Archive for the 'Business' Category

Social Media and Branding the CAD-osphere

Published
by
Josh
on May 9, 2008
in Business and Rockin' Cool
. 0 Comments

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You’ll want to read Wiring Up an Event if you’re interested in the least, what is starting to come about in the the CAD world as it relates to the Web and the realm of social media.

You’ve seen my post about Why I like Twitter and while Blogs and RSS are still a mystery to some, more attention has been given to sites like Twitter and FriendFeed because the amount of immediate information available and the relationships that develop.

Doesn’t it just dilute the web?
If you already feel like there’s too much to manage online with your online accounts, forums and feeds, you’re not alone. A lot of people say that new sites like these that pull in you and all your friends information create too much to manage. To me, you know

Too much stuff
You may think, “I can’t afford to spend the time to investigate and be part of every social network out there.” It’s hard, I know, trying to figure out where everyone is it. Seems like a mad rush to here… then to here… then to THERE. when will the frenzy END!

It’s actually not like that, in my opinion. Sure, there’s people carrying on conversations around you, but you’re having your own. You can choose and you get to know the people you closely relate to.

The company
For companies or anyone wanting a presence on the web to promote their service, it’s critical to be involved in the media that provides a presence. You can spend money all day on expensive advertisements, but nothing gets across to the consumer like an actual conversations.

The best example I see daily is Tony, the CEO of Zappos Shoes, interacting with poeple via his Twitter profile. Why does it matter so much to him?

Branding is just a word. It takes away from the real goal which is relationships and those are important whether you’re a multi-million dollar business or the cubicle engineer… especially if your the cubicle engineer. Get out there!

Traditional Once Again
So once there was traditional media. Now the current social media is becoming traditional, in the same sense, as new site emerge that promote more involvement of the users and interaction from the ivory tower inaccessibles. The CAD industry has been slow to pick this up… but I feel it gaining steam.

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Internet Trends: Affecting CAD and the Way You Work?

Published
by
Josh
on May 5, 2008
in Business
. 5 Comments

“Yeah Josh? Ya know, what could be more boring that looking at trends?… especially ‘interweb’ trends?… la..ame. Move on!”

I kinda agree, trend watching is a bit DULL, but they can be oh so revealing when it comes to technology. Here’s the golden egg, Internet Trends are technology adoption trends. That’s key, cause those people adopting the tech are the same people buying software and designing the fine accoutrements of modern village living you enjoy.

Hey, look, those people are also you.

So, all this is why I’ve been totally devouring a report Morgan Stanley put out last month detailing internet trends that is actually very interesting.

Connect the dots please
This report shows how communication is changing and who’s using more technology. It may be hard to connect internet trends to CAD when you first look at the report, but as soon as you notice where online time is being spent (pg. 9) and peer into the margins of internet users (pg. 61) you can see 1) a huge market segment if you’re a CAD vendor and 2) the way you as a designer or engineer work (and possibly, where your jobs are going) changing rather drastically.

Here’s an example. I like the iPhone Facebook App. I’m not saying ‘raaaagggh!! CAD needs be on the iPhone in the future!!’. That’s just stupid… and also totally possible. (“you can draft an E-size sheet on a computer you fool. HAHAHAA.”)…. But anyway, when I use a Facebook app on an iPhone or spend time on a site with a easy-to-use interface, it makes me wonder why computer programs (that apparently have more programming capabilities) don’t work as easily. Ya know…I’m just sayin. You may be one of these people too. What do you think?

Does anyone think internet trends relate to CAD in any way?

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Siemens PLM Excites Onlookers With ‘New’ 3D CAD Technology; Many Soaked

Published
by
Josh
on April 23, 2008
in Business
. 14 Comments

excited.jpgIf you were standing on the corner of the CAD block yesterday, you had obscure CAD terminology splashed all over your new pants. Everyone and their step-uncle’s mom was waxing intellectual about the ‘newest-in-new, right-up-in-your-face- and-hit-you’ CAD tech announce by Siemens PLM called (prepare for large phrase that makes you mildly uninterested)… ready… “Synchronous Technology.”

Ok, before you head off to LifeHacker, check this out… the cadmosphere is a-changin’…
Continue reading ‘Siemens PLM Excites Onlookers With ‘New’ 3D CAD Technology; Many Soaked’

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A Conference. It’s Big and All About CAD

Published
by
Josh
on April 7, 2008
in Business
. 0 Comments

cofes2008.jpgThere’s a conference that has been taking place for, oh, about the past 9 years, where the elites of the CAD industry get together and mash-up all the collective information and emerging interests of the CAE (Computer-aided engineering) industry.

The conference is called COFES2008: The Future Of Engineering Software. It sounds like your boring my-stuff-is-better-than-your-stuff kinda shin-dig right? While it probably its stuffy moments, the agenda paints a different picture.

Great Topics
I’m particularly surprised at the amount of roundtables and keynotes on the social sphere and the semantics of information and knowledge. Ya know, all the networking type sites on the web and the push toward interoperability between each? These aspects are pretty much non-existent in the CAD industry. The  industry has seemed slow to adopt the idea of the web as a source of growth, or rather REVENUE, because exploiting it just doesn’t make that much sense. Oh, and there’s even a discussion on World of Warcraft and how the next generation will have different expectations about design tools. Interesting.

My Bet?
My bet is that many of the presidents, VPs, and other decision makers come out with a bunch of ideas about making more items available online before the other guy. Pessimistic huh? My hope, however, is that everyone comes out with better ideas on simplicity in program and technology design and understanding the problems of increased complexity for users. Is that too much to ask?

Via Deelip Menezes. Have fun out there.

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There’s Cold Soup in My Technology: Two Sides of Yesterday’s Future Tech

Published
by
Josh
on March 25, 2008
in Business
. 3 Comments

fresh-cold-soup.jpgIt’s odd how time beats things into submission and then also how soup gets cold so fast. And when I say “time” I mean those geeky and mildly disturbed types that actually live on cold soup while they create new apps and innovations from their basement. Yeah, and it’s even more odd to see what some people thought years ago about the future those guys bring about and then how it actually turned out.

How you live and work now probably doesn’t even phase you. Talking with people instantly. hello? That is insane. I bet your ‘musicbox’ doesn’t have any wires and you can send your ‘Polaroids’ instantly through space. suuuuure.

I imagine there will always be two opinions about the futuristic future (R.I.P. Arthur C. Clark.) One pessimistic, one optimistic. I’ll take whichever one sounds cooler, laugh at the other and see what happens. However, if you look at two version from the years gone by, it’s kinda obvious which route technology took.
Continue reading ‘There’s Cold Soup in My Technology: Two Sides of Yesterday’s Future Tech’

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Day and Dean Wrap It Up at MCAD

Published
by
Josh
on February 27, 2008
in Business
. 4 Comments

dark-cloud-london.jpgA black cloud rose over London, children abandoned the lush playgrounds of Bishop’s Park and all the produce had gone rotten. Time slowed and what was once a heralded historical moment suddenly became a memory lost.

And then all that nonsense was blasted away with a couple two-week notices, a set of final articles and a ting of maniacal laughter from the editorial duo Martyn Day and Al Dean formerly of MCAD Magazine.

Al’s still on the roster till the end of the week, but their last articles can be viewed online at the links below. At the very least you have to read Martyn’s Dassault V6 preview and Al’s SolidWorks World 2008 coverage. Excellent.

Who knows what they’ll do next.

Martyn Day
Dassault launches Catia V6 platform
PTC press and analyst day

Al Dean
SolidWorks World 2008
Blue Ridge Numerics interview

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Microsoft Should Wash Hands Before Touching Photos

Published
by
Josh
on February 13, 2008
in Business
. 6 Comments

microsoft-vs-yahoo.jpgOne of the most interesting things to come out of the continuing saga of Microsoft buying out Yahoo is a group of people that have banded together in a Flickr Photo Pool aptly named Microsoft Keep your Evil Grubby Hands off our Flickr.

For those that don’t know, Flickr is owned by Yahoo. Some think the consolidation will destroy what has been the internet’s most popular photo management and sharing site.

The fears are that Microsoft will either moderate and censor photos or take away the open nature of the site and the Flickr API (Application Program Interface). Really, It’s all the same concerns that arose when Yahoo acquired Flickr… and so it goes on.

With Flickr’s popularity, Microsoft will certainly not shut it down as it has done with other companies, but the most definite integration with Windows Live may make some people cringe. On the top end of the spectrum however, this may help their search market share. There may be an increase, but even combining Microsoft and Yahoo together doesn’t begin to approach Google’s dominance in the market.

jc-searchsharejan07-11.gif

Oh, have you noticed? This has gone on for a long time.

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John McEleney Elected to Board of Directors at Stratasys

Published
by
Josh
on December 20, 2007
in Business
. 1 Comment

john.jpgWondering what John McEleney has been up to since leaving SolidWorks?… Yeah, me neither, really, but it’s kinda interesting that he just got elected to the the BoD at Stratasys.

Beside’s having a cool sounding name that makes you want to keep repeating S’s’ss’ss’ssss, they are the “leading provider of 3D prototyping technology.”

He can probably give them some good guidance, being that he was the CEO and all of SolidWorks. You go John.

Stratasys Press Release

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200cc’s of SolidWorks STAT: Should You Upgrade?

Published
by
Josh
on December 14, 2007
in Business
. 2 Comments

200cc-of-solidworks.jpg

I imagine software upgrades like vaccines. I’m one of those people that don’t get them just because they tell me I’ll die if I don’t. I check it out first. Sometimes it’s unnecessary, contains mercury, arsenic and just the right amount of recombinant mouse DNA to give your body a delayed hypersensitivity reaction.

SolidWorks Legions brings up some interesting thoughts on the SolidWorks release cycle and makes a suggestion. A 2-4 year release cycle. How would you like that? Upgrading SolidWorks every couple years?

Well, while it’s certainly feasible, here’s why it would work and why it wouldn’t work.
Continue reading ‘200cc’s of SolidWorks STAT: Should You Upgrade?’

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PTC Goes History-Free, Buys CoCreate

Published
by
Josh
on October 31, 2007
in Business
. 18 Comments

ptccocreate.jpg

You may have seen the news about Dassault’s poor earnings yesterday. Well, as suspected, PTC (Proe/E, MathCAD) is reporting higher earnings. But, that’s not the interesting part. PTC also announced they are acquiring Germany-based CoCreate, another 3D CAD System, for…get this… 250 million. That’s about $2500 per seat CoCreate reports having. not too shabby.

Why would they buy CoCreate?
CoCreate is a history-free modeler. Pro/E, like SolidWorks, is history-based. History-based modelers makes a list of each feature you create with latter features dependent on previous features. History-free modeling is thought to free up the modeling process by taking away those dependencies that otherwise constrain your design. CoCreate has a fair number of seats. This along with the history-free modeling approach gives Pro/E a wider audience. Mechanical CAD definitely seems to be moving toward this history-free approach and I imagine that is why they are taking that direction. A similar history-free product making some waves is SpaceClaim.

What’s Dassault going to do?
I think this is bit of a bigger threat to Dassault than AutoDesk’s threats of combining Inventor and Alias or bringing better surfacing capabilities into SolidWorks. This changes the way modeling is done and the approach that 3D Mechanical CAD has been thought of. Even though AutoDesk is doing one thing and PTC is doing another doesn’t mean Dassault has to follow suit. Whatever Dassualt does, whether it is buying a company like SpaceClaim or souping up SolidWorks surfacing, it seems to me like it would be a history-free, PLM, 3DVia, Microsoft concoction. If Microsoft wasn’t in the mix it would probably be a SketchUp PLM of sorts.

So, whatcha think? Now that PTC has a history-free modeler, what’s Dassault and AutoDesk going to do?

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