Did you know ST9 was released? I stumbled across this today much to my amazement. No industry whoopla, no promotions no industry buzz no nothing. Hidden in the dark corner recesses of another PLM World event where no SE users attend ST9 is released. Courtesy of Kill SE Jim Miller officiating the demise of SE for Siemens.
https://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/en_us/products/solid-edge/st9/
Pablum from industry “experts” who do not use SE for a living.
https://community.plm.automation.siemens.com/t5/Solid-Edge-Blog/Industry-experts-give-their-views-on-Solid-Edge-ST9/ba-p/349551
And finally a trial download link.
http://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/plmapp/se/en_US/online/Shop?ACTION=trial#ACTION=trial
Had a look and to say it was underwhelming would be an understatement. More cloud crap big deal. Pack and Go which should have been there ages ago and was available for free from a German company for years before Siemens SE ever got around to incorporating it. Perused through the short list of things and remember years gone by where really powerful new stuff was introduced and not this window dressing tinkering around the edges type of action in ST9. The wisdom of my stepping off the pay the same for less each year paradigm which apparently is now the future for SE is proven with this release.
Now admittedly my impressions are just that and I have not downloaded and played with the program to see if there is anything exciting in there for me. Quite frankly don’t expect to do so either since the bragging points in the official, such as they were, release literature hardly inspire desire on my end. You see when the decision was made to drop SE in ST8 after just squeaking by into it with my last years maintenance because there were no new features of worth to ME I had determined the future was bleak. ST7 was the peak year and last year of note and worthy of renewal dollars coming from me. Even had a discussion with Ally PLM about renewing at 50% off or not at all since there was nothing new for me I needed in ST8 and of course they refused and so did I. It is my money after all and why pay for nothing was my thought. ST7 had all the tools needed in admirable array and ST8 added a little to it but not much so I did move to it but was not going to pay any more money for it.
ST9 looks like nothing but confirmation that the serious removal of quality programmer talent from SE to primarily NX related things must be continuing unabated. Hate to say this since I am and was such a fan of SE. Still in daily use for virtually all my modeling and intend to do so for some time since I do have a permanent seat. It beats the pants off Inventor for instance. I have had a current permanent seat of Inventor Pro for two years and still have yet to make serious time to try to learn it. It is just clunky to use compared to SE so why bother going there until I absolutely have to. It is attached to HSM which is really awesome so I have it anyway. And at this time you can still get permanent seats with SE which IS a big deal. I will say once again if you are not a user of SE or have never been it is worthwhile for you to look into it. For you these tools will be fresh and powerful and a real aid in CAD productivity. But once you get your permanent seat and get up to speed with your user ability if things do not improve just step off the money merry-go-round. I don’t expect them to improve either and with the absolute animosity the UGS people have towards SE it is certainly at best in a stagnant holding pattern for an unknown period of time and perhaps forever. Until they can figure out what to do with this program they really don’t want and can’t sell. Chuck Grindstaff is a big UGS guy and Jim Miller is his boy from years ago and there for a reason. Make sure SE never has a chance to thrive again.
These top flight people with SE I have met over the years in Huntsville are being sold down the river along with customers who are getting less and less for their money. While I have promised an individual I will not write about Ironcad for a fixed period of time let me say this. Spent some time last week with a support guy from Ironcad and left wondering why the heck this program was not in far greater use. I will have more to say in the future but I can certainly say if you are not a customer of SE and you are looking for a good direct editing program you need to have a look. If you are a small design build house where you consume your own data for manufacturing and do not have to have a particular program just because your biggy customer demands so you really need to look. More to say later.
Machined Audio Horn Lens 
C’mon Dave! Sorry, I’m going to take the side of Siemens on this post. There are several reasons you release your software at an event like this:
1. It is an event attended by industry analysts with a lot of readership and clout. These people wouldn’t be attending a SE only event. This is an opportunity that provides SE more exposure.
2. If you look at the release of other products you would see that you need to release ST9 at the same time as Catchbook. This way you capture and tie the two products together and double exposure for the products-once again to a much larger audience.
3. If you look at the industry as whole, and I know you do that, you can see how the data migration tools are a HUGE win for SE. The biggest issue with any CAD switch is the issue of drawing files– what to do with them. Do you keep them as pdf, in the original tool or redraw/recreate them when there is a design change? The problem has been addressed in ST9. SE is providing the ONLY industry tool to migrate a drawing file from one software (SolidWorks) to another Solid Edge. This is a first in the industry! Combine that with the synchronous modeling toolset of SE ST9 and you see a pretty amazing tool.
4. So called “cloud”. Now here, it really isn’t cloud but data management and collaboration. Here SE is using common applications that users already have! No software to buy. This is a boon for users not a boondoggle! Since I do have mobile tools and workstations I am thrilled that I don’t have manage my settings and menus on multiple machines now. Storing them in the cloud is great..not to mention that this resolves licensing hassles!
Granted there may not be many new design features added to this version (I don’t really know this because the software isn’t available yet) but this version does provide a great tool chest to support design processes, collaboration and data migration. Which are all key issues for organizations that are creating more data now, than ever before. Not to mention that fact that we are on the move more- work from home, on the deck, at the airport and in the office. Now, this doesn’t apply to everyone but it does apply to a lot of potential and existing customers.
These are just my views of course.
Hi Ryan,
You and I will never see eye to eye on this cloud junk. Yes your credentials and data access online is a form of cloud because the data resides in part outside of your auspices and on someones server farm. I am sorry but the security problems far outweigh any convenience. Today I read of an Andoid app over at the Register where people have downloaded by the tens of millions and it has a back door to Chinese servers and the camera can be controlled and data entered in this smart phone goes right back to China. You go to the cloud for convenience I will stay away for safety and prudence. In the mean time these Android smart phone users who login to SE in the mean time give access to the Chinese for their CAD data. Convenience however should trump common sense in this day and time where people forget reality and just throw everything blithely out there with no thought for repercussions.
Double exposure to what audience if hardly anything is promoted outside of PLM World? Where no SE users go anyway and no one cares about SE. You of all people know that and you have seen it in person. So you roll out SE at an event where no users go and sometime in OCTOBER they have something for SE users. Please is this reality? Where is the campaign for SE? Where are the roll out events? Where are the promos to get people on board? They just are not serious in any way about this.
https://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/en_us/products/catchbook/ I had a look and just shook my head. This is a big deal?
Yeah Autodesk has been working on data import with Anycad now for a while so it is good that SE is trying to catch up. Of course SE has ST so Inventor can never be the capable direct editing modeler SE is. So Ryan with all these new goodies are you going to hop on board? Remember I look at this product solely as a small business owner who expects to see things they want and not what some PR dude thinks we need. I spend my own money and determine what is useful and hardly anything here is worth the continuing of maintenance.
As you say these are my views but I spend my own money arriving at them.
So its out is it? Well, well…
A quick look at the available info gives the impression there seems to be almost nothing new to publicise? Maybe that’s just a very poor write up though (we hope). Will I look any further to find out? Probably not.
The new ‘move to SolidEdge’ command will provoke a response in anyone who has been observing Siemens inaction of ‘well if you got your sh*t together as a company first then we might talk about it’.
I note that nothing has changed about the launch day effort in the last few years when I have looked in on it. In fact I would call it worse despite the criticism that was fielded about it. As you said ‘No industry whoopla, no promotions no industry buzz no nothing’. I guess if the makers don’t care about it why should anyone else? Yet again Siemens has done an excellent job of ensuring SolidEdge is a non event in the midrange CAD world and obviously that’s what’s truly important in the boardroom -continuity.
‘If we cant sell you NX we would rather not sell you anything’. (perhaps we can interest you in a train instead??)
Hi Neil,
Sad is it not? They clearly want SE to just do anything but succeed. I don’t know why they don’t just bite the bullet and offer NX lite to SE users and get it over with..