SolidWorks 3D CAD Technology Design Blog

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There’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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