Is SolidWorks in the mood for granting wishes?

\n\nFar be it from me to be one of those blindly optimistic sorts who sees only Prozac induced bliss around every announcement from SolidWorks Corp. Still, all cynicism aside, sometimes they really do come out with what appears to be good news for people like you and me who actually use the software.

What”s the good news? Well, from my point of view, no news is good news. We”re getting no news about SolidWorks 2009, and the less the better. For once, I”m happy about a lack of information. A year ago, we were well into Beta for 2008. This lack of news can only mean that the development cycle is slowing down, at least for this round. If it goes to 14 months, well, that”s a start. Of course the real measurement is that un-measurable quantity called “flakiness”, which 2008 has in abundance.It would also be great if the first service pack were usable right out of the box! This is the part where the optimists and the pessimists change roles. The optimists say its stupid to expect software to be done correctly, like people take pride in what they do. The pessimists say we are owed more effort than we have been getting. Personally, I think the pessimists are right, and I think we are winning the battle on this one. Take your time on alpha, making sure you have the right ideas. Then take your time on beta, making sure you have executed well. Release the software when its ready.

Anyway, with that and the SWWorld presentation 180 flip, I think things are looking up for people who dare to ask. I”m even somehow weirdly obliged not to tell even more good news (doesn”t have to do with new functionality, I”m obliged in that respect also, but it isn”t weird to keep your word on an NDA).There is a lot to speculate about around the future of this software, but for the moment, I”m cautiously optimistic. The “proof is in the pudding”, but I think we are hearing at least some of the right things. The 2008 release year was the year of stuffing potatoes in your ears and penalizing existing customers for being loyal. 2009 will hopefully be one immense bug fix and a collective sigh of relief that all of these years of effort and learning invested in this CAD tool have not been unceremoniously flushed.