In the Year '96, '96 *

Issue #900!

 

To celebrate the 900th issue of upFront.eZine and its 21st anniversary, I went back two decades -- back, back into our archives to see what was being reported by a one-year-old upFront.eZine in 1996.  At the end of 1995, I had surveyed 40 CAD vendors about their Internet plans. The results was a collective reaction of “Huh?” And so it was in 1996 that we saw the first stirrings of Internet-awareness among CAD vendors.   January 1996 Autodesk ships the c4 service pack of AutoCAD R13, the plagued release that required 11 service packs to repair its problems. The unfortunately-numbered Release 13, on the other hand, set the foundation for the future with objects, ARx, and IFCs -- all still used to this day.  Autodesk and Numera argue over who has the first Windows 95 logo-compliant CAD software. While AutoCAD was the first to receive the logo from Microsoft, Visual CADDwas the first to ship with the logo.   February 1996 Numera hands over manufacturing and distribution of Visual CADD to Corel, following which Corel reduces the price to $495. Novell closes down its Quattro Prospreadsheet (acquired from Borland) after selling WordPerfect to Corel. Later, Corel purchases Quattro Pro from Novell. Amid the deadline for proposals for VRML v2 [virtual reality modeling language],Netscape says it is convinced that "VRML is going to explode in a big way this year." This is the year that computing celebrated its 50th birthday, as the ENIAC computer was turned on for the first time on Valentine's Day, 1946. Windows 95 is proving to be a resounding success for Microsoft's GUI running on top of Digital Research's DOS. We would have to wait four more years for Microsoft to merge its VMS-based NT to make Windows 2000.   March 1996 SoftSource is the first to ship a plug-in for Netscape Navigator so that the popular Web browser can display DWG and DXF files. At the time, nobody cared, what with many CAD vendors questioning the need for such a product. Within four years, however, displaying, editing, and manipulating CAD drawings collaboratively in Web browsers becomes a primary focus of most CAD vendors. Bentley Systems bundles MicroStation with vertical add-on products to concentrate on three specific markets: Building/plant engineering Geoengineering. Mechanical engineering Later, it drops MCAD from the list. Seagate unveils the first 20GB hard drive at a time when 500MB is standard, some ten years after 20MB was considered plenty. By the year 2000, 20GB hard drives become common in most home computers, which will be used to store MP3 music files and JPEG digital photos after Kodak invents the digital camera and Diamond Multimedia popularizes the music player.    April 1996 Five years earlier, CAD vendors had struggled to adapt their software to Windows. Now in 1996, they begin the struggle all over again, except this time it is with the Internet. This month the A-B-C vendors (Autodesk, Bentley, Cadkey) tentatively stick their toes into murky Internet waters. (Murky, because no one at the time really knew which one of many Internet possibilities was the best one to follow.) Autodesk announces DWF [drawing Web format], which later becomes the basis of the Whip! plug-in for Web browsers for viewing drawings online; today Whip is called "A360 Viewer." [I think WHIP was short for "Windows HIgh Performance."]   Bentley licenses technology from Spyglass to add a Web browser to MicroStation; Spyglass is the same company from whom Microsoft licensed itsInternet Explorer.   Cadkey announces SiteSculptor, a shareware VRML authoring tool that uses 3D solids modeling and wireframe models; the product fails in the marketplace.  Neither integrated Web browsers nor VRML become particularly popular, and after a near-20-year battle of DWF against PDF, Autodesk gave in to Adobe. Apple fires ceo Michael Spinder, and then replaces him with Gilbert Amelio. IMSIships TurboCAD 3 for Windows 95.   The box for a later release of CorelCAD   May 1996 More Web-related developments occur this month as upFront.eZine comments that "We see this as a sign that the Internet is moving from being Major Media Hype to Just Another Tool for getting your work done."  Bentley releases a beta of its VRML import-export filter. Intergraph subsidiaryInterCAP converts its 2D CGM [computer graphics metafile] to a Navigator plug-in. (Intergraph was part-owner of Bentley Systems.) Numera muses over releasing Visual CADD as an enormous plug-in to allow users to view, edit, and plot Visual CADD drawings in Web browsers; while the plug-in was released as a beta, it never shipped formally. Nevertheless, the move foreshadows ASP [application service provider] software, in which CAD programs run over the Web, such as Alibre in 2000 and Onshape in 2015. As CAD vendors begin to adapt their file formats and CAD programs to the Internet, industry observers start to question whether VRML has a future in CAD.   June 1996 In a move that stuns the industry, Cadkey, Inc. sells its Cadkey and CuttingEdgemechanical software to Baystate Technologies, but retains its DataCAD architectural software. This event is the first of many mergers and buyouts that occur among CAD vendors over the next decades. Cadkey, Inc. changes back to its original name, Micro Control Systems, saying it wants to focus on developing 3D products for the Internet, such as converting its CODe CAD development system to JavaCODe; nothing comes of CODe or JavaCODe. Baystate later takes back the Cadkey name, but today is known as Kubotek. Nemetschek announces a Windows 95 version of their allPlan FT software for AEC. Until now, the software ran only on Unix and NT systems, creating a market-acceptance problem. The port isn't enough, however, and Nemetschek exits the North American market -- until four years later when it buys Vectorworks. Bentley Systems continues to demonstrate Objective MicroStation 6.0 with gee-whiz features like dragging a symbol from a Web site directly into the CAD drawing; the product never ships. A few years later, this sort of thing became standard in most CAD packages.  TailorMade Software releases a DWF-to-DWG translator; Autodesk never releases such a translator. Corel starts shipping its 3D ACIS-based CorelCAD for $249.   Article continues following this advertisement... ...article now continues. July 1996 Parametric Technology Corp gets into the AEC market with the purchase of the object-oriented Reflex CAD from England. The product fails, and PTC changes direction towards product collaboration with its successful Windchill PLM software.  Microsoft announces that Internet Explorer v4’s user interface will become the future interface for all its Windows applications. While the browser interface indeed becomes the interface of File Manager, it does not for any other application, even for those from Microsoft. Microsoft announces that Windows 97 will ship in a year's time. After a year-long delay, the product is renamed Windows 98. Vincent Joseph Innocentius Everts, the flamboyant Dutch head of Cyco Software, announces that he is marrying an American psychologist he met over the Internet. At 37, he says he thought he never would get married.   August 1996 The VRML v2 specification is released at the Siggraph show, but after taking so long to be developed, few care anymore. The VRML organization later becomes the Web 3D Consortium.  IDG launches JavaWorld as an online magazine, which continues to this day atwww.javaworld.com. While Java doesn’t take over the world as intended by its inventors at Sun Microsystems, it slowly and steadily makes a place for itself as a crucial component and background engine to Web pages, the Android operating system, and so on. At one time, the price of CadKey was reduced to $495 to spur sales but failed to bring greater profits. Baystate Technologies this month announces that Cadkey 97's price will increase from $795 to $1,195. Later, the price increases further to $2,195, and today the renamed KeyCreator stands at $3,295. From the failed experiment in ultra-low pricing, CAD vendors learned that low prices do not equate to higher revenues. Autodesk subsidiary Kinetix (today the Media and Entertainment division) announces a 3D Studio plugin for Netscape Navigator. Pangaea Computer systems releases a DGN plug-in for Netscape Navigator, something Bentley hadn't done. Eagle Point Software acquires SolidBuilder. A Swedish group releases bCAD for Windows 95.   September 1996 The US Department of Justice begins to look at how Microsoft conducts its business. After an investigation and lawsuit that lasts years, Microsoft is found guilty of monopoly-like behavior. Meanwhile back in Burma, ownership of modems and fax machines is made a crime punishable by 15 years in prison. Numera's Web site goes offline and its 800-number is disconnected. Users find out the hard way that the company burned through its investment money in developing a Windows version of Generic CADD. Today General CADD Products sells a Windows version that works like the DOS-based Generic CADD at www.generalcadd.com Autodesk announces "its most significant wave of Internet products to date" at Autodesk University in Chicago: Internet Publishing Kit for embedding URLs in drawings and saving drawings in DWF format (later integrated into AutoCAD 2000i) Internet version of their PartSpec library (later sold off) WorkCenter document management software for the Web (later sold off) Purchase of MapGuide for placing maps on Web sites (later sold off) Java-enabled Whip plug-in for Web browsers (later made obsolete)   October 1996 The managers of DataCAD Product Group form a new company, DataCAD LLC. They purchase the DataCAD software from Micro Control Systems (a.k.a. Cadkey, Inc.). To help improve sales of the problem-plagued AutoCAD Release 13, Autodesk dusts off  the '176 Reasons' campaign it had utilized to launch AutoCAD R12. The ad copy reads, "For all those who have been asking the question, 'Can AutoCAD Release really make my life easier?', we offer 176 yes's [sic]." When keen CAD users pour over the list, they discover four reasons are duplicates and 30 others were already available in Release 12.   November 1996 Corel acquires the source code for Visual CADD from Numera. Later, the code is sold to IMSI (maker of TurboCAD), then on to TriTools Partners, who continue to develop Visual CADD to this day at www.tritools.com. Baystate launches a lawsuit against Bentley Systems and the third-party developer who reverse-engineered Cadkey’s PRT file format. Baystate states it is concerned about the wording used in certain data structures of the translator. Baystate loses the suit. Bentley announces Engineering Back Office (later renamed ModelServer Publisher) at an eye-watering $24,500. They call it a "multichannel electronic publisher of engineering data," and it operates alongside their ModelServer Continuum, a $37,500 server for creating "a contiguous database of engineering and enterprise data."  Owen Wengerd releases CADlock, software that locks AutoCAD drawings to make them read-only. The software becomes popular by allowing clients to view and plot AutoCAD drawings, but not edit them. The software ends its run in early 2016.   User interface of an early version of AutoCAD running on Windows Autodesk announces that all future versions of AutoCAD will be written only for Windows 95/97 and NT, and changes AutoCAD's numbering system to match that of Microsoft's. Meanwhile, Microsoft CEO Bill Gate's new vision is that the computer desktop should be indistinguishable from the Internet; the result of his vision is 20 years of malware-infected misery that affects millions of users and costs the economy billions of dollars in lost data and wasted time. Spynet sues Microsoft over the "Internet Explorer" trade name.  Rumors fly that IBM..., no Hewlett-Packard..., no Microsoft plans to buy Autodesk for $1 billion. None of the rumors come true.   December 1996 The editor of MicroStation Manager magazine calls on Bentley Systems to "embark on a campaign to convert some of those dissatisfied [AutoCAD R13] users." Bentley instead targets Cadkey users after winning the lawsuit brought against it by Baystate. Bentley markets a "Cadkey Migration Package" that bundles its PowerDraft, Draft-Pak Mechanical, Cadkey Importer, QuickVision, and Engineering Links software, along with one year of support for $595. Autodesk announces that AutoCAD Release 14 will ship in July 1997, and raises the dealer price of AutoCAD by $300. Russian software company Top Systems releases T-FLEX CAD, a 3D modeling system. ZD Labs unveils a new benchmark that uses MicroStation 95 as its CAD component, partly because that version of MicroStation is available on thirteen operating systems.  Following several weeks of rumors, Autodesk and Softdesk announce in December a merger agreement valued at $72 million worth of shares. The price had gone up after PTC apparently made a counteroffer. Out of the merger come two entities that irritate Autodesk to this day: IntelliCAD and the resulting host of AutoCAD work-alikes, along with the Open Design Alliance.and its DWG read/write/edit libraries. Samsung Electronics says it will ship 1 Gbit DRAM chips in 2005. (*) A cultural reference. cf. "In the year 2525" by Zager and Evans   And One More Thing... Revizto says they're super-excited to invite all to an open beta of Revizto 4. This is one of the rare Web-based startups of the last few years that has actually survived, so that impresses me.      Here's what's new in v4: new markup system; importing 2D sheets directly from Revit, Navisworks and AutoCAD (including PDF sheets), without a model; the elimination of Revizto Editor being required as project sharing and management can be done through Revizto Viewer; improved merging and sync'ing; and automatic daily or weekly exports to Revizto.  Feel free to access the beta from https://beta.revizto.com.  Even More News There is more at our WorldCAD Access blog about the CAD industry, tips on using hardware and software, and our popular travelogues. You can keep up with the blog through its RSS feed and email alert service. These are some of the articles that appeared on WorldCAD Access recently: PTC explains how IoT [Internet of things] needs CAD Dassault describes its plans for Solidworks and the cloud Eva Franch keynote at Vectorworks Design Summit What we saw at the Vectorworks night in Chicago What's new in Vectorworks Images of new Vectorworks Features Live blogging: Vectorworks Design Summit Keynote  What's a Vectorworks User Conference? CAD Vendors Think This Many Customers Want Subscriptions This is the CAD vendor PTC worries over most  We're on Twitter at @upfrontezine with late-breaking CAD news and wry commentarythroughout the day, such as.... upFront.eZine (@upFronteZine) Mar 20: Why Adobe is so successful at selling subscriptions: $600/yr for ALL their software. Compare: Autodesk wants $360/yr just for AutoCAD LT. Letters to the Editor Re: upFront.eZine's 21st Anniversary PayPal.me didn’t work here in NZ, just said ‘not available in your region’, so logged in and hopefully sent via normal PayPal!     - Robin Caper The editor replies: Thanks for the tip. To send a donation to upFront.eZine through the normal PayPal channel, go to paypal.com and send an amount to [email protected]   - - - I use Tri-Tools Partners' Visual Cadd for most of my CAD, have used the product for 15 years and am very proficient.  It is a very easy to use 2D drafting package. I also can do some minor drawing using BricsCAD, enjoy your 'Inside BricsCAD' publications. Am working to learn 3D drawing, which is a bit of a struggle, but I am gaining on it. Have really enjoyed your weekly upFront.eZine. In reading your weekly post, I feel like I am rowing a one-man dingy and those you are talking to in your weekly post own megayachts. Keep up the great work, as I am working diligently to upgrade my vessel.     - Greg Burkhart The editor replies: In the real world most drafting is still 2D. Problem is, for CAD vendors, the money is in selling 3D, and so 2D gets overlooked by them.   - - -   I appreciate your writing.  The recent articles about Autodesk and the upcoming board battle could have appeared in the WSJ.  Thank you for your efforts and keeping a critical eye open.     -Martin van der Roest - - -   This email address is going away because I’m moving. Can you switch it?  If you’d prefer, I’ll cancel the old subscription and create a new one. Just hate to break the old account, since I’ve been such a long time reader.   Just in case there’s a trophy or something years from now for the longest subscriber.  Hate to give up such a huge lead.     - Ken Elliott The editor replies: I looked it up, and you first subscribed 01 Oct 1997 -- 2.5 years too late to be an earliest subscriber. Sorry! Mr Elliot responds: And just like that.... dreams shattered! Thank You, Readers! Thank you to readers who donate towards the operation of upFront.eZine: Donald Strimbu Tamas Badics: "Appreciate your efforts." Malcolm Davies of Techevate Software  Should you wish to support upFront.eZine through PayPal, then the suggested amounts are like these: $25 for individuals > paypal.me/upfrontezine/25 $125 for small companies > paypal.me/upfrontezine/125 $500 for for large companies > paypal.me/upfrontezine/500 If PayPal.Me does not work in your country, please donate through paypal.com to the account of [email protected]. Or you can mail a cheque, money order, or cash (US$ or CDN$ only, please) to upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd., 34486 Donlyn Avenue, Abbotsford BC, V2S 4W7, Canada.   Notable Quotable "I Can Only Be Angry Or Giddy About This Piece Of Technology"     - Techmeme Heds (@nottechmeme) on Twitter

*7246

Comments

[Samuel]

Great piece of skill being able to share and synchronize through Revizto Viewer.

[misigo]

great article on auto desk chronology

[Larry Leake]

Great retrospective - what a bizarre, twisted business CAD has been since the advent of the PC. So many wrong turns for so many companies - and the future doesn't look much better as everyone chases cloud based CAD/BIM while neglecting the day to day needs of typical users.