Use Novedge Pulse to track CAD blogs
Can’t keep track of all of those CAD blogs? Try the Novedge Pulse. It’s an aggregator that you don’t even have to set up – it’s done for you. This is from Franco Folini, and he has scoured the four corners of the internet to find all of the CAD blogs for you. I find that even the AutoCAD blogs have something interesting to say from time to time!. I wish that he did allow you to sort them by product topic, like SolidWorks or AutoCAD, but it’s pretty obvious who is who.
You can also keep up on press releases direct from the big CAD companies, as well as some of the smaller ones. Overall, if you are interested in CAD and related technology, this is a site you have to have bookmarked. Pulse has introduced me to dozens of blogs I never knew existed, and it allows you to browse all the latest titles at a glance.
Matt,
They don’t have to be unreasonable to drop the scrollbars, just not getting enough input from a wide enough group of people. Someone who never uses the scrollbars comes up with the bright idea of getting rid of them. None of the people he talks to about the idea use them either, so it’s a no-brainer. Unfortunately, he didn’t check with other groups of users, many of whom find the scrollbars very useful. It’s an inherent human quality that we tend to do things similar to the people around us, so communities of different usage patterns develop. SolidWorks needs to have good communication with lots of those groups.
Jerry
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This is exactly why I think the process needs to be more transparent. Obvious problems can be avoided.
Matt,
I love your Top 10 list. I’ll vote for it every time I am asked.
I suspect that you are a little too cynical about how SW handles their Top 10 list, but you know them a lot better than I do!
Jerry
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Thanks, Jerry.
Possibly. Who knows. They are not very transparent on how things happen, so we may never know. How do you explain how we lost the scrollbars in 2008? How do you explain that in a way that gives SW credit for being reasonable?
Hey Matt,
Give this a read and you’ll know where I stand. I used Rhino before getting into SW, and this interview with Bob McNeel is very interesting in light of the current “community” discussion.
http://blog.novedge.com/2007/03/an_interview_wi_3.html
I’d be very interested in what you think. You have my email address.
Muggs
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Yeah, it sounds like they have a great following because they are open with information and are not hell-bent on draining users pockets. They treat it primarily like a technical competence instead of primarily as a public company.
I want to spend more time in this software.
Hey Matt-
RE:”What do users think about the adoption rate of 2008?”
I think it’s very low. My customers are burned out on service packs and upgrades. These processes carry too much overhead.
Devon
I remember there not being much applause at World when that top 10 list was shown. The people around me were basically saying WTF? I don’t believe that the list is a fraud, but I do believe it shows that the Enhancement Request formula is flawed. Something like support for dual monitors is an easy and quick request to make. I think most of the “real” top request may be difficult to put into terms. How much, if any, do the VAR’s feedback on their top support issues to SW influence the top enhancement request list? I think there’s a difference in opinion on what the definition of “Enhancement” means between the community and SW. We probably look at it more as a bug fix, and SW sees it as new feature requests.
Hi Matt:
I am kinda not agree with you.
1. Software is reliable and predictable at SP0
My theory is like this:
If SolidWorks 2009 will be reliable and predictable at SP0, then the software developers will have nothing to do in year 2009, and then CEO will fire 80% of them,
and since SW2009 is so good, competitors like Autodesk, UGS and ProE will lose profit, and theirs CEO will decide to fire theirs employees to reduce overhead….so and so for, this will become a chain reaction (or butterfly effect), and eventually it will introduce a worldwide economy crisis.
So, in order not to make this happen, SW and other company must not produce perfect product at SP0.
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Huh. Well, we wouldn’t want a worldwide economy crisis. Guess we’ll live with half-bake ware.
The great business model…
In the beginning they need their community. Smart companies know it is the fastest way to get from a to b. The company grows, makes money, off the backs of their community. It is a company that molds their product around the community. Then as they grow bigger, the company no longer needs their input, but they keep their opinions to show good face, and to free their concience of any guilt. They want to show “loyality”. Then, one day the CEO changes the model. It goes from you know what you want, to I know what you want. You just don’t understand it yet. I will shove it down your thoat, and you will like it, because you NEED me. If you move on, it is alright, because I have thousands more buying. I am smarter than the thousands.
This is the beginning of the end.
The company’s sales fall, they do PR damage control, it rises, and then falls again. The cycle continues until their capital dries up. The CEO asks what happen? He realizes who was smartest and most important to his success…the community.
If you ask me, this is the past, present, and future of Solidworks. Only fresh ideas, and respect for your customers, keep a business alive.