Jeff Ray’s comments on the UI Changes

Today, Jeff Ray was asked about the disruption to the user base caused by changes to the SolidWorks 2008 interface. I was lucky to catch his answer on video.The video is sideways, and poorly shot, but the audio is clear enough. Maybe Ben Eadie will give me some cheap lessons. Click the image.

 

Some key quotes:

it was starting to get in the way of people being able to use the product. Especially new users.” I believe here Jeff was talking about the interface in general, toolbars and menus.

“…it’s the classic case of feature bloat” presumably referring to the software before the 2008 changes.

“My definition of an ideal UI is a blank screen. That’s my goal. That’s what I’d like to see us get to.”

“Any time you change something like this, you’re going to run the risk of making enemies, and we knew that.”

“And yes we knew that we were going to have detractors, but we also knew that for us to continue to move forward we were going to have to accept the criticism that went with it.”

 

In the line of commentary, I don’t believe Jeff’s answer is particularly successful. First of all it makes SolidWorks seem defiant in the face of obvious and predictable reaction from long time users, all for the sake of new users. How many existing users? According to SolidWorks, about 700,000. How many new users? Far fewer than that.

I think the interview with Jim Wilkinson mitigates Jeff’s answer with a longer explanation that covers some of the same territory. I think Jim does a better job explaining the situation and is more believable in the process. Jeff just sounds defiant, and maybe a little dismissive of the value of loyalty from long time customers.