upFront.eZine Issue #801
Guest editorial by Roopinder Tara
Autodesk has come out strong in favor of online CAD and cloud technology. Many of their new apps announced at Autodesk Universtiy 2013 were browser-based, requiring online acces. In the press Q&A session, both CEO Carl Bass and CTO Jeff Kowalski rolled over any opposition to online apps and cloud technology.
In response to Autodesk's adamant stance on online sharing and collaboration, a press member from Argentina explained, "We don't like to share." Another from India added, "Only 6% of us are online."
Suddenly with these six words, the world that we in the USA take for granted -- 24/7 broadband access, smart phone always in hand, iPads at the airport, one step from having our toasters text us when the toast is ready -- collapsed to its true size.
That's nearly a billion people right there in India who can't see our modern picture. Add to this most of Africa, the rest of Asia, and nearly all of Latin America. You have the majority of humans who are a long way off from having the online tools and toys we take for granted.
Do tech execs dismiss them as irrelevant? I feel ashamed.
Aren't those emerging-economy countries the growth markets we are always going on about? Don't we pat themselves on the back for sending them baby incubators made from car parts, or low emission high-tech cooking stoves so everyone in the mud hut doesn't die of respiratory failure? We drop coins in the beggar's cup, but we think no more of him when we clink our wine glasses together.
Consider the plight of Rwanda. Landlocked with uncooperative neighbors and denied access to Internet submarine cables (which is how most of the world gets access), it has to rely on expensive satellite signals, which are split into so many parts that the few available connections are spotty. A technical school only a hour's drive from the country's capital has been trying to get Internet connection for years.
The privileged few who set the tech policy really ought to get out more.
[Roopinder Tara is publisher of Tenlinks.com. This editorial was reprinted with permission of CAD Insider.]
Congratulations to the the top independent CAD bloggers in 2013:
#1 - Edwin Prakoso at http://www.cad-notes.com
#2 - Jimmy Bergmark at http://blog.jtbworld.com
#3 - WorldCAD Access
Rankings of all 70 blogs by Brian M. Curran at http://www.draftingservices.com/blog/top-cad-blogs-of-2013
Heard In Twitter and On the Blog
upFront.eZine (@upFronteZine): 2013 US commercial market share of non-smartphone computing devices:
Microsoft: 64.1%
Google: 18.3%
Apple: 17.5%
-> http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2013/12/24/npd_2013_channel_sales/
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upFront.eZine (@upFronteZine): Just got a press release for a new book, "Windows 8.1:The Missing Manual." A lot more than a manual is missing from v8.1, like sensibility.
Windows (@Windows): Thanks for sharing this feedback. What changes would you like to see in Windows?
upFront.eZine (@upFronteZine) Ha, ha, ha, ha! Seriously, you have no clue?
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Randall S. Newton (@RSNatWork): Hanspal: In desktop world, Windows set the experience. In cloud/mobile/social the conversation sets the experience. #AU2013
upFront.eZine (@upFronteZine): When a corporation assures us the future is social, it's about to go NSA on us: Your life for sale to the highest ad bidder
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Alex Bausk (@bauskas): Dear producers, if the evil government denies you the use of incandescent bulbs, just market them as "multipurpose photothermal emitters".
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upFront.eZine (@upFronteZine): Sorry, those of you who are early majority, late majority, and technology laggards: the cloud compels you all to become early adopters.
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Here are items that appeared on the WorldCAD Access blog recently at http://worldcadaccess.typepad.com:
- Carl Bass hints at Autodesk's opportunity in 3D printing for 2014
- Autodesk plans to change which software is available under which pricing
- David Stein interviews Ralph Grabowski
- Playing with an ultra compact PC
- foto of the sunday: christmas concert
- My thoughts on SpaceClaim 2014
- In Buying Delcam, Autodesk Ignores Hottest Trend in Manufacturing by Roopinder Tara
- Imaginit Technologies loses an outpost
- Buying Delcam Puts Autodesk on Path of World Domination by Roopinder Tara
- Live blog: 3D Systems intros eleven 3D printers at EuroMold
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Letters to the Editor
Re: Celebrating Our 800th Issue!
"Congrats on 800 issues! Happy Holidays Merry Christmas, and Happy Gnu Years. What's gnu? Same as a wildebeest!"
- Tom Fay
Ketiv
"I would like to congratulate you for your 800th issue. What a milestone! It is always a pleasure to read upFront.eZine."
- Cedric Desbordes, Sales & Marketing Executive
Graebert GmbH, Germany
"I used to write for CAD Systems magazine and followed the Canadian CAE/CAM/CAD scene. You are a world-wide legend! Keep it up!
- Susan Maclean
Sumac Communication, Canada
Notable Quotable
"The game is about grabbing as many users as possible."
- Mary Hope McQuiston, director of marketing and partnerships, consumer products group, Autodesk
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rakeshsharma/2013/11/20/autodesk-and-the-magic-of-transformation
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