solve all problems in
the classroom. <tongue-in-cheek mode=off>
"Your material about use of computers in education has been
a source of great interest to my wife and her associates in education.
It corresponds with her views (and mine) and those of many of her
peers, but clearly not of all those in control of curriculum.
Re: The Editor's 46th Birthday Each week just like clockwork -- Keeping CAD vendors honest, This unfailing rhythm But this tiny thing - Joel Orr
Spin Doctor of the Moment "Most Canadians Oppose Helping U.S. Hit Iraq - Poll." "Canadians Back Bush on Iraq, Poll Says."
Notable Quotable "Part of what caused quality in automobiles and electronics
to change is when buyers began choosing Japanese products rather
than American and European ones. We haven't seen that happen with
software."
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q Return to www.upfrontezine.com. Entire contents copyright ©2002 by upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd. All rights reserved worldwide. Article reprint fee $500. All trademarks belong to their respective holders. "upFront.eZine," "Talking About CAD," and "On your desktop every Tuesday morning" are trademarks of upFront.eZinePublishing, Ltd. Letters to the editor may be reproduced in an edited form for clarity and brevity. Opinions expressed in letters are not necessarily shared by upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd. |
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