Tag Archives: ZW3D

Tagged Autodesk, Dassault, direct editing, Inventor, Solid Edge, Solidedge, solidworks, Synchronous Technology, ZW3D

Dropbox Now a Pervasive Cloud Security Breach for Your Corporate Data

Posted on April 25, 2013 | 1 comment

Oleg Shilovitsky responded to my post on Intel’s position on the cloud. In his response I was a bit floored to realize what a danger employee rebellion has become and the obvious lack of security methodology at many places that would allow this to even happen. Here is an article he wrote about this.

PLM Cloud Concerns and Dropbox Reality for Engineers

As an aside here I am coming to the conclusion that with the advent of Google Glass creating a whole new category of corporate espionage potential not only will you have to prevent “Glassholes” at work you should probably terminate “Bring Your Own Devices” too. But this is a separate issue that will have to be enforced by any security conscious company. As a philosophical thing here I am appalled at the idea of Google Glass and the erosion of privacy both for people and companies this abomination represents. The jeopardy Glassholes represent in so many ways staggers the imagination. Just like street view but only on steroids and following you everywhere and anywhere you are whatever you are doing and a Glasshole is present in public in private and at the workplace. And somewhere Google has a record of everything and don’t doubt for one second that the audio and visual recording capabilities of this stuff will be used by Google when the wearer does not request it. Or a hack job from somewhere will turn it on at demand from an external source just like the one for the iPhones a while back. Just like Adobe did by enabling audio and camera recordings without asking permission to do so a while back. The singular common preventable problem here is access to external elements like the internet or cell phone networks

What I address here today is yet another reason to prohibit any design and manufacturing data access to the cloud and apparently the only method that is going to work is complete isolation from the peril the cloud represents. Look, Dropbox is a cloud thing on cloud servers and you read the fine print and they make no guarantees of security and there will be nothing to make your IP loss whole to compensate your company for it’s loss. It is just another convenience for people to use for file transfers that sadly happens to be just another shopping cart for whomsoever will and has the talent to do so. Verizon does a study on this called Data Breach Investigations Here is one http://www.verizonenterprise.com/resources/reports/rp_data-breach-investigations-report-2012_en_xg.pdf

Please note the graph on page 16.

The vast, like 98% or so, of your clear and present danger according to them is external. While they don’t break it down this specifically I would assume that employees using Dropbox and the data being hacked from Dropbox would constitute itself in the external threat category even though it’s origin was an employee. But truthfully it’s origin was that this employee had access to the cloud with your data and the only method of prevention would have been NO CLOUD ACCESS AND NO ACCESS TO ANY EXTERNAL NETWORK. I question the 98% figure as seeming to be high but have no way of doing so with knowledge so I am going to have to accept their numbers.

Add yet another way to the myriad of ways that the cloud is your enemies best friend and your competitors best expenditure of “Research and Developement” funds.

1 Comment

Tagged 3d design, Autodesk, camworks, Dassault, direct editing, Solid Edge, Solidedge, solidworks, Synchronous Technology, ZW3D

ZW3D 2013 Beta, Dirge not Drumroll

Posted on January 29, 2013 | 2 comments

Downloaded the Beta of ZW3D 2013 today for the heck of it. I am trying to figure out whether I am disgusted or angry that this is supposed to be worth more money for subscribers. Maybe it is both. I think this is the end of any promise for ZW and they have basically been stagnant for years.

I have used VX/ZW since version V9 and all I can say is that this is it. I am sitting here and wondering how it all went so wrong for this company. Problems stay for years and changes for this version are trivial at this point in time for this beta version. They had better really have some wonderful stuff in the offing for official release if they intend to keep most of their customer base much less acquire any amount of new ones. I went to my hot button areas looking for improvements and just nothing. This is at this time a service pack update at best and most certainly not worthy of the title of version update. Considering how things are going here I will quite frankly be surprised if 64 bit is reliable and useful when it is finally released, or so they say, for this fall. I don’t think ZW has a clue about how fast they are falling behind their competitors. Supposedly the USA code writers for the core of VX/ZW are still being used and if they can’t do any better perhaps they are the real problem and not the Chinese. With this release I see more clearly why Dan Micsa left. Anyway.

I use Solid Edge for all my cad and I measure the ability to direct edit against SE. ZW shows absolutely no improvement in their crude to the extreme DE. It is by far the worst out there I know of and I think from what I have seen even Move Face in SW is more useful. I did not look at anything else in cad except sheet metal as I just don’t have any interest. Sheet metal is still worse than cheaper Alibre as far as I can tell based on knowledge of ZW and what I have seen with Alibre. CAM was my principle interest as sadly I do still use this on a regular basis while I wait for integrated CAM for SE. Which by the way is well along and I would guess that we will see the RTM roll out at SEU2013 this June and a beta some time before then I am sure. Geometric is the author and interestingly enough they were the first with SW too. Kind of a good indicator of where SE(up) and SW(down) are both heading. As compared to ZW which came from nowhere and is going nowhere. Anyway, back to the red headed step child. I was totally aggravated at the cosmetic changes made to the GUI and in the CAM side which merely means you have to learn where to find some things again which is no big deal but along with that is more mouse clicks to do things. We all need more mouse clicks. The changes are counter intuitive to me and I don’t have anything good to say here. Same tool paths on the face of it all with the ones I tried. I did not try to work with most to see if the same problems are still there after turning away in disgust over the ones I did try. QuickMill is their premier machining strategy and they still do not have trochoidal machining. You see some attempts at this once in a while at unpredictable times but every time I tried it all I got was tool paths that still buried your end mill in way to many degrees of engagement. In this day and time this endill breaker is still the best they can do?? You can compensate for this with automatic feed control but in pure cubic inch metal removal per hour ZW is so far behind any other capable CAM program with Volumill or Truemill or HSM type tool paths for instance that it is pitiful. Can you tell I really enjoyed my morning with ZW? The promise of beta for 64 bit in a couple of months sounds really scary as the release of 64 bit still is not until FALL of 2013. There is no doubt in my mind that ZW basically has been a stagnant product for around four years now and if they don’t do something really significant soon they are toast. I don’t know anyone who uses the lathe part of ZW so the one big deal for CAM has kind of fizzled. Buy ZW for your competitor down the street and win more business for yourself.

As a spot of merriment to brighten up my days filled with anger over how clunky ZW is when I machine I consider how much fun it will be when I finally get a new CAM program and can announce a contest for my old ZW dongle. The person who comes up with the best use for a useless dongle will win it. As a dust cover for a USB port however is ruled out as I already use mine for this. It is the only thing it does in truly exemplary fashion. I am thinking maybe using it for a spinner fishing lure body could be pretty cool to.

SO, anyone who is interested in a ZW 2012 dongle be thinking, mine will soon be available. I don’t know if you can legally use it and I really don’t care what you do with it but it just might be yours and you argue with ZW about just what they may let you do.

HEY, there is one good thing here though. At least they are not going to the cloud 😉

http://www.3dvision.com/wordpress/2013/01/14/the-sky-is-not-falling/

Tagged ZW3D

Ten Year Plan or No Plan, What Would You Prefer?

Posted on January 15, 2013 | Leave a comment

OK, I am going to take a stab at being an unpaid junior marketing guy for Solid Edge today. Really it is an easy job because the very nature of the difference between Dassault’s handling of Solid Works and Siemens handling of Solid Edge is huge. Now I am not talking PR here because basically it does not exist at Solid Edge when compared to Solid Works. In this area SW has a plan and SE seemingly does not. I am going to talk about where companies are headed with their products.

Sometimes you read things and you just have to respond. Matt Lombard http://www.dezignstuff.com/blog/?p=8244
has come up with two posts this past week that have inspired me. Both of his posts made reference to fear in the heart of Solid Works VARS and today we have this. After this web page was posted it was quickly removed from view.

Now the beauty of the web is once posted never gone and so the page lives on. The Sky Is Not Falling is a heck of a thing for an SW VAR to feel compelled to talk about just before SW2013. I can only imagine the flack his customers are giving him for him to post this topic.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vYjAGQcfZ58J:www.3dvision.com/wordpress/2013/01/14/the-sky-is-not-falling/+http://www.3dvision.com/wordpress/2013/01/14/the-sky-is-not-falling/&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

MATT has amended this part of his post referencing The Sky is Not Falling and you may go there and read why at the first link. Obviously this was not written recently but it still was a topic this VAR thought to bring up so for that alone I will leave the reference and comments in. I think there are probably a number of VARS who wonder about a lot of things with Dassault.

So we have a VAR wondering why Solid Edge has an anemic nearly non-existent ad campaign against troubled Dassault and a VAR who does not want to feed the apprehension of nervous SW users. These two are related due to one thing and that is the plans Dassault has for it’s cash paying customers and the VARs stuck in the middle of this mess. Dassault is busy creating weird stuff like Minimoys and software to see how your grocery store shelves might look. How about the abortive attempts at things like N!FUZE and the Cloud?

Here we are two years later and the poor SW user still has no idea of the real plans for SW and indeed he has been in limbo since Jeff Death Ray whipped his blaster out and promised the end is nigh. There are verbal promises and no binding time frame commitments about the future of Parametric based SW. We read about Catia Lite. Lots of press releases with glowing marketspeak gobbledegook no user wants to hear accompanied by how many abortive products since 2010?

I think these are symptoms of a plan no one at Dassault corporate wants to talk about. Either because they are embarrassed at how much failure has accompanied their first stated time lines and product launches or because they are hoping to create a cloud based Catia Lite they can ease their customers into without bleeding to death. All of this is part of the cloud model whereby they hope to, in my opinion, force users into perpetual no permanent seats pay to play chattel for a number of reasons. Primarily more of your money in their pockets in ways that can’t be stopped until you leave them or maybe even as long as you want to use “your” intellectual property. By the way dear reader whose property are your creations if you have to pay someone for the privilege of using what you have created on the cloud hmmm?

So you say, how can you prove that Mr Dassault badmouthing guy! I don’t sit on the board at Dassault but I can read between the lines. SW has no direct editing capabilities to speak of and they are not going to have it on Siemens Parasolid Kernal. You are going to have to have this capability to survive at the top of the MCAD heap. Yes I know the Parasolid Kernal is sold in its entirety but if you think there are not goodies there that make Synchronous Tech work for NX and SE that are not for sale to competitors you are just plain silly. And just like Autodesk I think the desire for chattel is so great at the corporate level that they are willing to risk jeopardizing their companies future in this effort. They truly think the bother of switching will be so onerous that most will never leave. So to date their actions speak louder than their words and the actions are to switch SW to the CGM kernel and users to the cloud eliminating Siemens Kernal and user freedoms in one fell swoop.

SW users think about these things and so do the VARs who do things like pull the above article so as not to feed the fire with SW users. If you don’t want your customer to know what you really intend use the weapon of marketspeak and baffle them with bovine stuff. This is not the sign of a company that has an honest plan they intend talk about with you the CAD user.

It is kind of strange to talk to Karsten Newbury who is head of Solid Edge Velocity products for Siemens. He uses plain language totally bereft of all that marketing jargon and he either says this is what we intend to do or I can’t talk about that with you. But he is willing to share the TEN YEAR plan that Siemens expects it’s companies to operate by. There is no plan to switch kernals or go to the cloud. No gamification or any of that useless social media stuff. Look I am not putting the simple creation of basic CAD or viewing the same on gutless hand held devices in this social media category but rather this whole Experience thing which wants to propel you into an online community of some sort to create CAD. WOW not only CAD but all of your crowd sourcing buddies and Facebook friends will be there too with the internet leaking all your data left and right to hackers!! Who comes up with this junk for a business model anyway?

At this time I find only one basic philosophy and delivery model being planned for Solid Edge. To become the best mid range geometry creation MCAD program out there whose primary objectives ARE to have best in class direct editing, to solve geometry and not have to use the cloud to do it. The next is to have a complete manufacturing ecosphere in place where you never have to step outside of SE and it’s integrated partners to do it all. Of course NX has been there for some time.

This is a contrast that appeals to me. Do I pick software with no clear direction and contradictory statements about the future abounding and being forced to the cloud to boot. Or do I at the age of 59 buy a product whose goal is best in class geometry and where I know exactly what to expect until I retire with a cohesive corporate plan they will clearly lay out for me.

So Mr. marketing guru here is Dave’s whole cad user marketing strategy. Promote the truth in plain language of your direction and your goals for the software. Talk about the capabilities and integration of ancillary programs to make it all work end to end to manufacture by. No BS, no Cloud, permanent seats, no kernel change, and corporate stability. Show how direct editing allows me to edit parts from SW and Inventor easier than the creators in their own products with imported dumb solids.

Now I am going to mention PROE here briefly. I don’t know much of anything about them and neither do CAD users I know personally. We all know they exist and were the King of the hill at one time but basically nothing more. So I figure they are a legacy program living off of those who never bit the bullet to change. Kind of like what I figure the fate of future SW users will be. When I talk about major mid range MCAD companies I am talking about Dassault’s Solid Works, Autodesk’s Inventor and Siemen’s Solid Edge.

At this time even though their marketing department is in limbo only Solid Edge has the corporate planning stability that I need, security now and in the future I have to have by being allowed to work offline and management that actually wants to know and incorporate geometry creation capabilities users want. Whose plan do you want to buy into, yours or theirs?

I chose to buy into the company that buys into what I need for mine for now and the future. NOW MR Marketing Guy, that was not so hard after all was it?

Tagged 3d design, Autodesk, camworks, catia, Dassault, direct editing, Fusion 360, Inventor, manufacturing, NX, Siemens, Solid Edge, Solidedge, solidworks, Synchronous Technology, ZW3D

Solid Edge Social Community

Posted on January 7, 2013 | 2 comments

I want to announce the formation of the Solid Edge Social Community. Here is the link to it. http://www.soliddna.com/SEcommunity
This has been started by Luc Poulin of SolidDNA who is linked to here at the sidebar.

I think it bears a bit of commentary as to who Luc is and why you should go there if you have an interest in Solid Edge. I first met Luc at PLM World in Nashville 2009 where he was one of 37 Solid Edge attendees. Well before there was a re-establishment of the new SE community he had an interest and was there on his own dime. He has been an active part of the revival of the Solid Edge community not so much with his web sites as with his prolific technical support and how to’s which show up on a regular basis at the Siemens BBS forums and pretty much where ever SE users congregate. Behind the scenes he has been of material help to people like myself, Matt Lombard and many others on how to do things or solve problems.

While I am involved in the use of SE and helping to create a community for users I have never considered myself an expert user of Solid Edge. My business does not require me to be and my plate is full enough that I learn what I need. Luc on the other hand IS an expert and is well regarded by people who go as far back as Solid Edge V1.

He has toyed with the idea of creating a community forum for some time now that would be open to the public that would be geared towards anyone who was interested. I remember discussing stuff like this with him 3.5 years ago. I think highly enough of Luc to have recommended him to Siemens in the past to be a liaison for the French speaking community of SE users in Canada (eh!).

Luc has however remained independent for whatever reason and this is his forum created because he likes Solid Edge and thinks you should too. Luc also has a back ground in actual manufacturing software such as CAM so he knows how all of these tools of ours are supposed to inter-relate to allow us to be productive in our work. I think that outside of Eng-Tips and the official Siemens BBS this site of Luc’s deserves to become within the next year one of the top forums for SE. (As a side note here Eng-Tips while valuable has some odd notions of what is proper and you can’t post things about user groups or conferences or whatever else they don’t like at that time. Eng-Tips is a commercial site and is moderated with their own special interests in mind first and foremost.) I want to encourage everyone who will to go there and register and even more importantly to contribute in some way. Active volunteers and community participants at this time are far and few between with Solid Edge. Really this is true for any CAD software as when you think of the number of subscribers compared to the number of people who participate online very few are there and I think the vast majority who show up are lurkers.

But the establishment of a network of communication which Luc’s forum will help to do has far reaching potential consequences for those who will help.

Networking between users is hard to do when the VARS and software authoring companies keep the lists of subscribers in a vault you never have access to. They generally are not going to help you find other users in your area. Networking between individuals is how you find work, get work, get hired, improve your professional career and most importantly in some ways find a local source of talent you can go to with your laptop and file when you need to be bailed out. The side benefit of enjoying the company of your peers is also well worthwhile in my opinion.

So go there and help kick start this thing with Luc. Stay there and help make it happen. Now I am going to talk to the SE users who primarily participate only on the BBS about something I think is important. For some reason SE users are some of the most insular people I have met in the software world. Pretty independent minded and self reliant they have for the most part only communicated behind the closed doors of the BBS forums and rarely venture into the world at large. Now I am going to say that some of these guys were a big help to me when I started and still are but only on the BBS and rarely do you see these uber users in the public eye or forums. I think it is time for this to change and for these talented individuals to help get this community going. I think Luc’s site is a fine place to start and it is time to do more than show up at something once a year and hide in a closed forum for the rest of it. Did I just say that? Well, really, did I mis-state the truth? I know how many of you guys are excited about the revival of the yearly conferences but I am telling you this is only part of the puzzle to be put together. The university will last four days this year. The forums however last all year and should be an integral part of serious SE users who see value in the growth of SE and the community to their future.

http://www.verizonbusiness.com/about/events/2012dbir/

Tagged 3d design, Autodesk, camworks, Dassault, direct editing, Inventor, NX, Proe, Siemens, Solid Edge, Solidedge, solidworks, Surfcam, Synchronous Technology, ZW3D

Autodesk Sez Don’t Worry Be Happy!!

Posted on December 27, 2012 | Leave a comment

This is going to be a long post today. It covers a topic that is in direct response to people like Carl Bass at Autodesk 2012 and Teresa Payton former Whitehouse CIO who was a speaker there. In thinking about this whole cloud thing and the amount of blatant deception that accompanies it I can only say I am disgusted with how patronizing and duplicitous cloud purveyors have become towards people who are their target markets. This will quote from the Cadalyst articles on Autodesk 2012 and I respond accordingly. This will also quote from Verizon Data Breach Investigations.

These are lengthy reports but I will quote from two of them. These individual reports for 2011 and 2012 can be found at the link above.

Two quotes of interest. 2011 pg 4 “We are often asked whether the cloud factors into many of the breaches we investigate. The answer is “No–not really” It’s more about giving up control of our assets and data (and not controlling the associated risk) than any technology specific to the cloud.”

2012 pg 33 top “Web applications abound in many larger companies and remain a popular (54% of breaches) and successful (39% of records) attack vector.”

The common thread in all these problems in the above reports is reliance on the web. Autodesk when they demand you go to the web forces you to be subject to a myriad of things forever beyond your control. They know this and will leave you on your own when problems strike. Proof of this is found by their own words as you read on. One of the more disturbing aspects of the above studies where CAD creation is concerned is that they feel that many IP thefts are not detected and so subsequently not reported. Unlike financial data where a loss is generally quickly detected because of math discrepancies IP theft may never be detected as how do you police an idea incorporated into competing products? Maybe you find out when your competitor beats you to the patent office with your design. Maybe you find out when knockoff products flood the world designed with your time and money and produced by the Chinese and their shopping carts.

http://www.cadalyst.com/collaboration/autodesk-and-cloud-part-1-customers-039absolutely039-will-have-a-choice-15251

And

http://www.cadalyst.com/cad/product-design/autodesk-and-cloud-part-2-fusion-360-will-deliver-professional-level-cad-cloud-15

These first two segments go together because it concerns Bass’s statements and Fusion 360 and deceptive promises of concern for customers security. From part 1.

“I think there are a huge number of obstacles to every organization, you know, adopting cloud technology, and I don’t think they’re insignificant,” Bass told the media. “The … one that jumps to everyone’s mind is the question of security — privacy, liability — something around levels of service in some ways and concern about confidential information. I think some of those will fall by the wayside; I think others will be there. … Do you expect to see dramatic breaches of privacy? Yeah, we’ve already seen them. … That will continue to happen. To the extent we [store data on the cloud] or anywhere else, there will be serious things to consider. I think that is not [a concern] that goes away easily.”

Another concern I hear frequently but that Bass didn’t address is the issue of data ownership. Rumors persist that any customer data stored on the Autodesk cloud becomes the property of Autodesk; however, that isn’t the case according to the Autodesk 360 Terms of Service (rev. 9/6/2011):

2. Proprietary Rights 2.1 Your Rights. As between You and Autodesk, and subject to Section 2.2 (License by You; Disclosure), You and Your licensors have and will own all right, title, and interest in and to Your Content.

From part 2

“When it comes to moving from desktop software solutions to cloud-based options, Discher said, companies today are most concerned with data security and how to make a successful transition to new cloud-based tools and workflows. Her advice: “Take the cloud tools that will improve the processes you have in place. Don’t reinvent processes.” Regarding security, she said, “Concerns are real and valid, so customers will have to make some moves they might not be 100% comfortable with in order to tap the tremendous benefits” of cloud-based tools.”

And

“Contrary to what is true for some popular cloud-based solutions today, Discher told me that users of Fusion 360 maintain ownership of data the created and stored there. This is true of all Autodesk 360-based services, she added, except for some parts of PLM 360. (See Autodesk 360 Terms of Service [rev. 9/6/2011]).”

So who exactly does own your data online? Contrary to the attempts at Autodesk promising that you do there are some exceptions to this. http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/11/02/1737219/us-government-you-dont-own-your-cloud-data-so-we-can-access-it-at-any-time will take you to the Megaupload site problems where many legitimate businesses still to this day do not have their data back. When a site is seized it is the position of the US government that you put your data there it does not belong to you irregardless of empty promises made by those who sold you a service. Clouds work off of server farms right? Is there a single server farm in this world that is totally squeaky clean and not subject to this? Is it impossible now to see the Chinese who are expert at IP theft declaring the same and seizing server farms to go grocery shopping? The right the US government gave themselves afterall has been established and now can be used worldwide by any country. I would also mention the Patriot Act here. This gives sweeping powers to the US government to seize or view things and never notify those who are affected. I think we have entered a period of Chicago style pervasive corruption in Washington with the Fox now guarding the Hen House. This is also happening around the world with other countries and is endemic in places like China. I can easily see a government deciding to gain advantage for whatever reason for a variety of special interest groups by selling or leaking your data to them.

This server farm based cloud thing opens up in new ways the can of worms you could suffer from legally. Is it unreasonable to consider the numerous legal problems the life blood of your company could be subject to? How about bankruptcy with the server farm and everything is tied up until it is resolved. How about an equipment provider suing a server farm for non payment or say a record company suing for piracy and now it is all locked down. We know for sure with the piracy aspect it has happened and could happen again. You readers are smart enough to extrapolate the ways this could happen so I won’t go on.

This however brings us to the crux of the situation where Autodesk is concerned and let us go to the Terms of Service for Fusion 360 as referenced by the link above.

4.3 Service Providers; No Sensitive Personal Data. You acknowledge that Autodesk may use third-party service providers in connection with the Services, including without limitation the use of cloud computing service providers which may transmit, maintain and store Your data using third-party computers and equipment in locations around the globe. You acknowledge that any data storage functionality associated with the Services is not intended for the storage of Social Security numbers, credit or debit card numbers, financial account numbers, driver’s license numbers, medical information, health insurance information, sensitive data about personal characteristics such as race, religion, or sexual orientation, or other personal data that may pose a risk of harm to the individual if improperly disclosed (collectively, “Sensitive Personal Data”). You agree not to upload or otherwise submit any Sensitive Personal Data in connection with the Service and further agree that Autodesk Parties will have no responsibility or liability with respect to any such Sensitive Personal Data that is processed, transmitted, disclosed, or stored in connection with the Service.

Is the definition of sensitive just this or do these things include your invention and the data used to create it. Who is “your”. Is it unreasonable to think lawyers for Autodesk would construe this to mean “your company” to? Now also think about what they are saying here. Your data is not secure with third party vendors.

5. Indemnification. You shall, at Your sole expense and to the fullest extent permitted by law, indemnify, defend (at Autodesk’s request), and hold harmless Autodesk Parties against any and all losses, liabilities, expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) suffered or incurred by Autodesk Parties by reason of any claim, suit or proceeding (“Claim”) arising out of or in connection with: (a) Your Content or use of Your Content, including, without limitation, any assertion that Your Content or the use thereof may infringe any copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property or other rights of any individual or entity, or are a misappropriation of any individual or entity’s trade secret, or contain any libelous, defamatory, disparaging, pornographic, or obscene materials or use thereof caused death or bodily injury or damage to the real or tangible property of any third party; (b) any breach of or failure by You to comply with these Terms (including, without limitation, any Policies and Additional Agreements); or (c) use of the Service Offering by You (or anyone who accesses the Service through You pursuant to Section 1.3). If requested by Autodesk to defend a Claim, You will not agree to any settlement without the prior written consent of Autodesk, and Autodesk shall have the right to participate, at its own expense, in the defense of any Claim with counsel of its own choosing.

Does the above sound like Autodesk is confident of the security on the cloud and on server farms beyond their and your control?

6.2 Warranty Disclaimer. NOTWITHSTANDING ANY WARRANTY APPLICABLE TO THE SOFTWARE IN THE LICENSE AGREEMENT, THE SERVICE OFFERING IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE.” AUTODESK PARTIES MAKE NO, AND HEREBY DISCLAIM ALL, REPRESENTATIONS, WARRANTIES, OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED (EITHER IN FACT OR BY OPERATION OF LAW), OR STATUTORY, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OFFERING, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ALL WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NONINFRINGEMENT, AND ALL WARRANTIES THAT MAY ARISE FROM COURSE OF DEALING, COURSE OF PERFORMANCE, OR USAGE OF TRADE. YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE OFFERING IS AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK. AUTODESK PARTIES DO NOT WARRANT THAT ANY USE OF OR ACCESS TO THE SERVICE OFFERING WILL BE ERROR-FREE, COMPLETE, SECURE OR MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS OR EXPECTATIONS; THAT OPERATION OR AVAILABILITY WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED; OR THAT ERRORS OR FAILURES WILL BE CORRECTED OR REMEDIED; AND AUTODESK PARTIES HEREBY DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL LIABILITY IN CONNECTION THEREWITH. AUTODESK PARTIES DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE OFFERING WILL PERFORM IN ANY PARTICULAR MANNER AND HEREBY DISCLAIM LIABILITY FOR NEGLIGENCE AND GROSS NEGLIGENCE. WITHOUT LIMITATION OF THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT YOU ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR (AND AUTODESK PARTIES ASSUME NO RESPONSIBILITY AND WILL HAVE NO LIABILITY OF ANY KIND FOR) (i) THE DECISIONS THAT YOU MAY MAKE REGARDING THE SERVICE OFFERING, (ii) USE OF THE SERVICE OFFERING INCLUDING ANY CONTENT, DATA, INFORMATION, OR OTHER MATERIAL ACCESSED BY YOU IN CONNECTION WITH THE SERVICE OFFERING, OR (iii) ANY EFFECTS ON YOUR BUSINESS THAT MAY RESULT FROM SUCH USE. AUTODESK PARTIES MAKE NO WARRANTIES TO ANY THIRD PARTY. YOU ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE IN CONNECTION WITH THE SERVICE OFFERING INCLUDING ANY CONTENT, DATA, INFORMATION, OR OTHER MATERIAL ACCESSED BY YOU IN CONNECTION WITH THE SERVICE OFFERING, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR LOSS OF DATA. AUTODESK PARTIES DO NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE OFFERING IS OR WILL BE APPROPRIATE OR AVAILABLE FOR USE IN ANY PARTICULAR JURISDICTION AND YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT AUTODESK MAY LIMIT A SERVICE OFFERING’S AVAILABILITY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, TO ANY GEOGRAPHIC AREA, JURISDICTION OR LANGUAGE THAT AUTODESK CHOOSES, AT ANY TIME, IN AUTODESK’S SOLE DISCRETION. This Section 6.2 will be enforceable to the maximum extent allowed by applicable law. No information or advice (whether written, oral or otherwise) provided by Autodesk Parties or their representatives will create any warranty or in any way affect the disclaimers of warranty or limitations of liability expressly provided in these Terms.

Basically I read this as yes our leader may stand behind the lectern at Autodesk world 2012 and make statements about security and reliability but we here at the legal department responsible for CYA tell you we make no service or security promises and you are on your own. So you have those pesky NDA’s with your customers as a condition of doing business with them? Don’t look to Autodesk for help when what we make you use violates these.

6.3 Functionality Limitations. THE SERVICE OFFERING IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR YOUR OWN JUDGMENT (INCLUDING PROFESSIONAL JUDGMENT) OR INDEPENDENT TESTING, DESIGN, ESTIMATION OR ANALYSIS, AS APPLICABLE. DUE TO THE LARGE VARIETY OF POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS FOR THE SERVICE OFFERING, THE SERVICE OFFERING HAS NOT BEEN TESTED IN ALL SITUATIONS UNDER WHICH IT MAY BE USED AND MAY NOT ACHIEVE THE RESULTS YOU DESIRE. WITHOUT LIMITATION OF SECTION 3.2 (RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR CONTENT) OR 6.2 (DISCLAIMERS), AUTODESK PARTIES SHALL NOT BE LIABLE IN ANY MANNER WHATSOEVER FOR ANY RESULTS OR OUTPUT OBTAINED OR OTHERWISE VIEWED THROUGH THE SERVICE OFFERING OR ANY MATERIALS DEVELOPED BY YOU IN CONNECTION WITH THE SERVICE OFFERING. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SUPERVISION, MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF THE SERVICE OFFERING. THIS RESPONSIBILITY INCLUDES, BUT IS NOT LIMITED TO, THE DETERMINATION OF APPROPRIATE USES FOR THE SERVICE OFFERING AND THE SELECTION OF THE SERVICE OFFERING AND OTHER PROGRAMS TO ACHIEVE YOUR INTENDED RESULTS. YOU ARE ALSO RESPONSIBLE FOR ESTABLISHING THE ADEQUACY OF INDEPENDENT PROCEDURES FOR TESTING THE RELIABILITY, ACCURACY AND COMPLETENESS OF SERVICE RESULTS, OUTPUT OR MATERIALS DEVELOPED BY YOU IN CONNECTION WITH THE SERVICE OFFERING (IF ANY), INCLUDING ALL ITEMS VIEWED OR DESIGNED USING THE SERVICE OFFERING.

We make a lot of implied promises when we talk about our pay for play strategy and our desire to try to end piracy by making you check in and work off of remote servers. However we know the infrastructure you must work off of stinks and to bad, so sad that we have just thrown a huge monkey wrench into your ability to streamline your data creation. Oh and by the way, single threaded applications still are so at our end too even though we have 10,000 server cores you can rent. And by the way, we are not responsible for all the new fees you will have to pay your ISP plus the third party server dudes for data storage. Pretty much they are telling you if you were silly enough to believe anything we say about clouds saving you cash and being more capable than what you could do for yourself you get what you deserve.

7. Limitation of Liability. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT ALLOWED BY APPLICABLE LAW AND NOTWITHSTANDING ANY FAILURE OF ESSENTIAL PURPOSE OF ANY LIMITED REMEDY OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY, (A) IN NO EVENT WILL AUTODESK PARTIES BE LIABLE HEREUNDER FOR SPECIAL, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR ANY OTHER DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (HOWEVER CAUSED AND REGARDLESS OF THE THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER DERIVED FROM CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION NEGLIGENCE) OR OTHERWISE), INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION LOSS OF PROFITS, LOSS OF REVENUE, LOSS OF USE, LOSS OF DATA, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, COST OF PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES OR OTHER COVER, OR ANY OTHER COMMERCIAL OR ECONOMIC LOSS OF ANY KIND, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY THEREOF, NOR WILL ANY OF THE FOREGOING PARTIES BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM A FORCE MAJEURE OR AN ACT OF A THIRD PARTY OR OF NO FAULT ON ITS BEHALF, AND (B) THE TOTAL CUMULATIVE COLLECTIVE LIABILITY OF AUTODESK PARTIES FOR ALL COSTS, LOSSES OR DAMAGES FROM ALL CLAIMS, ACTIONS OR SUITS HOWEVER CAUSED OR ARISING FROM OR IN RELATION TO YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE OFFERING SHALL NOT EXCEED THE LESSER OF ALL AMOUNTS PAID BY YOU FOR THE SERVICE OFFERING GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM IN THE TWELVE MONTHS IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE CLAIM OR ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($100).

Icing on the cake for all of us Autodesk corporate types. We don’t care what happens to you when/if we force you to the cloud and you run into trouble there. We appreciated your loyalty and your business but now because you have run into trouble using our stuff it is time for you to go away and shut up.

Last but not least we come to the culmination of Autodesk corporate babblespeak, deception and legal CYA nonsense. http://www.cadalyst.com/cad/product-design/autodesk-and-cloud-part-2-fusion-360-will-deliver-professional-level-cad-cloud-15

“You have a right to be concerned about security of your intellectual property on the cloud,” she said. Data security should always be your first priority, whether it’s stored on the cloud or in your own systems. “You need a prenup with your cloud vendor,” she advised. If the company goes out of business or if you move off the platform in the future, what happens?

“I believe with the right best practices and the right conversations with your vendor, you can actually be safer in the cloud,” Payton concluded. “Pick your partners wisely. Everyone is penetrable. The key is figuring out what guidelines to follow when your digital assets are gone, and figuring out how to handle the incident and how to let your customers know.

“You cannot protect that which you do not have in your line of sight. And that is what makes you nervous about the cloud. But, in some regards, you’d be better off going to the cloud because you can hold that provider contractually liable and ensure that your data is secure.”

This is from a former Whitehouse CIO. Remember this person was hired by Autodesk to speak as an authority on data security so they must think she is. So now we have the whole security liability protection plan for users and the reason to go to the Autodesk cloud. You can put your data on a third party server farm and since they know you can sue them THEY will make your data secure. Unless of course you had to sign an agreement with them like you had to sign with Autodesk. Oh, and by the way Autodesk, about that prenup thing your guest speaker mentions. I think a snowball in you know where has a better chance of surviving than one of your customers getting one of these prenups from you. And while we are at it here are some other questions for you to address that apply to you as well as Dassault and no I won’t hold my breath waiting for honest answers.

http://worldcadaccess.typepad.com/blog/2011/01/41questionsaboutthecloud.html

Any of you who adopt these Autodesk cloud services under these conditions truly deserve every bad thing that may happen to you. The company that wants you to stand loyally behind them with your continued financial support does not intend reciprocity.

Oh, before I forget I am sure Autodesk wishes you all a happy and prosperous 2013!

Tagged 3d design, Autodesk, catia, Dassault, direct editing, Fusion 360, hsmworks, Inventor, manufacturing, NX, Proe, Siemens, Solid Edge, Solidedge, solidworks, Surfcam, ZW3D

CAM for Solid Edge Moves Forward

Posted on December 20, 2012 | 4 comments

As I sit here using a CAM program I have grown to despise this journey to CAM integrated with Solid Edge has been an endless journey. Geometric is working with Siemens to develop this with a partnership that was started I assume just prior to SEU2012 last June in Nashville. Bruce Wiener with Geometric was there with a cobbled together idea of what could be. Of course getting to a full blown product that has been tested and all the little “i’s” dotted and “t’s” crossed is not a simple thing so we have to wait.

Siemens is releasing a new product called “3DSync” http://secure.campaigner.com/Campaigner/Public/t.show?YaOe–H3Zq-1Sazih2 will take you to a page that will allow you to read up on it and download a free trial which is good until May 15th 2013. As a word of warning here if you have a seat of Solid Edge on your PC you can’t run this unless you set up a virtual machine through something like VMware and according to support this is not recommended.

I find the expiration of the trial interesting for a particular reason.
The principle drawback for many CAD users where Solid Edge has been concerned was not the basic capabilities of the program but the lack of an ecosphere of integrated apps. Just after the release of ST4 for the first time this became a priority for SE when a position was created solely for the purpose of creating this ecosphere. Since manufacturing is the only reason for CAD to exist it makes sense that the first long overdue major integration with SE will be CAM.

This takes me to why I find the timing of 3DSync so interesting. Now keep in mind I am just connecting dots here and I am not speaking as though I have certain knowledge but I bet I am right. For the users of HSMWorks and Camworks there is a reduced function version of Solid Works that allows you to directly use SW files in an associative fashion and to do things like feature recognition and auto-updates of geometry changes. And it allows you to do so without having to spring for a full blown seat of SW. When I was checking into HSMWorks and Camworks for example the reduced capability solids SW program was $1,000.00. I believe this is the reason for 3DSync and all this is leading up to the ST6 release this June in Cincinnati at the SEU2013. By the way, if you are a Solid Edge user or just interested in seeing what Solid Edge and the user community is all about it would benefit you to be there.

I see indications in the questions being asked of users by Dan Staples and Karsten Newbury on the Solid Edge BBS forums that there are a number of things to be included in ST6 that will make it the most powerful release of any of the ST series and I would include even the first one. By the way, for those of you accustomed to the idea that the leadership of a company never spends time interacting with users because that is how your CAD authoring company treats you. That is not the way it is with Solid Edge and the leadership here actively interacts in meaningful ways with users that helps to drive what is in the final product.

The reason I say ST6 will be the most powerful release is because while ST1 saw the advent of a new way of modeling ST6 will be a mature product that will among other things include powerful surfacing for all of you that hold this single thing out as the reason SW is better. ST6 will also see the rollout of actual products integrated with Solid Edge to the point where for the first time you will be able to completely design and manufacture products without ever having to leave the GUI you are familiar with in Solid Edge.

I waited impatiently for this point in time for Solid Edge and the more I find out and the more I see reading between the lines this will be a very beneficial year for SE users.
Look folks, Autodesk is going cloud stupid, Dassault is going berserk with experience insanity + cloud stuff they have yet to make work + the joy of kernel change. Bass and Bernard are telling you what you will get like it or not and if you don’t agree you are, well you are just backwards looking and un-enlightened and need to be educated as to what you should like. Siemens, SE, Karsten Newbury and Dan Staples are on the other hand looking to put useful geometry creation and manufacturing into your shop without the cloud nonsense and top down edicts.

I can honestly say I am glad to be here and that says a lot in this day and time.

4 Comments

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/11/02/1737219/us-government-you-dont-own-your-cloud-data-so-we-can-access-it-at-any-time

Tagged 3d design, Autodesk, camworks, catia, Dassault, direct editing, hsmworks, Inventor, manufacturing, NX, Proe, Siemens, Solid Edge, Solidedge, solidworks, Surfcam, Synchronous Technology, ZW3D

You DO NOT Have Property Rights Over Your Data on the Cloud

Posted on November 5, 2012 | 2 comments

This is not going to be a long post today because it does not need to be.

In part I quote below from this article.

“But in addition, the government’s approach should terrify any user of cloud computer services—not to mention the providers. The government maintains that Mr. Goodwin lost his property rights in his data by storing it on a cloud computing service. Specifically, the government argues that both the contract between Megaupload and Mr. Goodwin (a standard cloud computing contract) and the contract between Megaupload and the server host, Carpathia (also a standard agreement), “likely limit any property interest he may have” in his data. (Page 4). If the government is right, no provider can both protect itself against sudden losses (like those due to a hurricane) and also promise its customers that their property rights will be maintained when they use the service. Nor can they promise that their property might not suddenly disappear, with no reasonable way to get it back if the government comes in with a warrant. Apparently your property rights “become severely limited” if you allow someone else to host your data under standard cloud computing arrangements. This argument isn’t limited in any way to Megaupload — it would apply if the third party host was Amazon’s S3 or Google Apps or or Apple iCloud. ”

Can I say with confidence now and beyond any shred of doubt any company like Dassault and Autodesk who are going to soon demand that you place your data online in the cloud are bald-faced liars when they say it will be done securely and never to worry. There is not one single thing they can say to this except to put in their EULAs a bunch of legal jargon to prevent themselves from liability when problems arise. Please note I said when not if.

Oh, and for the records sake I once again ask any qualified rep from Dassault or Autodesk to prove me wrong here. Indeed anyone from anywhere please and I will be quick to post what you say and give you an apology and stop writing about all this. Your cloud is just hostage taking greed to get into your customers pockets with a business model they will have a hard time escaping from and you can’t prove the viability or security of it and I await your replies. I wonder how these companies who portray the cloud as your workplace savior for your secure storage of the lifeblood of your companies cad data can even stand there with straight faces and tell you everything is all right. These paragons of corporate integrity who back up nothing they say with guarantees.

Companies come and go and have their shares of legal problems. You as a legitimate customer of a cloud service are now an unwilling participant in whatever may come down the pike and this new-found jeopardy is particularly pernicious. Let me put this in real world terms. From data theft, data seizure, down time, poor internet data bandwidths and on and on there is now the ability of the, oh lets the Chinese government, to legally seize a cloud farm and all that is in it. Hey, if the US can do it don’t kid yourself by thinking other countries won’t do it too.

I would go further and say that anything that is not on your own private network is vulnerable and sad to say that also includes now all PLM and related products that have to work over public ISP’s and utilize a server farm not owned directly by your software company. I recognise the value of PLM and I know it has to use the cloud in many cases to work. But I also think anyone who goes there should be told of the risks by the software company that wants them to go there. Furthermore companies who wish to use the cloud need to be aware and make plans accordingly and be willing to lose all intellectual property they have stored there. It is after all not yours anymore is it.

These cloud vendors do have a consistent pattern and it is one of evasion and lack of real world examples of success. I am of the opinion that only a fool would do this to his company and over time will reap the rewards of being one.

Any of you cloud vendors care to reflect upon the good deal you are offering users? Dassault, Autodesk perhaps you might have a word for your customers?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google

Tagged 3d design, Autodesk, catia, Dassault, direct editing, Inventor, manufacturing, NX, Proe, Siemens, Solid Edge, Solidedge, solidworks, Synchronous Technology, ZW3D

Corporate Stability, Philosophy and YOUR CAD Dollars

Posted on October 22, 2012 | Leave a comment

There are some huge fundamental changes that are happening in the CAD world right now and it would behoove anyone who uses a CAD program to make a living to start paying attention. Look, the I don’t care everything is alright your just crazy for thinking SolidWorks (and perhaps others too for differing reasons) is going away or changing into something I can’t use mind-set does not allow the possessor of that mindset to evade the inevitable forthcoming reality.

Before I go any further please look at the following.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault_Systemes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siemens

What we have here is a snapshot of value and how it is derived. It is also an indicator of why companies are making decisions that directly affect you.

Dassault has made the decision based I believe on things like the value of Google and Facebook to change the fundamental core philosophy of what they do to social engineering and away from basic pure engineering. It is the only thing I can see that explains all the seemingly irrelevant acquisitions and the odd concentration of R&D dollars into social engineering programs and Minimoys and gamification and crowd sourcing and on and on.

Why? It is a lot harder to develop something that has to deliver concise exact results like engineering programs do and judging by relative values nowhere near as valuable. Dassault has taken since 1981 to get this far and Facebook and Google have sailed way past them in far less time. I think Dassault looks at those dollars and contemplates jettisoning their traditional designer for more lucrative less demanding markets.

There is also a robber Barron element there in their thinking where they want you to have to pay to play with their stuff.

The push is really on right now for usurpation of property rights and usage rights. Ranging from not being able to resell something you own like books (legislation currently being proposed in Congress) to the attempts by companies to stop online piracy they all center on one thing. More cash for deep pockets from your pockets. Their solution in the area of companies like Dassault is to prevent permanent seats of anything and to force users to be subscribers and to end permanent seats. They want the ability to say to you that every day you use their software you have to pay a fee. As a matter of fact they want you to pay for every day whether you use it or not. This is why Dassault will talk about how things will remain like they are with permanent seats but never give a written guarantee for this. Facts do speak louder than mealy-mouthed corporatespeak.

Which brings us to dear little Autodesk. Autodesk at this time appears to want to remain primarily a CAD company. The major problem with them is that per their announced earlier this year corporate policy they will be adopting the robber Barron cloud only security breaching paradigm. Your reward for years of loyal usage will be pay to play. Yeah, the fight against piracy is a wonderful excuse for punishing your loyal cash paying customers. I figure that the hackers will find a way around anything these CAD companies do so what is the true motive here? I believe that it amounts to a desire to end the ability to use software without a user fee—-forever. No more of this junk like using a permanent seat for multiple years without having to cough up funds to Autodesk.

Don’t believe me? Get your guarantees against this in writing from Autodesk. I am sure they will provide you with one. Along with the one that says your intellectual property will remain yours and you won’t have to be current on your monthly subscription to use it to make a living. This is no different from the mob guy who walks into a business and “sells” you fire insurance. That Autodesk intends to do this to its loyal customers says a lot about how they regard their partnership with their customers. They desire you as chattel.

Now regard Siemens and here we have a completely different concept. UGS/SolidEdge was bought because Siemens is one of the major manufacturing corporations on the world. They wanted to own software that they could control and implement in their corporation to improve their own manufacturing processes and efficiencies. They intend to use this software to make things. Just like you. You want to own and use it and so does Siemens. They have no intention of being trendy with social media junk. It is not what they do or will ever do. There is not even a hint that they are spending R&D$$$$ in this area like Dassault is. I have spent some time looking in cracks and crevices and under rocks for any hint that Siemens is going to force customers onto the cloud with their design software and I can’t find any. They darned sure aren’t looking to foist Minimoy’s or gamification on us thereby catering to this stupid social media iPhone XGen (or whatever this weeks trendy label is for slackers) generation bunch that expects to be allowed to spend up to half their paid days doing other things besides what they are being paid to do. It is far better for your bottom line that your employees never have to go online to use your design software both in elimination of wasted time and in preventing security breaches. There is also no hint of the robber Barron stuff here.

I have not asked for a written guarantee from Siemens as I expect that it would be met with the same stony silence as this request would get from Dassault and Autodesk. I do have a reason though for making these statements. Dasssault and Autodesk are the ones who are making huge changes in your future against your desires and wishes. They are the ones who are having to make reassuring promises of future intent to users who are rightly quite worried. Siemens is not in this boat as they are not out there selling their customers down the river and no one needs reassuring on this side of the fence.

It was an entirely unintended consequence of my purchase of Solid Edge that I would find myself in the only major CAD program concerned with manufacturing and users needs. Five years ago so much of this cloud stuff and this pay to play stuff was not regarded as serious. The only pay to play CAD effort I remember from this time frame was SpaceClaim and their subscription model failed miserably and was precisely why they never got a look from me. If I can’t own it I don’t want it. I don’t want an apartment I want my own house.

Corporate philosophy has today become just as great a benefit to me as Synchronous Tech is. I believe in these guys and I believe they have long-term plans that dovetail quite nicely with my desires for best in class design software that will be stable and useable and that I would desire to use for the rest of my working career which I figure to be at least ten years and more if I am able.

You guys in the Dassault and Autodesk worlds better start waking up to reality and begin the process of deciding just what you want to use and the conditions under which you want to use it. A decision to make no decision is of course a decision just as binding as the one made to take action. The one who makes choices though is far better off than the one who has them made for him.

I have gone through this with VX/ZW3D so I understand legacy files blah blah blah. I understand hating the idea you have to learn a new program. Believe me I do as I never even owned a computer until 2001 and never had a CAD program until 2005. I am now 59 so don’t talk to me about lack of desire to have your little world changed I DO understand those thoughts. I am currently looking for CAM which is another thing I never wanted to do. But what do my personal wishes have to do with corporate CAD decisions? Absolutely nothing as they don’t call me to sit in on the planing meetings. I am left to look out for myself.

Today I recommend without any serious reservations Siemens NX or SE. These are the only major players that have no current or future plans to upset your apple cart. If stability and the ability to plan for the future is as important to you as it is to me regard the philosophy of the company you are doing business with as seriously as you investigate their programs as they have both become critical things to jointly consider.

As an aside here. I complain a lot about lack of CAM in SE and it does gripe my rear end in a major way. I believe these kinds of problems are being solved though so my last remaining major complaint against these guys will soon be history.

http://blog.industrysoftware.automation.siemens.com/blog/2012/08/01/edison2-local-motors-and-solid-edge-team-up-and-launch-6000-design-competition/.

Tagged 3d design, Autodesk, camworks, catia, Dassault, direct editing, hsmworks, Inventor, manufacturing, NX, Proe, Siemens, Solid Edge, Solidedge, solidworks, Surfcam, Synchronous Technology, ZW3D

Solid Edge Promotions

Posted on October 17, 2012 | Leave a comment

Sorry to disappoint you if you came here to get the latest updates for wonderful and terrific Solid Edge promotions. There have not been any since the release of Synchronous Tech 1 (ST1) when I came on board. What drew me at the time were the capabilities of Synchronous tech in its infancy. I could see the potential in it. What really clinched the deal though was the offer of $3,000.00 for a seat of SE Classic and the first years maintenance. How could I refuse? Let me tell any corporate guy who may be reading this if you don’t think this means a lot to a small customer who is being asked to leave behind lots of accumulated work and something already paid for you are sadly mistaken. I cant explain the all the psychological reasons behind why users hang on to something they don’t like anymore. All I can say is that in most cases they need incentive to change above and beyond just the capabilities of the software you sell and your wonderful PR campaign. Solid incentives are important and extremely influential and it is what will take users who hate what they use off the fence and into your back yard.

But my main reason for posting today is the idea of concepts in promoting your product and what you think will get potential customers attention.

SO, how do you get traction on promotions above and beyond offering the above mentioned idea? I see various companies offering incentives to participate in a contest. SE had the $6,000.00 prize for this thing that only lasted two weeks.

ZW3D offered $300.00 for design winner recently. Others offer an iPad or phone. In general what all these things have in common is that almost all of them are promoted by big companies with varying degrees of hoopla and really trivial prizes.

I am in the process of acquiring a new company as a customer. They are a health food encapsulating outfit looking for a local machine shop to produce both replacement parts on a regular basis and to bail them out in emergencies. I don’t just tell them what I can do nor do I just say see my customer list and maybe I will even find you a referral who will talk to you. I get in there and offer my time for free in designing parts and producing samples and making sure what I produce is up to specs and works well. I am charging nowhere near the value of the current time I have into this. I am betting that when, not if, these guys become good customers I will more than make up for what I put out upfront in “promotions”.

As an aside here. As a percentage of my gross it is a far more serious promotion of my company as a percentage in actual cost than anything I have ever seen a major CAD or CAM company offer. I am beating the pants off of the silliness that most CADCAM companies believe in that a thirty-day trial is all they need to offer as incentive. I am also GOING to have these guys as customers because I am taking positive and meaningful actions that really matter to them to guarantee this.

Promotions I think in order to be successful and to really get attention have to be out of the ordinary and offer potential users a reason to be there. Maybe it should be broken down into two categories with existing and potential users as separate categories if this promotion is open to both.

I like the current design concept contest over at Matt Lombard’s blog

http://ontheedge.dezignstuff.com/on-the-edge-project-mini-flexcavator/643

but it lacks that little zinger that would push it seriously into the public eye. All it is right now is basically bragging rights incentive for a few disgruntled SW users and a few enthusiastic SE users. This is to me a perfect vehicle for enticing potential users if it would offer some serious incentive. At the least would be free seats of SE for certain category winners. The top winner would have a real cash incentive as an additional bit of inspiration to all who participate. It has to be a closed time frame but long enough to allow people to spend some serious time with the program to learn it. Using the seat you have provided to registered contestants for the length of this contest. Remember, considering what is currently being offered you are expecting here that these guys are going to spend their own time out of their hopefully busy schedules learning this software just for curiosity’s sake. Primarily SW users I presume since this is I would think your primary potential market.

Once you have serious incentive there then you have to promote it and get it aggressively into the CAD users world. Is it too much to ask when you hope to profit by millions in capturing new customers that you show these potential new customers you are serious about how good your software is? It does not go un-noticed by cad users who are expected to cough up the dough and buy your products that typically the, ahem, grand prize is less than a single seat price of the software you want to sell them. It is a niggardly attitude and it is noted as such by the users you want to reach.

I think the concept behind the “Flexcavator” is a great idea that needs to have some time and incentive devoted to it by Siemens and SE and I mean beyond the participation of people who work with SE.

Just how do you get curious but busy people to look your way at what you sell? You compel them. Just how do you get reluctant buyers to buy what you sell? You entice them.

Just for the records sake I am speaking here of my own experience and what compelled me. I am also reflecting on what I have been told by other users as to what motivated them besides things like largest market share and most jobs on jobs boards. Never think these two things are not important. Even in the disintegrating world of SolidWorks this is still the most compelling sales tool out there and it drives their numbers more than anything else. No one else can compete in these two areas so you have to compete against them with a different incentive.

Local Motors and this two-week long contest is to me something that never even gets to the starting gate much less out of it. It is academically oriented and not targeting the professional user market at all. It is to short time wise and not worthy of mention otherwise in most places and that is exactly what it got. I find sadly that it is typical of what major CAD and CAM companies seem to think is sufficient inducement worthy of potential customers spending many thousands of their hours of irreplaceable time to take a peek.

I fully expect in the first quarter of 2013 that Solid Edge will have for the first time an integrated CAM partner. IF Autodesk does not buy them out too and who knows what they will do in light of the HSMWorks bomb. In any case assuming this will not happen this is a milestone in the SE path to the future. It is my hope they will get behind this and seriously compel potential users in both word and deed. To do this in ways that mean something to those they want to reach and not just to some marketing department sitting in a closed room debating things and budgets that appeal to themselves and not potential users. That closed room atmosphere that seems to be so conducive to the attendees talking to each other but somehow never getting good results.

It’s a strange world we live in when those you mean to appeal to are never asked what is appealing to them.