issue
#309
17 September 2002
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a l k i n g a b o u t c a d
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issue
#309
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Contents
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Why are Trade Shows Hostile to Students? Editorial by Terry Wohlers Why don't more design and manufacturing shows and exhibitions
put out the welcome mat for students? I understand clearly that
in the short term, they are not the buyers, but in a short few years,
they ARE the buyers. A 14-year old in 1990 is now a 26-year old
working for an organization that might be considering your products
and services. Another thought: I see a tremendous amount of energy and excitement
among those who are currently enrolled in school. Rarely does a
day go by that I don't receive an e-mail from a student. These young
people are probing deeply into how they might contribute or somehow
get involved in CAD, rapid prototyping, or a related area. We need
to harness this energy and put it to work for their benefit and
the benefit of the industry. Terry Wohlers is principle of Wohlers Associates <http://wohlersassociates.com>. - - - The editor replies: I don't understand it, either. The excitement of the show would
make today's media-oriented children consider CAD, CAM, GIS, CAE,
etc.
Readers React: Protection of Proprietary Programs Problematic Finally! I write an editorial everyone disagrees with. Here's what you had to say: "I NEVER write to discuss editorials, but this was the biggest
bunch of baloney I have read in a long while. "Are you saying that the fact that some people choose
to give some of their stuff away for free, sometimes, means
that everyone has to give everything away for free, all the time? The editor replies: Mr Helmick replies: "There are two problems [with trying to sell the SolidWorks
sourcecode to a competitor]. (1) Anything remotely based on stolen
source code would be legally tainted, and couldn't be sold in any
economically developed country. (2) And the process of reading and
understanding source code enough to maintain it is very difficult.
Unsubscribe: The Editor Scratches His Head
Upon occasion, readers unsubscribe, most often due to change of job or life status. Other reasons, however, have left me scratching my head: "unsubscribe upfront" "Thanks -- just not all that interested in CAD." "Although I like getting this newsletter, my company does not like employees getting email from outside sources." "It is through no fault of yours that it is not of benifit [sic] to me. If you write any AutoCAD (or other) manuals please let me knoe [sic]." "I have little interest in Autodesk products." "The reason we are not interesting." "I don't do CAD and I'm not interested in following it." "I am unsubscribing because I am going into the hospital for surgery and will not be able to get at my e-mail for awhile." "I work nights and am not in the office." "I am getting into an intense project and I am trying to simplify demands on my time." "Project, subject interest over." "Sorry but you [sic] Tueday [sic] e-zine is designed for people who have some say in how their company spends $. I have no say, and my company has very little money to spend." "I am an engineer and not a full time AutoCAD user, and not a decision maker in CAD related decisions." "Je ne suis plus intéréssé par le monde de la CAO DAO. Changement d'orientation professionnel." "it's more difficult because your e-magazine is not in a french language." "I'm unsubscribing because I don't know one end of CAD from the other."
below the radar A summary of CAD industry news you may not have read elsewhere, or that I find interesting: Archway has begun representing GMD's line of MicroStation utilities
that improve productivity and help enforce (badly needed) standards.
Functions include: file fixer, batch EDG, change files to conform
to standards, prepare files for translation. and more. A whole package
is available at US$1,500. Discreet is shipping Autodesk's first Linux-based software.
"burn" is the name of a background rendering program that
runs on a farm [collection] of computers running Red Hat Linux 7.2.
http://www.discreet.com [Linux has become popular in the computer
animation world, and so Autodesk is following suit.] Hibbitt, Karlsson & Sorensen says its ABAQUS v6.3 advanced finite element analysis software will ship in September. http://www.abaqus.com Cimmetry System's AutoVue will be integrated with Documentum 5. http://www.cimmetry.com Pro/ENGINEER and Pro/MECHANICA Student Editions are combined as a single title called "Pro/ENGINEER Student Edition Suite" (US$149.98), and reduced in price from US$399. http://www.ProEStudent.com [this URL was "temporarily down for a system upgrade" when I checked at Thursday noon.] X-keys Programmable keypads for CAD applications store key sequences and combinations. http://www.xkeys.com The AuditDWG auditing tool for AutoCAD 2002 drawings is now available as freeware from http://www.afitec.com [site is French and English intermingled]. The http://www.softcover.com site has been updated with free demo downloads of Scan2CAD (raster to vector converter), CAD2View (CAD drawing viewer, redliner, converter and print plot utility), Parts&Vendors (parts list manager and supplier database), Squiggle (drawing squiggler), Cutting Schedule (cutting optimization software) and Rhinoceros (NURBS 3D modeling software).
People/Companies on the Move TenLinks.com is reporting that Advanstar Communications laid off Art Liddle, the (now former) editor-in-chief at 'CADalyst' magazine. He joins a number of CAD journalists who have been recently let go, or are shopping around their resumes in anticipation of being let go from a variety of print and Web publications. IMSI appointed William Bush as chief financial officer. Mr Bush is the former director of business development for Buzzsaw.com and former corporate controller and finance manager for the AutoCAD product division at Autodesk. Computer News Summaries Version 9.1 of DirectX, Microsoft's program to lock gamers to its operating systems, is due to appear in Spring 2003. - The Inquirer Mozilla no longer is simply an open-source browser. It's a framework for cross-platform apps across the Web. OEone, for example, is software built on Mozilla that uses no menu bar <http://oeone.com/products/screenshots.html > - http://www.salon.com Microsoft has dropped plans to offer Office XP on a subscription license after trials in Australia, New Zealand and France showed customers found the model confusing. The company (again) blamed customers for the failure.
Market News Bricsnet has asked Nasdaq Europe for a three-month extension as it attempts to comply with the stock exchange's minimum financial criteria. If compliance is not regained by November 30, disciplinary proceedings with a view to delisting of the Company's financial instruments may be initiated and a trade halt may be imposed.
The WorthWhile Web http://www.3DCad.it http://research.microsoft.com/~mbj/Smiley/Joke_Thread.html
Letters to the Editor Re: CAD Data Standards Should Not be Free "Mr Roberts made a couple of incorrect assumptions. First, about successful implementations, I encourage the readers to review information available at [in PDF format]: http://www.iso.org
Without a standard that contains a high degree of semantics,
you may have situations like the scenarios discussed at http://www.eaijournal.com/PDF/AugustCoverStory.pdf
"I keep reading about all the problems with various standards.
Those may become minor problems when Microsoft puts their Palladium
system in place. This concept will do wonders for networking!! The editor replies: "Microsoft has kept secret some
of its APIs (the code that lets software programs interact with
the operating system). Until now, it used its unique knowledge of
APIs to allow its own applications to outperform those from competitors'
-- whether a word processor, a Web browser, or whatever. Keeping
the APIs secret is like keeping a printer's data connector secret,
so that it can't be hooked up to just any computer. "The other problem, however, is complacency. Most users are content with what Microsoft ships -- sort of like watching tv and eating at McDonalds -- and don't grok the concept of rebelling."
Re: Fed Up! "I have one word for Mr. Martyn Day: UNSUBSCRIBE! He sounds
like all those whiney people complaining about TV. They're too lazy
to turn off the tube, and do something constructive; they prefer
to watch and complain. Martyn Day replies: "I didn't subscribe in the first place, they just put me
on an email list. The editor replies: "We editors feel compelled to read as many ezines as our brains can handle, in order to keep up with industry news. Changing our email wouldn't work: how would our readers contact us?"
"Many thanks and keep up the excellent work." "Thanks for a wonderful newsletter!" "Thanks for the info -- most interesting."
Spin Doctor of the Moment "That is a violation of federal law that you guys knowingly
took those items on an airline."
Notable Quotable "Trustworthy Computing means never having to say you screwed
up."
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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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