So, Was Hangin’ Out in CahnCord at SolidWorks HQ, and…

by Josh on August 5, 2009 · Comments

…there was no mass hysteria, freestyle finger punching or the slightest mention of how to blow a wasabi peanut out your nose. Disappointing? No.

Earlier this week, I had the privileged of spending 2 days with 8 other bloggers as guests to the SolidWorks User Experience Group, Labs, and Product Development Team. Yep, they flew in some bloggers, people that write about SolidWorks, sure, but these people are also users, some of which are beta testing and providing direct feedback to development on SolidWorks 2010. That’s why we were there. Here’s the rest.


UpdateWarning: Prepare yourself for pointlessness and namedropping, pointed out by some of the valued commentators below. This pointless post is likely to cause fist to be raised pointlessly because it’s just plain taunts you… in an indirect and pointless manner. Jim Wilkinson, Tom Spine, Nancy Buchino, Jeremy Regnerus, Lynn Cherney, Matthew West, Bob Miner, and Mike Puckett all agree.

Update 2: Looks like some other commentators marked the bad ones as ’spam’, so they got removed. I’ve put them back up.

The coolest stuff SolidWorks is working on is…

…stuff I can’t talk about. But just think of functionality you’ve really, always wanted in the software or some trends you’ve wondered if SolidWorks is even aware of. Yeah, take that and then throw it in the rubbish heap, cause it’s that and better. Honestly, they have some people there thinking. Thinking and listening – which is way more important. In the discussions we had with SolidWorks Product development, there was plenty of talk about how certain ‘things‘ should be handled. It mattered, they listened.

Lunch with Jeff Ray

Lunch with the guy that runs things? Sure, why not. We talked about everything from his days at IBM to an upcoming improvement in SolidWorks I want to tell you so bad about I’m about to go mad. I think I’ll just keep it to this… I’m looking forward to a certain task being MUCH easier. Is that general enough? Yeah, I think it is. He talked about hiring the right people, blogging, being on twitter, and the general state of the industry. Great discussion, but way too short.

Talking the Future with Jon Hirschtick

If you’ve seen Jon’s presentation of the 5 trends in the future of CAD, you’ll know about technology being watched, talked about and swung hard into the air to see if it will fly. Some, undoubtedly will. Other topics we talked about – Solidstate drives, portable devices, e-paper, and security. One suggestion of his. Read The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Tufte.

Get ready for SolidWorks 2010

We went deep on some of the 2010 enhancements. There we a lot of suggestions and comments flying around. Remember, these are user, educators and CAD admins. If you want to know what’s going on, best thing to do is get on the Beta team, download 2010 and check out the what’s new.

While we were there we saw the detailed functionality you would expect and responded to people responsible for certain aspects of the software. I’m actually trying hard to think of functionality being copied from other technology or CAD programs. While there’s certainly some inspiration, the consistency you’ll see throughout SolidWorks 2010 is more thought out than anything I’ve recently seen. You’ll be sure to see a review several places in the near future.

Anything Else?

If you’re wondering about anything from the trip, hit the comments. I’ll answers the ones that won’t give away too much, least my head be removed from my shoulders.

(12 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
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Comments
  • frankparenteau
    I think this post is totally justified, and was a great insight on how Solidworks listens to the users, which not many companies do. There are a lot of features i would love to see implemented into SWX and seeing a fellow user, and great blogger being personnaly invited gives me hope for the future of CAD work with this software. They listen to us, which is good to know. Also they seem to "get" the internet value by use of blogs and twitter. I can't wait to see what's in store in 2010, will look forward for future posts about the new stuff you were NDA'd about.
  • i'm thinkin the bloggers were a good group of chaps to send. They hear a wide range of SW users' thoughts and feelings and can bring that knowledge to the table. I'm sure Josh was an excellent Diplomat for the community that follows his blog.

    and the "wacky"ness on this site is just like the sprinkles on the great content or meat&potatoes. cuz sprinkles are great on just about anything.
  • Sprinkles! love it. thanks Jeff. Helps to know some people know our positions as engineers/designers/manufacturers that use SolidWorks and CAD nearly every day.
  • Ha harsh crowd today. Atleast we now know that there is some good stuff heading our way. It sounds promising and hey can you blame Josh for being excited about know all the new cool awesomeness? I know I would be.

    I think I sense some jealousy. I'm sure there is a lot of work that goes into this blog, beta testing, and time you have spent helping other people in the SW community.
  • Thanks for the post. It was great to have eyes and ears on what the trip was all about. Funny how people can get bent when they don't get to have their hand in the cookie jar. Many companies will do press or blogger meetings like this to coordinate a release of new technology and feeding us with what you can within the NDA was great and we all appreciate it Josh! Bummer that some readers don't understand that. Keep the posts coming!
  • We could do some speculation,
    More direct editing, windows 7 support, more social features (or collaboration is the fancy word I thought)
    They gave Solidsmack an Iphone so he keeps saying good things (yes, this is what you get with speculation :P )
    Owh and photoview 360 is gonna replace photoworks because photoworks sucks big time and photoview pwns.
    And Solidworks is gonna rip function X from cad program y, and visa versa.
    Owh wait did I forgot to say there is more Mac support comming for the apple fanboys, and that is the excuse to give Josh the Iphone :P
    But iI think the important things for end-users are those timy changes in the programs. No idea what that will be.

    Disclaimer
    This message represents the official view of the voices in my head
  • Mark Honnager
    Solidsmack,

    I tend to agree with Rajik, don't tease people. It's not fun to read. Your stuff is always interesting, although it often borders on pointless, and with this one, it's not even interesting. Either be wacky or leave off. I think people read this just to see wacky, not corporate shill name dropping.
  • Gotcha Mark, and thanks by the way - interesting, yet pointless - I'll take that :) No namedroppin' was meant, but yeah, pretty much looks that way huh. anyway you cut it, it looks like going to a company and talking with the people looks shilly and obnoxious. Maybe it would work if I say, "SolidWorks HQ smells like popcorn and old man diapers, but they are making a mac compatible history free version that makes your nipples spray pure gold." You're right. I'll stick with that ;)
  • mingsish
    if i had been drinking anything when i read that i would be popping all the buttons off my keyboard and running out of q-tips right now.
  • Lin SD
    Mark Honnager must came from Solid Edge, AutoDesk or Pro/E or reseller of above.
  • Rajik Karusastan
    What's the point of SW talking to bloggers if they don't want them to say anything? Isn't the point of having bloggers in the first place to say things? What's the point of your article here if you can't say anything? You might as well have left your message blank. Dirty name dropper.
  • yeah, lame isn't it. So, they talked to us partly because, I now have some things to say later on once the NDA is lifted and partly, because we're not just bloggers, but also, like I say in the first part, we use the software and have been beta testing it. Call it a trifecta or whatever.

    Personally, I like hearing about the top secret stuff on other tech, even though I won't know what's going on with it till later. Believe me, there was plenty of stuff they couldn't tell us about either, but it was still cool to know that it's going on.

    I hate 'namedropping' too, but yeah, those people we meet with have names, and I totally dropped them huh. well dang. There go a couple parts I could mention.

    Sure, I could have not posted anything at all. Instead, I thought I'd give you as much insight as I could.
  • diverso
    Comm'n guys,
    Josh just came back from the Chocolate Factory, he couldn't bring us candy, but at least let him mention Willy Wonka or Umpa Lumpas, give'm a break.
  • Jonoz Ptrezak
    Ja, I likes dis.
  • Thanks for sharing the pics and the details of the trip. I wish everyone had a great time.

    Looking forward to meet you all some day...
  • bigmikeo
    Maybe you should have told us how to orient a view so it would be considered "useful"?

    I have no problem with this post. Sure I'm jealous, but important people always get the benefits. Granted you wont get a star in Hollywood "important" but I still tune in for the details and the funny wacky stuff. Those are what make this blog worth reading. Maybe I should start a blog then I can go too, but I'm bad at details funny and wacky. Not necessarily in that order, or maybe in that order...so much for my blog I can't even decide on comments!
  • Thanks man. That's a good point, there's a lot of people that could go up to Concord and do the same thing. You don't have to be a blogger even. I'm almost positive they would give any user an ear or two, maybe even take them out for lunch, oh no!
  • "Dirty Name Dropper"

    Funny, it's like people ranting at the TV. If you don't like it. You know where the Off button is.

    Best comment string ever.

    Al
  • bigmikeo
    BINGO!
  • What is the fun in that?
    It's just a matter of time for the First FIRST!!!111!! reply :P
    And then all hope is lost.
  • Lin SD
    What do you guy eat BTW? Personally I hate people eating in office or meeting room, in this case,
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