WorldCAD Access

Microsoft: Two Monopolies Are Insufficient

From today's Globe&Mail, Bill Gates adds "way" to his name: Gates aims to be digital content king: Microsoft chairman, in CES keynote speech, sees his company as an all-purpose gateway. The monopoly in OS and office software is insufficient. Gates now greedily wants to control the flow of all things digital. It would appear that the Gatesian dream has changed from "information at your fingertips" to "information through my fingertips." He is no longer satisfied with providing tools that let us acccess information more easily; the world's richest man now schemes to determine which information we will be permitted to... Read more →

Top 10 CAD Downloads on CNET

Here are the top 10 CAD software downloads on CNET, as of Friday: 1. Google SketchUp -- 422,782 downloads 2. Informative Graphics DWG Viewer -- 418,099 3. Apperson & Daughters CadStd Lite -- 273,780 4. Alibre Design Xpress -- 230,266 5. CADopia (IntelliCAD) Standard -- 224,249 6. Punch Software Super Home Suite -- 205,686 7. Home Plan Software Home Plan -- 155,493 8. Autodesk AutoCAD -- 77,244 9. Punch Software Professional Home Design Platinum Suite -- 70,264 10. ProgeCAD (IntelliCAD) LT -- 61,183 Read more →

My Daughter's New Digital Camera is Pink

My daughter's digital camera had been acting up recently, and now doesn't work at all. I think the problem is with the on/off switch being worn out. I decided to buy her a new one as her birthday present. Digital cameras have improved so much since she bought the Pentax 2.5 years ago. How old is it? Pentax doesn't even have XP drivers for it. I began looking for a digital camera with these specs : - uses the memory card she already has (SD). That cuts out Olympus, Fuji, and Sony. - has a large 2.4" LCD screen on... Read more →

First Timebomb Explodes in Vista

Last week came the first proof that Peter Gutmann's thesis is not FUD [fear uncertainty doubt]. The computer science professor from the University of New Zealand describes how the Vista operating system is fundamentally flawed. All over the world, at the same time on December 31, the same Media Center tv tuner feature in Vista RC1 [release candidate 1] beta simultaneously stopped working. The problem is not with the tv tuner component, reports Ina Fried of CNET, but with two subcomponents, MPEG2 decoder and Dolby Digital 5.1. Microsoft had paid royalties for licenses to use these subcomponents only until 31... Read more →

New eBook: Animation in AutoCAD

I'm nearly done my latest PDF ebook, "Animations in AutoCAD." This ebook looks at several ways of creating animations (movies) with AutoCAD 2007, as well as going on walk-throughs of 3D models. At this point, this new e-book contains the following chapters: 1. Introduction to Animations 2. Recording Animations The AniPath command lets you create a camera path through a 3D model, and then save an animation to a movie file such as AVI or QuickTime. 3. Walking and Flying The 3dWalk and 3dFly commands let you interactively move through 3D models. They are the same as each other, except... Read more →

First Timebomb Explodes in Vista

Last week came proof that Peter Gutmann's thesis is not FUD [fear uncertainty doubt]. The computer science professor from the University of New Zealand describes how the Vista operating system is fundamentally flawed. The Gutman paper lists several doomsday scenerios. The most serious, in my opinion, is Microsoft's ability to remotely shut down all Vista display drivers should a security flaw be found. (Your computer would still run in VGA mode, at a tiny 640x480 resolution and a mere 16 colors.) The security flaw could be something like a cracker finding a way to copy videos -- a security issue... Read more →

Black is the New Blue

Some bloggers are reporting that AutoCAD 2008 packaging will be dressed in black. I just noticed that TurboCAD Pro 12's packaging is already in black. Perhaps this is a campaign based on confusion. You know, make the customer think they are buying TurboCAD when they're really getting AutoCAD. Or the other way around. Speaking of duplicated marketing efforts, Adena Schutzberg reports that Bentley Systems is using one of Autodesk's (since renamed) product names, OnSite. You know, make the customer think they are buying Autodesk when they're really getting Bentley Systems. Or the other way around. Read more →

100+ Journos at SWW07

SolidWorks is expecting over 100 journalists at its SolidWorks World 2007 in New Orleans early next month. I'll be one of them. Two weeks before then, however, I'll be flying to Boston to take part in PTC's annual two-day event for the CAD media and analysts. I trust you Easterners will have settled down the snow storms so that my travels will be easy. Read more →

Why I Despise Updates

In order to have a graphics board that worked with my new 22" widescreen monitor, I had installed one of my son's spare graphics boards, one of the nVidia GeForce models, because it supports custom resolutions, such as the oddball 1680x1050 the new monitor employs. I used the driver included with the graphics board, which I figured was a couple of years old. I checked, and nVidia had one that was just two months young. I figured, what the hay. Unfortunately, it took over an hour for me to digest the hay. Remove and Reboot Before installing the new driver,... Read more →

Who Are the Lawyers Autodesk and ODA have Arrayed Against Each Other?

Both Autodesk and the Open Design Alliance are using law firms located in Seattle, because the court action was launched in Washington State. Both sides, however, have hired heavyweight IP [intellectual property] law firms from California on a 'pro hac vice' basis. (Pro hac vice means the California firms do not have jurisdiction in Washington, but nevertheless have asked -- and received -- permission to practice this single case.) Autodesk is represented by Morrison & Foerster of San Francisco. The attorneys whose names appear in the legal documents are: * Michael Jacobs -- focuses on litigation of high-technology and intellectual... Read more →

In Praise of the USB Key

Over the last couple of years, I've been given several USB keys. In all cases, a software company used it to provide a collection of press releases and other marketing material. In the past, this job was done by diskettes and CDs. The 1.44MB diskettes could be erased and reused; the CDs were throwaways. At first, I didn't find the USB keys (aka thumbdrives) useful. I did use them in limited fashion as backup devices. For instance, when I go on a trip, I copy my most important files onto a thumbdrive, in case the house burns down while I... Read more →

10 11 Reasons Why Vista is a Killer OS

Welcome to 2007, the year Microsoft becomes our Big Brother, telling us what we can and cannot read and watch. Peter Gutmann of the University of New Zealand has documented ten reasons why Vista kills technological advance. His 7,000-word paper, A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection, is sourced from Microsoft and ATI documents, including the "Vista Content Protection Specification." The ten reasons Vista will kill your business include: 1. Disabling of Functionality 2. Decreased Playback Quality 3. Elimination of Open-source Hardware Support 4. Elimination of Unified Drivers 5. Denial-of-Service via Driver Revocation 6. Decreased System Reliability 7. Increased... Read more →

The Future is Simple

Over on my Gizmos Grabowski weblog [worldcadaccess.typepad.com/gizmos], I've written a thesis on "The Future is Simple." Have a good 2007. Read more →

The Future is Simple

Technology allows designers to cram features into products -- whether software programs or hardware products. This is the natural outcome of silicon-based thinking. As a British computer magazine of the 1980s explained, "It costs the same to produce one chip or a million chips." Similarly, once software is written, it costs the same to distribute it, whether it contains one feature or a million features. It's this economics of abundance that is now hindering technology. It costs little or nothing to overwhelm consumers. (You can search Google for "economics of abundance" to see a overwhelming list of Web pages that... Read more →