With Autodesk Fusion taking the forefront as an alternative cloud based 3D CAD system, does Dassault plan on something similar?
Oh, and most importantly.... Within the same price range
With Autodesk Fusion taking the forefront as an alternative cloud based 3D CAD system, does Dassault plan on something similar?
Oh, and most importantly.... Within the same price range
Mechanical Conceptual is on the cloud.
If they pay attention to the Fusion boards and down time......they better not. Relying on their own servers to run millions of seats, um, not a good plan. People letting their IP float around, there'd be another uproar.
PS - Fusion is hardly a replacement. Look at the limitations. If you do sheet metal or multiple sheet drawings (just 2 examples off the top of my head), you aren't going to be able to move. It's always been "in development"
I can't answer as to what their plans are but I did receive a survey from them a couple of months ago that was directed at using the cloud.
I myself am not in favor strictly because we live in flyover country and cloud access can be spotty. We seldom go a month without losing net connection for at least a few hours once or twice.
I'm not a fan of the cloud in some ways. Not having your application local can cause problems if there are internet issues. Having millions of dollars worth of data floating around out there is also a scary thought.
I am in favor of SWX having a basic program. That is a basic, basic program. No sheetmetal, no weldments, no decaffeinated FEA, etc. Limited part features, limited assembly parts, etc.
$995.
$250 maintenance.
think of job shops mostly using SWX to open and do minor manipulation of customer part files and think of hobbyists learning CAD or playing with 3D printing. They don't need 1/10th of what Core can do.
Call it the gateway drug. They will sell a lot less core seats, but they will probably open up larger markets and be able to better compete with the cloud products coming down the pike. Many of these new users will eventually want more capability, like sheetmetal.
This will also cut down on the bootlegging.
The idea of IP being stored or shared predominantly on a cloud is short of a disaster waiting to happen.
My (personal, professional, company's, etc.) data is my data and I know exactly where it is stored. Trusting ANY other company with my data is never going to happen.
Such a bigly bad idea.
Scott Casale wrote:
....My (personal, ... Trusting ANY other company with my data is never going to happen.....
Virtually all of my financials are handled on-line.
Shopping, mortgage, checking, insurance, retirement...
...my entire financial life is "on the cloud".
The (limited) cash in my wallet typically stays there for weeks to months.
Seems like you want to go back to basic AutoCAD with no extra addin built-in while most of the jobs now require software with basic features as SW standard
Understood.
I wouldn't share that with the whole interweb though.
The first time I heard about cloud based SW was in 2011, My teacher claimed all cad will be cloud based soon.
It is 2017 and I am barley seeing this trial. I would not completely rule this out but I do think it has some time before it is a reality that functions properly.
It would be nice if they fixed all the bugs in current installed versions before moving on to new and better packages, but thats just wishful thinking.
Francisco Martínez wrote:
......before moving on to new and better packages,....
Does your company have an R&D program - or do they wait until nobody is purchasing your product before figuring out how to react?
Or will they simply shut the doors when the customers have moved on?
..not really the same thing.
..but, I still love hearing people push the cloud.. it's like watch/listening to SAS media pundits... that is, corp investors marketing their products to the masses....
Your reply makes no sense.
It's almost as if you didn't read my post.
There are millions of job shops that just want to import customer files and do very basic manipulation, if any at all. They then can use it to quote, or spit it out to CAM. Why do they need to pay $4000 and then $1200 a year for standard and all the bells and whistles it offers?
In fact one I just talked to recently dumped his SWX license and switched over to the free Fusion. I'm sure he's not the only one.
Why do you mention AutoCAD? Did I say lose 3d, the parametrics, and other basic functionality of SWX? Please don't put ridiculous words in my mouth.
I don't know how much you get out of your own office environment, but I interface with countless job shops most of which don't want or need all the capabilities of the standard product or it's price. There's hundreds of incubators popping up all over the country with 3D printers and CAD, they don't need much capability. There are MANY design houses that only design products with very limited complexity. There are manufacturing facilities who's engineers use full-blown SolidWorks, but the shop supervisor would just like a simple interface with limited functionality because they're not a computer whiz. There are people that just want to tinker. These people as well as many others would do just fine with an economy version of SolidWorks.
How do you know what "most of the jobs" need? You obviously don't.
Do they need unlimited features in the tree on a part?
Do they need surfacing?
Do they need unlimited parts in an assembly?
Do they need weldments?
Do they need sheetmetal?
Do they need the ability to make a drawing?
Do they need animation and visualization?
Do they need interference detection?
Do they need decaf FEA?
Do they need DFMXpress?
Do they need any of the productivity tools?
In millions of cases, the answer to all these is NO. In fact, you don't even use all this stuff. I know I don't.
For those of us who use CAD every day, and especially those who's employer pays for it, who cares what the price is? But there are countless businesses that only need it once in awhile and when they do, they need almost no capabilities. Yet they pay for all the above features that come in Standard.
These are the guys that, as they hear about it, will be leaving our family and moving to Onshape or other economical solutions.
You seem to be either ignorant that these customers (and potential customers) exist, or you are extremely insensitive to their needs. This is what happens when you don't pay for your own license. You don't seem to understand that many of us do pay for it and want the product and price-point to fit OUR needs, not SolidWork's corporate overlord Dassault's quarterly profit chart preferences.
I've seen SolidWorks ignore this demographic for years. It's their prerogative, but know that those people aren't here on the forum to defend themselves. They are quietly browsing the internet for a more affordable solution.
I think there is a difference between making a product production ready before rushing to the next next new thing, and stopping R&D until a product has completely run it's life cycle. Seems like the SW leaders have product ADHD.
Is it wrong that he thinks that SolidWorks should fix what they already sold us before swimming out into deeper water?
It has nothing to do with R&D. They continue rolling out new product without resolving known issues on current releases.
ONE AND TWO (AND THREE)
it was just a freindly jab, but are you saying that you have not been impacted by a software bug in sw ever?
Im not opposed to the new cloud system in general, I would just like less bugs in the current software.
"There are millions of job shops that just want to import customer files and do very basic manipulation"
You don't need SW for this purpose and eDrawing/draftsight is good enoug
Christian Chu wrote:
"There are millions of job shops that just want to import customer files and do very basic manipulation"
You don't need SW for this purpose and eDrawing/draftsight is good enoug
How do you manipulate a 3D solid model in eDrawings? Add or Subtract from the solid volume?
How do you work with the 3D solid model in 2D Draftsight? Add or Subtract from the solid volume?
Yes, but as a cheaper alternative for smaller startup companies this option is becoming more and more popular.
I agree, generative design such as sheet metal and weldment structures will always have its place for industrial companies but, more and more of these businesses are coming from crowd funding/university startup grants.
I'm sure there are plenty of SW users out there who have made the switch and find the software more atoned to their method of design.
Obviously, you have never worked for a sub-contracting company.
I've seen companies using open source software to manipulate models because they cannot justify the costs of a full blown package.
Other companies have no justification to buy Solidworks, as there are alternative software like Radan and Trumpf TruTops that can manipulate the models but, these packages also have the added capability of CNC programming for lasers, punches and brake presses etc. The problem can lead to compatibility issues, hence the requirement for a 'dumb'd' down or core software.
Frame has been around for years and this still isn't a cost effective solution.
Spot on JD.
I'm not particularly a fan of being in the cloud either but, saying that; we need to move with the times.
I'm also keen to see a more affordable package for people *leaving* university or people who are looking to learn the software outwith of being an employee for a company that can afford the software.
Not all people who use the software are students but there are some who are keen on personal development or, who come from an trade engineering background with no vocational qualification willing to progress into design/office roles.
Just to add to what Chris has highlighted here, if Dassault can't debug or QA what they sell as new versions or SP's then how can they assure what they will have on the cloud will be so fool proof that it will ALWAYS be accessible to the customer and ONLY to the customer. In reality, they haven't done too good a job of promoting customer satisfaction by way of providing more emphasis on troubleshooting than creating half-cocked enhancements have they?
A slight little 'bug' in a cloud SP could render your access useless, then what? Are Dassault or SolidWorks going to handout compensation payments to those companies affected.............. I think not!
If SolidWorks was rock-solid in it's current platform and at the forefront of CAD software, well then maybe you might trust it enough to go to the cloud.
Don't get me wrong, I'm far from anti-SolidWorks, in fact I love using it (SW2016 SP3), no issues. But from where I sit, I can see this product having such a better reputation in the market place if they only concentrated on other areas. The reason they don't, or won't is simple. Keep the glitches in, promise a resolution in the next SP or the SP after that, you as the customer keep paying your subscription in the hope of getting that resolve. Meanwhile, in the SP's you've received, there's been some little enhancements, these now have a few little bugs or glitches in them. So, you bitch and complain, send files to your VAR, wait for a resolution to come out in the next SP or the SP after that and the circle continues. All the while a certain bank account is getting healthier and healthier whilst your getting more frustrated. Is this going to be any different with the cloud? Will bugs and glitches have MORE or LESS impact?
It's a very dangerous place I think!
Dave.
I'm not s huge fan of the cloud, we have seen in the past what can happen when your data is on the cloud via the leaks from Apple's cloud storage. Most companies that have propriety documents, especially product models and drawings won't be easily swayed too have them out in the cloud. Also, can you imagine the performance on a large assembly while issuing commands over the internet?
Steven Smith wrote:
I'm also keen to see a more affordable package for people learning university .....
Did you miss a word in there somewhere? I am having trouble understanding this sentence.
Personally, I have no use for Fusion 360 in a college level curriculum of professional instruction as it is still in infancy - but I do not teach ID or CNC. I need robust - professional level tools. I do have to teach sheet metal, weldments, routed systems, motion analysis - everything students might encounter in mechanical design... ... including, uhm, 2D detail drawings (try doing a few drawings in Fusion).
Pls. read this