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Issue #568 : : July 15, 2008 |
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In this issue: - Hurdles to Overcome
Out of the Inbox and the other regular columns. |
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Bentley Systems + Autodesk Ever since Carl Bass's penciled-in appearance didn't happen at this year's user event run by Bentley Systems, speculation assumed that a technology exchange with Autodesk was imminent. Last week, the two made public their agreement during a conference call with CAD journalists. The agreement covers the following:
(History: Bentley Systems was the first CAD vendor to provide direct reading -- and, later, writing -- of DWG files in their software. The add-on to MicroStation was named Nexxus. Autodesk added a 2D-only DGN translator to AutoCAD 2008.) Many blogged on this event, and a few speculated that this agreement represents Stage One in Autodesk acquiring Bentley Systems. Much of the blogging was merely a rehash of the joint press release; Lachmi Khemlani, however, wrote a most insightful article in "Autodesk and Bentley’s Unprecedented Interoperability Agreement" at www.aecbytes.com/buildingthefuture/2008/AutodeskBentleyAgreement.html . Be sure to also read the blog's lengthy comments.
Hurdles to Overcome While the terms are straight-forward, the outfall is not. Autodesk's Jay Bhatt (senior vp of AEC) said that "the results will be in the future" and didn't give a timeline. At the other end of the time scale, executives were surprisingly vague on the genesis of this agreement, and eventually decided that it may have been Autodesk who first approached Bentley Systems some months ago. One executive agreed this was "a big undertaking." For example, Bentley is hurriedly creating a new DGN Toolkit for Autodesk to use. Another executive revealed that implementing each other's APIs will be the greatest technological hurdle of this agreement; Object Enablers will work in MicroStation once Bentley replaces the OpenDWG API [applications programming interface] with Autodesk's RealDWG -- about 1.5 years from now. Bentley Systems provided a scary answer to one question on the minds of several editors: What is being done to handle the objects/elements that are not found in each other's CAD system? Ans: "It's being looked into." Yikes! Here's my take:
Those are the easy parts. In the past, the hard part has always been matching non-identical element-objects, properties, and concepts between any two CAD systems. The solution is for future versions of the two proprietary file formats to draw and edit others' entities natively. DGN "V9" and DWG 2010 would be v1.0 of ".dwgn" as the two vendors work out kinks over subsequent years and releases. Going forward, release synchronization will become important. As of 2010, will a new MicroStation appear each March?
What It Isn't This agreement is not all-encompassing. It is limited to AEC software. Revit, for instance, will link to MicroStation through APIs, not DWG or DGN. There is no similar agreement for civil, P&ID, mechanical, GIS, and so on. This agreement is not instant. It will take years to fully roll out. Examples: it is taking Autodesk several years and releases to get Inventor to read Alias drawings. WorldCAD Access reader Rande Robinson says, "I'll believe it all when I actually see it in the various products. Most MicroStation users are still waiting for the for the benefits of the Bentley-ESRI 'marriage' of a few years ago." Ouch! This agreement is not broad. It involves one vertical between two CAD vendors. But if it works, it could be expanded to other AEC vendors (Nemetschek comes to mind), and other disciplines. Third-party developers will be able to access the APIs. This agreement is not about acquiring customers. "Autodesk may not have been counting on a lot of Bentley customers switching to AutoCAD, but now they never will," says Roopinder Tara of Tenlinks.com. If the two packages are data-compatible, then there is no need for users to switch -- kind of like Macs running Windows applications virtually.
Effect on the ODA & IAI Could this agreement also be part of a two-prong attack by Autodesk against the Open Design Alliance? First prong: dog the ODA with legal hassles. Second prong: end-run it with direct agreements that bypass the need of major CAD vendors to be ODA members, who are the primary source of the ODA's funding. (On the mechanical side, Autodesk's Inventor already has direct import and/or export of ParaSolid and NX from Siemens PLM Software, GRANITE and Pro/E from Parametric Technology, and SolidWorks.) Last week's deal with Bentley Systems must be particularly bitter for the ODA. I attended the Bentley press event in 2003 where they announced that their DGN (short for "design") format would be open, so open that the ODA would distribute it. This openness was of such significance that the ODA changed its name from Open DWG Alliance to Open Design Alliance. Now it's five years later and Bentley's Chris Barron (vp corporate marketing) declares: "We are under no obligation, nor do we have any intention, to deliver the new Bentley DGN Toolkit to or through the ODA." In any case, Bentley will replace the ODA's OpenDWG API with Autodesk's RealDWG in the MicroStation release following this fall's Athens. Is the new DGN Toolkit closed? As of press time, Bentley had not answered the question. But I assume it is closed; otherwise, there would be no need for a peerless agreement with Autodesk.
The other affected party is the IAI. The agreement does not mark the end for the International Alliance for Interoperability, as some blogs are predicting. Many non-Autodesk, non-Bentley software packages make use of its IFCs for non-graphical data exchange, such as cost estimating and HVAC analysis -- as does major IFC-proponent Nemetschek. Indeed, the use of IFCs may increase in reaction against the Bentley Systems-Autodesk alliance. But I found it sad that two IAI executives were present to praise the BFF* agreement; it just seemed off. (History: Autodesk initially created IFCs [industry foundation classes] during Release 13, and then some years later handed the development effort over to the IAI.) *) Best Friends Forever.
Summary So many how and when questions linger, Oh, and one more: "Who's next?"
In Related News Open Design Alliance launches "Education and the ODA" to stimulate research in CAD/CAM software applications by educational organizations. "The new educational program is the latest advancement in the ODA's ongoing promotion of new technology combined with the open exchange of DWG and DGN data," says the press release. Register as a no-charge ODA Educational Member at www.opendesign.com/education , and then access the ODA's software libraries -- even the source code, under certain conditions.
CAD files on iPhones: 1stWorks announces Files2Phones 3G ($100 per year) and PC2Me 3G ($30/yr) that view documents and CAD drawings on the iPhone. Drag files into your desktop computer's public folder; they are added to a personal directory at the myf2p.com site. The files are viewed with the iPhone's Safari Web browser. www.f2p.com or www.pc2me.net IntelliCAD Technology Consortium releases IntelliCAD v6.5 to its members with polar tracking, spell checking, DIESEL programming language, additional image file formats, and 24-bit color user interface. www.intellicad.org Specsources launches SpeCAD, an AutoCAD plug-in that interfaces with Specsources' Web-based furniture specification writing software. www.specsources.com Beck Technology releases DProfiler with RSMeans 2008 v1.0 for linking BIM models with cost estimation. www.Beck-Technology.com Coastal Logic ships printLogic 5.6 for Dassault ENOVIA. It batch prints 450 file types from MatrixOne without needing the files' native application. coastallogic.com First Trace completes development on Korrigo engineering document management software, an addition to the KinnosaONE family. www.firsttrace.com Geometric releases eDrawings Professional for Autodesk Inventor v6.1 with support for Inventor 2009, textures, and iParts and iAssemblies. 15-day trial from edrawings.geometricglobal.com Bentley Systems ships Bentley Gas V8 XM Edition software for gas distribution networks. www.bentley.com/en-US/Products/Bentley+Gas And ASCON Group prepares to launch KOMPAS-3D V10 at the end of this summer. www.ascon.net - - - These news items were posted during the last week at the WorldCAD Access blog < worldcadaccess.typepad.com>:
And at the Gizmos Grabowski < worldcadaccess.typepad.com/gizmos/ > Weblog:
Magazine/eZine/Weblog Updates The CAD Managers Survey 2008 for the United Kingdom is now live at www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=U0CdkqIYSXbz9LDN1HADeA_3d_3d with topics covering roles and responsibilities, salaries, the number of CAD support staff, and more.
People/Companies on the Move Siemens cuts a further 4% of its work force to save $2 billion in wages, mainly jobs in administration. When you're as big as Siemens, four percent represents 17,000 jobs. The company is also cutting spending in IT and on consultants, and had already reduced its eight divisions to three: energy, health care, and industry. Siemens PLM Software is in the industry sector. Will it be affected? "Can't tell," says Marc Langendorf, Siemens' head of business and financial press. "There's no breakdown on that level yet." - - - Boeing, EOS, Evonik Industries, and MCP HEK Tooling form the Direct Manufacturing Research Center at the University of Paderborn (Germany) to standardize direct manufacturing processes and materials. www.dmrc.de think3 of Italy signs with reseller Think PLM of England and USA to enter the UK market and strengthen its position in the USA. www.think-plm.com OPTIS appoints Pete Moorhouse as vp of sales and marketing. Mr Moorhouse is the former product director at ICEM. CIMdata promotes Peter A. Bilello to vice president. Mr. Bilello is CIMdata's former director of consulting services. Colortrac says it wants its employees to adhere to a corporate Code of Conduct "which aims to promote fair employment conditions, protect human rights, ensure a safe working environment, manage environmental issues responsibly and adhere to high ethical standards, wherever in the world the company operates." You can read it at http://www.colortrac.com/company/company_code.htm
WorthWhile Web http://www.pcworld.com/article/147961/microsoft_sharepoint_popularity_comes_with_issues.html
http://www.pcworld.com/article/147940/are_bschools_teaching_all_the_cs.html
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/3154/135/
Letters to the Editor Re: IMSI/Design's Variable Constraint System "You asked, 'How long before Autodesk ships constraints and variables in AutoCAD? In the meantime, this important feature is available now for users of AutoCAD 2007/8'. "I tend to disagree that this is an important feature. If it were, wouldn’t AutoCAD Mechanical still be kicking around? When Autodesk was introducing Inventor -- even prior to the Rubicon release, actually -- they were packaging MDT 6.0, Mechanical 2000, and AutoCAD 2000 in a single bundle. At that time our reseller price was just shy of CDN$7,000. "Mechanical 2000 was AutoCAD with the 2D constraint system and a wide selection of pre-drawn but constrainable and editable parts. The downside was that it was packaged with Mechanical Desktop and widely overlooked in the install. Desktop icons were automatically created for A2K and MDT, but Mechanical was found only on the Start menu. The waif of the package so to speak. "I was a demo jock at the time, from an architectural background no less, and I was very impressed with Mechanical and really wished Autodesk would get off the pot and actually do something like this for my community! Instead we had Architectural Desktop 2 and then 3. Yeesh! "Keep up the good work and the great newsletters. Thanks
for your hard work." The editor replies: "I recall Autodesk showing us media Mechanical about 4-5 years ago. I told them I wished that such powerful features would appear in AutoCAD. Never did. I think there is some silo'ing going on at Autodesk, emphasized by the distant locations of major divisions: mech in Oregon, Revit on the east coast, Alias in Toronto, etc." Mr Collins responds: "This was around the years 2000 to 2001, (not the release versions), and everything was based out of Richmond Hill [in north Toronto, Ontario]: Mechanical, Arch, Civil and rendering with Viz and Max. Thanks for the walk down memory lane; happy trails." - - - "It's nice to see someone finally doing what I told Autodesk they needed to do back in Release 13. Maybe IMSI will pull out of their hole? Cheers to IMSI for becoming relevant and beating Autodesk to the punch with their IDX Design. "Funny thing: I use Inventor’s IDW module to do with I want
AutoCAD to do, because Autodesk is still dragging their feet. What
I want to know is this: Who at Autodesk made their 2D CAD program
into a lame 3D CAD program (cf. Rhino), instead of fixing all the
problems that key-pounders (like me) daily encounter -- along with
enhancing it with constraints and other drafting aids that actually
do help?" - - - "I thought I'd try this, but it didn't work. Apparently
you need 'simple' AutoCAD, and my AutoCAD is actually based on Mechanical
Desktop (ships with Inventor)."
Re: Give Me Back "My" DWG "The subject of DWG trade marks is kind of close to home. I have family that work in [Washington] DC as IP [intellectual property] attorneys, and things like this pop up at family gatherings (in between arguments where I insist lawyers are the cause of most problems -- good fun). "The biggest issue with trademarks is defending them early
on. Autodesk waited too long to throw up a defense on DWG. Some
may remember a recent statement from Adobe requesting the public
avoid using 'PhotoShop' as anything but a noun (e.g. 'photoshopped').
Google did something similar by requesting we avoid using the phrase
'google it'. As a friend of mine once joked, it's all funny until
the attorneys show up." The editor replies: "Autodesk has given up trying to register DWG in Europe, and in the United States the USPTO is giving Autodesk a hard time." - - - Re: Milliken Switches to Another A "I'd love to know what prompted his leaving. I've had great
fun in the past antagonizing Greg on his blog. I wonder if Paul
Grayson, or someone else at Alibre, will take over the FUD cheerleading
that Greg was so good at."
Spin Doctor of the Moment "The Windows Vista Compatibility Center will be launching
soon, please check back."
Notable Quotable "The customer counts for nothing. Except as a source of
revenue."
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