Yes as that warm fuzzy feeling that embraces you while you reside in that secure happy place Autodesk cocoon begins to go all Artcam on you I have something for you to consider. If you use that dog barker Inventor and you have been feeling the love from the Autodesk Hydra pseudopods surrounding you there is hope.
SE is offering a buy two get one free or discounts on add ons https://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/country/en-us/topic/solid-edge-portfolio-promotion/12642. I have never agreed with the idea you have to buy two seats to get this discount and have argued against it for years. If you want one seat to try it out or you are like me and you only need one this is a dumb offer. But if you find you might need two or more it is a good way to find out what SE is all about with PERMANENT SEATS so you have time to learn as you will and not that 30 or 45 day window that always seems to go by before you have done more than load it.
It infuriates me when leadership at software companies treat users/customers like garbage and in truth this is what started this blog some six + years ago. Sadly while SE management has been smothered by the UGS NX PLM World cabal who fear the growth of SE, SE itself is a world beater in MCAD and has small market share only because of people within Siemens and UGS who have sabotaged its growth. They believe that SE represents a threat to their precious NX God and they are right. The merits of SE are considerable and I have been a user since ST1. Certainly compared to Inventor the only reason not to look at SE is because you are too lazy to learn another program. IF you could be bothered to spend some time there you will find fewer clicks, better popup menus, direct editing that makes Inventors look worse than ST3 whereas SE is now on ST10 and they are actually making strides forward each year. Oh and silly of me to forget to mention they want you as a customer and you can rent or buy seats and they are not going up 10 to 15% or more per year.
Don’t let the inertia of what you know already stifle the discovery of something that will allow you to work faster and better with a rational work flow. If you must and desire something that is used far more often in this days world there can be no choice other than Solid Works. I don’t happen to like SW and I looked into it twice. Both time it just was bizarre to me and counter intuitive. SE just made sense and in fairly short time even if I did not know where the commands were I kind of knew where to find them. Now there are tutorials and search tool for these things but many of us only use these as a last resort it seems. Strange but true.
Anyway with the end of Artcam if there is any doubt about where Inventor is heading let me help you. This is the poor guy stuck with putting a happy face on what Autodesk is doing to Artcam customers. Sixth comment down says
Autodesk Have A Screwed Day Greetings
Here is the forum link. https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/artcam-forum/changes-to-autodesk-artcam/td-p/7758469
Now I have to tell you that Autodesk is axing developers and programs. More and more these poor Autodesk employees mention Fusion360 and have you checked it out yet? Can you imagine the internal cringe this poor guy has to even mention Fusion360 in the same breath as Artcam with such a huge difference in what the programs do? This raving subscription only idiot Anagnost is going to kill TONS of programs and demand that you adopt Fusion360 as a replacement even though it can’t be a capable replacement. This is how they will end Inventor and HSM and others. End the program and those pesky perpetual seat holders are also legally eliminated.
Do not ask for whom the bell tolls if you are an Autodesk customer unless you really want to know.
Machined Audio Horn Lens 