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Issue #436 : : June 21, 2005 |
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C o n t e n t s CAD Going Mac; Mac Going PC Autodesk Competes with Open Design
Alliance Encryption of Data
FIles Under the Radar and other
regular columns. |
Write the Editor. Donate to upFront.eZine with Paypal. Access nearly-daily CAD commentary at our blog: WorldCAD Access.
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CAD
Going Mac; Mac Going PC
- - - In the last week, I heard from two more companies that develop CAD software for Macintosh computers. The comments were spectacularly uninformative: Graphisoft Viktor Varkonyi, Graphisoft vp of ArchiCAD product development: "Architecture firms worldwide use the Mac, and from initial concept, Graphisoft has been committed to providing ArchiCAD for the Mac platform to meet their needs. The company is a premier member of the Apple network and we work closely with Apple to ensure our products will continue to be compatible." Autodesk Catherine Griffin of Fleishman-Hillard, a public relations firm working for Autodesk: "Apple's announcement with Intel does not directly impact the DWF Toolkit for Mac OS X. Autodesk will continue to work very closely with Apple to provide updated builds of the DWF Toolkit if necessary to run on Intel-based systems. However, Autodesk does not anticipate this will be a significant effort." Readers A reader responds <dborzillo@yahoo.com>: "I wonder which major CAD company will be the first to port over to Mac OS X, now that the platform is moving to Intel. I'm sure just as Apple had a secret room testing the Intel platform for years, CAD companies must be doing the same things with Macs in the 'unlikely' event. "I enjoyed developing on NeXTSTEP. If you know of anyone looking for help with developing on OS X, please pass me along the info."
Autodesk Competes with Open Design Alliance As I reported first on WorldCAD Access, Autodesk has repriced its DWG/DXF read-write APIs [application programming interface] to better compete with the Open Design Alliance's OpenDWG APIs. As Susan Smith writes in AEC Weekly, "RealDWG" sounds an awful lot like "OpenDWG;" Autodesk's new pricing mimics that of Open Design Alliance; and the capabilities are nearly identical. (RealDWG also sounds like Autodesk's AutoCAD LT "100% pure DWG" campaign from four years ago.) With differences reduced, why should a third-party developer chose one over the other?
Twin Flaws Both organizations have fundamental flaws in their product offerings:
The obvious answer is for both entities to work together. ODA is open [pardon the pun] to that, and regularly invites Autodesk to join the love fest. But Autodesk continues its isolationist stance: "No other CAD vendor shares its file formats. We would want all others to open their formats." [Insert cliches of pigs flying, h*ll freezing over, and sandbox toys not being shared.] Companies may prefer OpenDWG over RealDWG, because (1) the annual fees cover multiple applications (Autodesk's charge is per-application), and (2) ODA supports multiple operating systems (Autodesk's support is for Windows only).
Dual Non-Solutions The Autodesk press release lobbed two hand grenades in the general direction of its DWG API competitors: timeliness, and accuracy. By its nature, the competitors must late and not 100% accurate. Late, because the competitors must wait for the next release of AutoCAD to ship before the programmers complete their reverse engineering efforts; and less accurate, because reverse engineering consists of educated guesswork. The spin from Autodesk: "The third-party DWG libraries we've used in the past have not kept pace with Autodesk’s release schedule..." The reality: RealDWG also fails to keep pace, shipping three months later than AutoCAD 2006's release. Mr Strassman "hopes" future releases ship concurrently. But even that is not good enough; RealDWG should ship three months early, so that third-parties can have their products ready that same day in mid-March when the AutoCAD 2007 becomes available for purchase by customers. The spin: "...nor have they [third-party DWG libraries] provided the high degree of fidelity that our customers now demand." The reality: As long as Autodesk refuses to license its DWG read-write library to competitors, the fidelity demanded by unnamed customers will continue to be lacking. RealDWG fails to solve the problem. /www.autodesk.com/autodeskrealdwg
Encryption of Data Files, Part II Guest Editorial by Evan Yares An important legal case in the CAD industry (Baystate v. Bentley) established that the data structure names and the organization of data structures of a mechanical computer aided design program are not copyrightable. This supports the doctrine that reverse-engineering of CAD data file formats is presumptively legal. Beyond the issue of legality, no CAD vendor would argue that such reverse-engineering is improper. To do so would be cutting their own throats to spite competitors. The Open Design Alliance is one of many firms that rely on reverse-engineering to provide file format interoperability. Where life gets interesting is in what CAD vendors do to quietly frustrate efforts to reverse engineer their file formats. There are many tools to accomplish this; all fall into just a few general categories: EULA limitations, technical measures, business policies, and spin.
EULA Limitations A EULA [end-user license agreement] is that document that most folks just click to accept when they install their software. While software vendors, in general, might argue that the terms in a EULA are solely intended to protect them against software pirates, I'm pretty amazed when large CAD vendors manage to say this and keep a straight face. EULAs are drafted under state contract law, generally in such way that a material breach of any provision causes a rescission of the license to use the software. No longer having a license to use the software, violators are subject suit in federal district court under copyright law, and may have to pay high statutory damages and attorney's fees. The next time you read a EULA, and come across a term that you think is unconscionable, but that you think the vendor wouldn't enforce -- think again. If you violate that term, you're in material violation of the agreement, and may have automatically lost your license to use the software, no matter how much money you’ve paid to that vendor. The EULA terms that are the most frustrating to interoperability are those which limit the purpose for which the software may be used, and prohibit reverse engineering. The limit on use often manifests as a statement that customers can only use the software in the support of their companies' internal needs, or for production use, or that they cannot let anyone else use the software. Such terms preclude use of the software to create interoperable or competitive products, and would prevent customers from letting a competitive CAD company come and look at the software. Prohibitions on reverse engineering may be unenforceable under current law, but the most recent wording seems carefully crafted to preempt fair-use rights granted by federal copyright law. Some EULA's seek to add an extra element, such as needing to ask the vendor prior to undertaking the reverse engineering. A legal case relating to this, Blizzard v. BnetD, is currently in front of the federal circuit court of appeals < www.eff.org/IP/Emulation/Blizzard_v_bnetd >. (This case rides on Bowers v. Baystate.) If the case is not overturned, it will make anti-reverse engineering terms enforceable, and potentially prevent organizations such as the Open Design Alliance from supporting file formats without the express permission of the CAD vendor. (Evan Yares is president of the Open Design Alliance. www.opendesign.org ) A summary of CAD industry news you may not have read elsewhere, or that I found interesting: - - - You can try out VariCAD's Linux version of VariCAD 2005 and its new 3D kernel from www.varicad.com The latest release of MachineWorks v6.2 features OpenGL rendering and instant detection of gouges during simulation. www.machineworks.com/whats_new.htm Consistent Software's WiseImage 6.7 adds CAD-style raster editing and raster-to-vector conversion to AutoCAD 2006 and AutoCAD LT 2006. /www.csoft.com Entourage Arts makes available Shanghai illustrator Wang Wang's collection of non-photorealistic renderings of trees, plants, and people in a casual watercolor style. www.entouragearts.com SolidWorks notes that its DWGgateway software has been downloaded 100,000 times from www.dwggateway.com Informatix Software International plans to ship MicroGDS v9 within 30 days, with a new Properties Window, assemblies, snapping improvements, and more. www.informatix.co.uk/news.shtml#mgds9 think3's PLM software, thinkteam, now supports SolidWorks, in addition to Pro/ENGINEER and AutoCAD. www.think3.com NavisWorks' new JetStream has increased file format support and addds localization for China, France, Germany, and Japan. www.navisworks.com PowerCAD Classic 6 is $299 from GiveMePower Corporation. The software is meant to be equivalent to AutoCAD LT, but $600 cheaper. www.givemepower.com Lattice3D plans to add 3D XML support to its XVL-based applications. [This is a bit of an infinite loop, because Dassault's 3D XML is based on XVL.] /www.lattice3d.com DotSoft's ToolPac 9.0 performs operations across multiple drawings: redefine blocks, rename layers, blocks, dimstyles, linetypes, UCSs, and views. www.dotsoft.com And I have a few copies of my latest (paper-based) book, "AutoCAD LT 2006: The Definitive Guide" (500pp; Wordware Publishing), available for a US$25 donation to this e-newsletter. https://www.paypal.com/affil/pal=ralphg%40xyzpress.com - - - And these news items were posted during the last week at our WorldCAD Access blog <worldcadaccess.typepad.com>:
And on the Gizmos Grabowski weblog <http://worldcadaccess.typepad.com/gizmos/>
Magazine/eZine/Weblog Updates Another print magazine goes digital: 'Desktop Engineering' launches 'Digital DE,' the PDF version of the monthly mcad magazine.
People/Companies on the Move MfgQuote appoints Todd Craig as director of marketing. Mr Craig most recently was with Porter Novelli.
WorthWhile Web baheyeldin.com/technology/digital-archeology.html
Letters to the Editor CCS-DXF Translator? "Found this during my search for the same problem, has anyone
ever come up with a solution?" The editor replies: "Mr Davis is looking for the CCS-DXF translator for CAD files saved by CCS Designer (Complete Computer Services)." - - - Re: COSMOS "COSMOSWorks 2006 is an analysis program specifically for SolidWorks. COSMOSWorks has some advanced analysis capabilities within it or which it can access in the Professional and Professional Advanced versions: nonlinear stress analysis, dynamic response, optimization, composites, and electromagnetics. "The company also has a product called COSMOSDesignSTAR, a mainstream analysis program that looks a lot like COSMOSWorks but works with most CAD programs: Solid Edge, Autodesk Inventor, Pro/E, etc. It also provides both beginner to advanced capability level analysis tools. Its 2006 version will be released in late September or early October. "And the Web site name is 'cosmosm' because the original product from SRAC was a general finite element analysis program that used to be named COSMOS/M (now without the slash). It still maintained as its capabilities are added to the easier-to-use COSMOSWorks and COSMOSDesignSTAR programs. You can use either URL: www.cosmosm.com or www.srac.com . "By the way, SRAC is an acronym for Structural Research
& Analysis Corp." - - - Re: E-books "I would have considered purchasing 'What's Inside? AutoCAD
2006,' but it appears it is not supplied in book format, only electronic
format. While I use many features of the electronic world, one would
not be reading books through my computer. I find minimal positives
of e-format books. Very difficult to take my desktop on planes,
trains, and automobiles or even outside on a sunny day at lunch.
Just call me old school I guess. Just my 0.02. "I do enjoy the ezine, keep up the good work." The editor replies: "I understand the negatives. And it seems that many customers end up printing out my e-books. OTOH, amazon.com lists 1,633 paper-based books about AutoCAD. I provide a niche that makes sense to me:
Mr Paul responds: "Thank you for taking the time to reply. In this day and age of automated canned responses it is good to see a personal touch. As long as it works for you, all good. That is what capitalism is about. "Agree on the positive of no trees cut down, hence all printed reading material should be required to be printed on recycled paper."
Spin Doctor of the Moment "We should not have been doing that. That, however, has
been remediated. We no longer store it on files."
"Internet connection - $30. "There are some things that money can't buy, but for everything
else, there's MasterCard."
Notable Quotable "What pleases me about these words is not so much their
truth, about which I am still undecided. It is their self-assurance,
that hits you like a snort of vodka at a Baptist picnic."
Copyright 2005 by upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd. All rights reserved worldwide Article reprint fee US$250.00.
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. |
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