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Issue #548 : : February 26, 2008 |
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In this issue: Waddington Dogs Autodesk's EULA The Very First AutoCAD 2009 Book Out of the Inbox and the other regular columns. |
Write the editor. Make him smile! Through Paypal, consider donating $25 in support of upFront.eZine. Or else... We're trendy. We have a Weblog. WorldCAD Access. |
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It's one product, yet it's 42. That's the problem PTC has in marketing Pro/Engineer. PTC speaks of themselves as being the only CAD vendor with a single MCAD package that handles medium- to high-end work. Yet their product line consists of 5 packages and 42 modules -- along with the complexity of bundles, discounts, and sales promotions. You'd need (yet another) computer program to help keep you straight on all the options. This is certainly a problem faced by many CAD vendors: provide many software modules to cover the potential need of all customers, yet make it simple to acquire. Autodesk and SolidWorks stick everything into a couple of variations of Inventor and SolidWorks; PTC is a la carte. Sandy Joung last week talked me through what's new in Pro/E Wildfire 4. She's the senior director of desktop product marketing at PTC. I was under the impression that 'Wildfire' tag was due to be eliminated. No so, she replied. It refers to Pro/Engineer with the Windows user interface, instead of the one from Unix. This is the 4th major release since the UI makeover. The five packages I mentioned earlier have suffix labels, either XE (extended edition) or SE (standard edition). I noticed that the lowest of the low-end, the $5000-"Foundation XE," lacked an SE sibling. "Does this mean," I asked, "if a cheaper version of Pro/E is a possibility." We have no plans at this time, she replied. I took note of the "at this time" qualifier. The company now has 372,000 commercial users at 40,000 sites. They've enjoyed some 26,000 downloads since the v4.0 update became available in January. Oh, and PTC doesn't call pre-release software "beta"; it's known as "pre-production" or "pre-qualification." What's new in 4? PTC licensed LifeCycle from Adobe so that drawing rights can be remotely manipulated. Send a drawing to someone, and you can change their viewing/printing/modification rights after the fact -- or, "protect CAD models dynamically," as PTC puts it. Tolerance analysis is new, and is based on the really expensive CETol software. Also new is ECAD [electronics CAD] visualization, where you can now do mechanical and connector designs around an imported PCB board. Changes in PTC are proposed back to the ECAD software, whose operator then decides whether to implement it. Much more newness to Pro/E 4 can be read at www.ptc.com/appserver/wcms/relnotes/category.jsp?&product=403 --- In related news, Etrage's IWBIWYBI Challenge [If We Build It, Will You Buy It?] asks PTC users to submit ideas for third-party apps that run with Pro/E or Windchill. "Applications can be in the areas of engineering automation, data integration, triggers, and other Pro/TOOLKIT applications," they note. www.etrage.com/IWBIWYBI.htm Waddington Dogs Autodesk's EULA R. Paul Waddington keeps on commenting on the content of Autodesk's end-user licence agreement: "The only way these [EULA] documents can be viewed is as a quasi code of conduct," he says. Only a very few customers care to read EULAs [end user license agreements] sufficiently to get frustrated with their one-sided nature -- whether written by Autodesk or another software firm. In short, the typical software vendor promises close to nothing in exchange for your continuing agreement to take all responsibility. (One of the drollest terms accompanied the software included with my first computer, the Victor 9000. The agreement required that I return the software after 20 years -- to a company that went out of existence after 5 years.) For its part, Autodesk legal reps continue to be unimpressed by Mr Waddington's protests: "Your open letter repeats the same ill-conceived grievance in relation to the audit clause in Autodesk's End User Licence Agreement that our client has responded to fully in the past. Our client will not be drawn into responding to your weblog and in any way validating your unfounded complaint." (The infamous audit clause means you agree to allow software firms to send agents into your home or business in search of unlicensed usage -- usually through a front organization called the Business Software Alliance.) Autodesk's legal reps, however, take the wrong approach towards Mr Waddington, for he is a tenacious bulldog on this issue. Refusing to engage him in dialog only strengthens his conviction that Autodesk's legal relationship with users is questionable. Today Mr Waddington writes me, "The NCC [National Consumer Council of England] have details of what I have uncovered as well in relation to the Audit clause and the Trojan CIP [customer involvement program] software, and details of the components of Autodesk's EULA that fall within the UK's unfair contract laws. "It would only take UK users to write to their Fair Trading people and several components of Autodesk's EULA would probably cause some real heartburn for Autodesk (i.e. the insolvency clause). It would force Autodesk to delete or completely reword the clause to avoid penalty." The NCC this month examined 25 software products to find:
It's good that there are people like Mr Waddington and NCC who make the effort to question the status quo, because the rest of us (1) haven't got the patience to read EULAs, and (2) don't care about their legal content. We get our software legally, we use it, we go on with our work. Software developer Deelip Meneses provides the counter-argument: it is impractical for vendors to custom-tune the EULA for every customer. "For fun, let us imagine that Carl Bass takes leave of his senses and decides that he wants to negotiate his EULA with all nine million Autodesk customers. I will leave you to calculate the legal bill that such negotiations will result in. And while you are at it, take a wild guess as to who will eventually be paying for that bill." Considering how few companies the BSA charges each year, any provision in any EULA is unlikely to ever affect us. And if the BSA does make life miserable for you, pay your fine, and then switch to a different software supplier. The final joke is on the software companies: the BSA does not share its recovered funds with member companies.
Links: miletter.blogspot.com
(Waddington's blog) The Very First AutoCAD 2009 Book The very first book on the soon-to-be-released AutoCAD 2009 is now available. Over the weekend, I finished work on "What's Inside? AutoCAD 2009":
88 pages; PDF format; 13.20. More info and PayPal order link are at www.upfrontezine.com/wia9 .
nCode International updates ICE-flow GlyphWorks with GlyphBuilder, which uses the Python scripting language to let users add proprietary methods to off-the shelf analysis. The company has a pre-recorded tutorial 'Create Your Own Glyphs with Python' at www.ncode.com/WebinarDetail.aspx?webinar_id=40 . Geometric Technologies releases CAMWorks with 50 enhancements including improved speed and toolpath reliability for multi-axis operation. www.geometricglobal.com/products They've also released DFMPro, their design for manufacturability software. This is the advanced version of DFMXpress, which is included with SolidWorks 2008. www.dfmpro.com Right Hemisphere announces its new Web-based Deep Access digital media asset management. It's a searchable repository of 2D, 3D, related media, and metadata. Starts at $995 per server–connected user. www.righthemishpere.com Chronos for AutoCAD v3.2 ($49.95 or less) maintains a history log for each drawing worked on throughout the day. Managers can view a graphical display of the drawing history as well as the text records. Demo version for 25 users at www.engds.com Nemetschek North America updates its no-cost downloadable VectorWorks Viewer for VectorWorks 2008. You don't need the VectorWorks software to view VectorWorks drawing. [That's so expected these days, but when Cyco came out with the first AutoCAD drawing viewer in 1988, it was a concept that took some getting used to. Why would you need a viewer when you had AutoCAD?]www.nemetschek.net/downloads/ Even as AutoCAD 2009 expands its support for translating design files from MicroStation V7 and V8, Bentley Systems is moving some of its plant design software to a completely open data model. To explain, the CAD company has a white paper at... [Since I would had to create an account and login before I can access it, I didn't bother with a look-see.] Their other white papers are at www.bentley.com/en-US/Markets/Plant/White+Papers/White+Papers.htm EOS gets a world-wide license for all patents relevant to laser-sintering from both BEGO companies -- BEGO Medical GmbH and BEGO Bremer Goldschlaegerei Wilh. Herbst GmbH & Co [say that name three times fast] -- in the area of producing dental prostheses and dental auxiliaries using laser-sintering. [Laser-sintered teeth! What next?] www.eos.info CADnection announces its AutoCAD and SharePoint integration software... "for facilitating information-sharing, content management, search and business process acceleration." If that reads pretty good to you, then visit www.cadnection.com
- - - These news items were posted during the last week at the WorldCAD Access blog < worldcadaccess.typepad.com>:
Hardware News NVIDIA last week introduced its Quadro FX 3600M professional graphics board for notebook computers. Unlike the usual mundane boards stuck into low-price laptop computers, this one gives the functions of a desktop workstation on a notebook platform, such as in HP's Compaq-branded 8710w notebook. The board includes:
Unfortunately for you, these boards are available only to OEMs, which means no retrofits. Buy another new notebook computer today! www.nvidia.com/quadro
WorthWhile Web http://lifehacker.com/358208/seamlessly-run-linux-apps-on-your-windows-desktop
Letters to the Editor Re: VX: End-to-end ID-to-CAM "Any idea how big VX is in revenue terms? Not looking for an exact number, just want an idea of how big of a competitor they are. "Also, have you ever written any columns on the sensitivity
of MCAD software spending to the economy? Would love to read your
thoughts on the relationship, given most analysts on the street
are avoiding ADSK and PMTC because of that very issue." The editor replies: "VX mentioned one number to me: 3,600 sites. Maintenance is $400 - $2000 per seat/year. You have to make an assumption on the number of seats per site. "As for the economy, past recessions have not been an issue for CAD:
"However, the impending recession is the first one where MCAD is mature. PTC has admitted potential customers are now taking longer to sign purchase orders, and Dassault had reduced earnings. "My guess is that customers might put pressure on CAD vendors to cut upgrade and maintenance costs, and/or delay upgrades in order to also cap the parallel costs of upgrading hardware and training." - - - Re: Autodesk World Media Days "Interesting report on Autodesk show. You have been at this a while. I find it particularly interesting that you have little to say about BIM except that 'it' is a few years away. And much to say about how good old AutoCAD is doing 3D and will do more in the future by a '3 year plan'. Of course it will. "But not like BIM/Revit is already doing. It is not a question
of if AutoCAD 'can' but of which is easier and more useful for many.
And there is plenty of room in the industry for both approaches." The editor replies: "I I think what's happening is that the 4 million AutoCAD users are going vertical (ADT, MDT, whatever) and Autodesk is finding users prefer to stick with the AutoCAD UI. Hence Civil 3D and P&ID running on AutoCAD, and not on yet another proprietary platform (like Inventor and Revit). Sticking with AutoCAD for verticals also solves the DWG xlation problem." - - - "It's a good newsletter, and I've read (and learned) from
it for several years. But age and physical condition are forcing
me to reduce and simplify things somewhat, and I'm saying farewell
to the part of my life that dealt with the architector-engineering-construction
sector. Keep up the good work."
Spin Doctor of the Moment ""Professor Philip James said the challenge of obesity
was so great that action was needed now, even without clear evidence
of the best options."
Notable Quotable "The most important asset in The New Marketing is 'having
something worth talking about'. This makes certain marketing people
squeamish."
Copyright 2008 by upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd. All rights reserved worldwide Article reprint fee US$250.0 and up.
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