Some thoughts on ST4 and Huntsville

  It’s Saturday morning and as I get ready to head out to a customers factory today for work I am reflecting upon what has happened with SE since I came on board three years ago. Here are some of the thoughts.

 A week is gone allready since Huntsville and I have been quite busy. This is not an SE post as much as it is a kind of lazy way for me to be able to say to everyone I met that it was a real pleasure to be there and meet you.

  This forum  ( the bulk of this was posted today on the SE BBS so thus the forum reference) and the way VELOCITY, with the backbone of the whole thing SE in tiny letters if at all, was being handled was a pretty discouraging thing when I first came here even though I liked the software. It certainly is not that way anymore .

  I believe that this Huntsville meeting (New Summit 1 ;-}) will in time be regarded as the time that marks the spot for SE having turned around in all areas.  I watched cynical and disparaging  long time users who really know their stuff get excited and leave excited.

  I remember chairing all the SE sessions at PLM World three years ago where just 37 SE users attended and it was an unhappy group. PLM World was a stuffy suit and tie kind of thing and SE users were as far as I can see a rolled up shirt sleeves hands on bunch stuck over in the broom closet. By the time it was over I was pretty disgusted with the whole situation. What a difference a few years make.

  Users can whine and carp about things and some of us can even make a big stink about it where ever they can find a chance to do so. And the web gives many chances now a days. But until there is a change of heart or a change of guards at the corporate level nothing good will happen. This user wants to express his sincere appreciation to those in corporate, you know who you are, that had the vision to see where SE could be and should be and determined to fight those with stultifying vision or direction. It was a thrill to be in Huntsville and see proof of concept in both software and dedicated new corporate support and direction.

  For those of you who missed this year, sorry but there will never be another one like this one was where you could have been at the new begining. But next year there will be another one with many more in attendance and you CAN be at that one.