November
18, 2003
Issue
#363
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18, 2003 < Previous Issue Next >
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O N T E N T S - - - RAND
Share Price Falls 50% - - - - - - Below
the Radar - - - Donate Write - - - (ADVERTISMENT) Updated and Expanded for AutoCAD 2004! Tailoring AutoCAD 2004 is the first book for AutoCAD 2004. Download as a 204-page e-book in PDF format (US$24.95) or on CD ($29.95). Covers all areas of customization, from changing the user interface to writing toolbar macros and LISP routines. Click here to sample preview pages and place your order.
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LT Extenders Respond After Autodesk launched its lawsuit against Torsten Moses of TM-CAD Engineering <www.lt-extender.de>, other vendors of LT products issued formal statements, because developers using software from Drcauto and Manusoft worry Autodesk will target them next. Says Manusoft: "As our legal systems struggle to keep up with technological advances, often new laws are enacted and old laws are interpreted in new ways. This dynamic frequently results in legal disputes whose outcomes cannot be predicted with any certainty, and whose legal costs far outweigh the damages being disputed. This results in a degree of fear, uncertainty, and doubt in the marketplace." Says Drcauto: "There is nothing in the ADN [Autodesk developer network] agreement that takes precedence over the current law of the land, which includes anti-competitive behavior." In particular, Drcauto objects to Autodesk's statement '...to protect and safeguard customers from risks with unauthorized and unsupported use of AutoCAD LT by third-party developers...,' saying it "sounds like it is from the marketing department. It bears no relationship to the case or the truth." It's an interesting problem: if Autodesk wants to protect its customers from third-party developers who are not authorized, does this mean Autodesk is liable when customers have problems with software created by developers who are authorized? Drcauto says its product is safe from Autodesk's lawyers: "Our latest LISP interpreter has been written from the ground up, having close to 20 years experience in this field." Recall that Autodesk based its own AutoLISP interpreter on XLISP, written by David Betz. Despite the law suit, TM-CAD Engineering says it continues work on its software. Another, unnamed company has stopped shipping its LT extension software after being contacted by Autodesk. In unrelated news, PenDean ships its updated v4 of AutoCAD LT 2004 add-ons: DMENU for Architectural (US$95), DeanLT Drafting tools (US$85), and DSYMS Architectural Symbols library (US$65). Details at www.pendean.com/lt/index.htm RAND Share Price Falls 50%; RAND Worldwide is working hard to eliminate the danger of running out by cash by January. (RAND is a mega CAD reseller based in Canada, employing 800 people in 80 centers around the world.) On the news, its share price fell nearly 50% to an all-time low of 30 cents. (Back in 1998, the price reached $30.) The startling announcement follows a Q3 net loss of CDN$10.2 million, which comes on top of a string of money-losing quarters. The company intends to recover by cutting expenses and selling off portions of itself. Last May, it sold a German subsiduary, and now is in the midst of selling another unnamed division. RAND is pursuing a US$100-million lawsuit against PTC. Due to the slow court process, that money wouldn't become available for a couple of years -- assuming a successful outcome. - - - IMSI In contrast to RAND, International Microcomputer Software feels pretty upbeat these days, even though it also continues to lose money. Following the sale of its clipart division, ArtToday.com, IMSI is "repositioning" itself as an on-line subscriptions-based CAD company. It would not comment on the failed acquisition of CADKEY, except to say that IMSI did not want to beat Kubotek's price. Another similar-sized acquisition is to be announced soon. IMSI is making lots of small acquisitions:
Q1 revenues declined 15% to US$1.7 million, and the net loss more than doubled to $0.4 million. IMSI hopes to be profitable in a year's time by:
Indeed, IMSI scoffs at Autodesk, PTC, and Dassault for their outdated distribution models. Expect TurboCAD v9.5 in December, featuring an update to the ACIS kernel. Putting together the two announcements, could IMSI be buying RAND's Engineering.com Web site? The site calls itself "The engineer's ultimate resource tool." IMSI is interested in CAD-related Web properties, and the price is right: CDN$3.8 million = US$3.0 million, which is close to the amount IMSI was prepared to pay for CADKEY. DWF vs. PDF vs. Contender #3 Geometric Software Solutions is helping SolidWorks extend its eDrawings transmit-view-markup software to additional CAD file formats. The press release speaks of "new plug-ins" (in the plural), but then lists just one: PTC's Pro/Engineer. I asked the pr firm about the additional plug-ins, but received no reply. I'm guessing plug-ins will be for the other packages that Geometric does work on: CATIA, ENOVIA, DELMIA, eMatrix, and so on. eDrawings already supports SolidWorks (of course), but for AutoCAD support is limited to 2D drawings. The free version just displays drawings; to mark up drawings, you'll need to pay US$995 per plug-in, plus an annual fee of $195 thereafter. Ouch! That makes Acrobat Pro 6 seem cheap. www.geometricsoftware.com/edrawings/proe This makes SolidWorks contender #3 for the role of universal CAD document sharing leader. The other two contenders are Adobe and Autodesk. Adobe is making its Acrobat more CAD-aware with the help of Bentley Systems, while Autodesk is making its DWF more universal though a Windows printer driver. Below the Radar A summary of CAD industry news you may not have read elsewhere, or that I find interesting: Spatial completes an initial port of its 3D ACIS Modeler and 3D Deformable Modeling components for the 64-bit AMD Opteron CPU. They'll be released once the 64-bit versions of Linux and Windows ship. www.spatial.com . Are 64-bit versions of ParaSolids and ShapeManager in the works? GEOMATE's GrafiCalc v2.0 software ($195) bi-directionally associates geometry, dimensions, and calculations with CAD drawings. www.graficalc.com . Sounds cool. ABAQUS says that on large simulations, v6.4 of its FEA [finite element analysis] software is more than twice as fast than before. www.abaqus.com IronCAD's Telecommuter lets you install a second license of IronCAD at no charge. The offer is available to new customers purchasing IronCAD at the regular price through to Dec 31. It's being called a "$395 value." /www.ironcad.com . I couldn't find out from the Web site what old customers get. Graphisoft is shipping ArchiCAD v8.1 featuring automatic drawing numbering, associative drawing titles, faster printing, single keystroke shortcuts, and more. www.graphisoft.com/products/archicad/upgrade81/index.html VectorWorks 10.5.1 Macintosh OS X beta updater is available free for v10.5 users. Prior versions are not Panther-compatible: v9.5 and v10 users need to upgrade to v10.5.1 to take advantage of Mac OS X Panther. Got that? www.nemetschek.net/downloads/ EdgeCAM offers two programs (after registration) that run free for 30 days: an NC [numerical control] Editor, and Part Modeler for simple part construction, manufacturing modifications, and fixture building. www.edgecam.com A collection of free 3D furniture models for architects, interior designers, and CG artists are available from www.ultra3d.com . Why are they free? Paul Baglin tells me, "It is free because we think there is future value in it. We hope it will grow into a widely used 3D portal. Our intention is that the models will always remain free to download." Applied Production releases ProFab V3.7 Sheet Metal CAM software with direct interfaces to SolidWorks 2004, SolidEdge 14, CADKEY V21.5, AutoCAD, and Mechanical Desktop. Thirty-day free demo from www.appliedproduction.com And Axiom's RefWriter for MicroStation V8 allows users to edit attached reference files. www.axiomint.com . That sounds like the RefEdit and XOpen commands in AutoCAD. People/Companies on the Move Autodesk appoints Mike Fister to its board of directors. Mr Fister is senior vp and general manager of Intel's Enterprise Platforms Group. EDS changes the name of its PLM Solutions division to EDS UGS PLM Solutions -- that's short for "Electronic Data Systems UniGraphics Systems Product Lifecycle Management Solutions." Redo Correction: cadgurus was never a MicroStation dealership or reseller, but strictly consultants and developers. Market News Graphisoft's Q3 revenues grew 36.8% to e6.1 million over 2002. Profit was e0.3 million. Good to see some CAD companies finally getting out of the financial mud. Avatech reports a US$0.5 million loss on $5.87 million revenue last quarter. Its losses are lessening. The upFront.eZine stock index is at www.cadwire.net/to?upfrontezine/stocks
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Letters to the Editor Re: Racism in the CAD Community "Racism is alive and well in our world. Or, perhaps we should call it 'prejudice.' It is human to form opinions (pre-judge) of others based on one's experiences and attitudes -- something programmers have been trying to get computers to do for decades. Most times these opinions have little or no basis in fact, but on occasion they pay off. Maybe it's a survival instinct. Regardless, these opinions should never be made very much of. "On the one hand, an intelligent person doesn't hate an entire group of people; on the other, there really ARE habits and attitudes that are statistically present in most ethnic groups. "I have come across many interesting people in my life who break out of the mold their group would cast them in. These people are worth knowing. I was raised to believe that all people are created equal, and that it's up to the individual to prove he or she is a jerk. (The individual you make reference to being a good example.) "Expecting a particular group of people to act a certain way, just because they're IN that group, is not practical. The concept that all lawyers are crooks, or all Californians are weird, or all people in the CAD community are above racism, is false. "I think you will find that while CAD people are technically educated, they remain a fairly normal cross-section of the society in which they live. "Everyone is reared and educated before choosing their profession, after all. We cannot expect a person to have certain views just because he or she does a particular job. "I think you should be less surprised that a CAD person acted reprehensibly, than that someone who made a fool of themselves. It is good that you don't expect people to act as the 'customer' did. It shows that you don't usually travel with the kind of crowd that does those sorts of things. I applaud you and your sensibilities. "I think the editors probably did the
appropriate thing in just leaving."
"I read with shock the story you printed about the racism incident in Europe. I am very proud of the way the editors responded. "It is sad to think how little many people have learned about human history. "I will hope that the CAD and engineering
communities will continue to remain largely free of the ugly disease
of racism. Engineering in general seems to be a field of great
respect for human diversity. The thoughtful actions of the
anonymous editors in your story reinforce my hope."
Re: We're Watching You & Intrusion Advertising "Where have you been for the past 5 years. I would have thought that you'd be used to this type of thing. Are you aware that 'marketing companies' purchase your email address from 'respectable organizations' and then re-sell it to spammers? Are you unaware of the public uproar regarding Smartags and the legal cases? "Please try to be up to date in the future
regarding spam/web abuse and all its ramifications."
Re: Bentley Pumps PDF "I
find it interesting that Bentley is just now providing PDF creation
for DGN files. We have been creating EPS files out of MicroStation
for more than three years now with a modified plot driver. The
high quality EPS files can easily be converted to PDF in Adobe Illustrator."
Re: Intergraph Conference Call "I think you're reasoning for 'why' Intergraph is buying back their shares is a bit narrowly focused. True, some companies buy back shares to improve stock price. However, considering that Intergraph is trading at a 52-week high (or very close -- it changes so much day to day), I don't see why that logic makes sense. There are other more probable reasons: "1. Buying back shares is a method of returning capital to investors without declaring a dividend (as has not been the policy at Intergraph). Prior to the recent [American] tax code changes, stock repurchases were more favorable to individual investors as capital gains were taxed less than dividends. The opposite is true for corporations due to the dividends-received deduction. However, since dividends are now not taxable (well, not a second time), this advantage is diminished. "Nonetheless, through repurchasing stock, Intergraph is signaling that they do not have better options for investing the money than what a stockholder can get on their own. "2. Intergraph may be trying to get a bigger piece of control of the company. Depending on who sells, Intergraph personnel or the company itself may now hold a majority interest. Without knowing details on who holds what, I can't say if this effect would be true after the sale. They might also be trying to eliminate small shareholders. "3. Intergraph may be trying to bump EPS (earnings per share) or increase leverage. "As for Bentley, the only way Intergraph would profit is if they sold their shares upon receiving them. Otherwise, they would be limited to a dividend as a method to receive income from Bentley. As a privately-held company, Bentley does not provide Intergraph a simple way to get a ROI (return on their investment). "Personally, I think with the evolving
of PDS into SmartPlant (and its reduced dependence on MicroStation),
Bentley must be wondering how they're going to make up marketshare
in the long run. I would think that Intergraph's use of MicroStation
is a large chunk of business for Bentley." The editor replies: "Thank you for the added explanation. I don't have a background in business, and so I am working hard at understanding the machinations of corporate book-juggling."
Re: Who Can Read Press Releases? "Here are a few statements I have collected from articles on the net. I could not quite understand what concept or information they convey. I would appreciate if you, or any of your readers, may be able to explain it a bit more. "1) Unigraphics NX 2 ... It uses common geometry thread from mechanical to industrial design to tooling. Does it mean that the same geometry is used without the need conversion? "2) Solid Edge's ability to now predetermine
additive and subtractive geometry during component insertion takes
users to a higher level of intelligent design modeling. What does
the phrase mean 'additive and subtractive geometry during component
insertion'?" - - - "Thanks for distilling the essence from
the glut of hype, spin, and roar statements flooding the www. Your
special efforts are valuable to me and a lot of other people around
the globe. Your story of your struggles down under [New Zealnd]
was also appreciated." "Love the newsletter, keep up the good
work!" "I enjoy your fairly unbiased approach
to the CAD world." Notable Quotable "'Windows 2004 -- The Apology.' Wait
for it." |
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Return to www.upfrontezine.com. Entire contents copyright ©2003 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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