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Sep 25, 2007

Comments

Jim Longley

Then some things are like the Pheonix...

My favorite CAD - VersaCAD. Bought by Prime then Computervision bought by PTC and finally, bought (back) by the Lazear's.Home sweet home

JimL

Bryan Duffel

Wow, VersaCAD. I haven't heard that name in a long time. That is the CAD program my high school started you out on. Once you proved yourself in a semester of drafting with VersaCAD, you could move on, in subsequent semesters, to AutoCAD. R12, DOS. 1995.

Going from the DOS version in high school to the Windows version in college was, quite literally, awe-inspiring. I haven't looked back since.

Kevin

It's most sad when the product name is lost, Cadkey, SolidDesigner, CAMAX, etc.

Lloyd Philpott

Ralph G says: "favorite CAD name of all time? Computervision. Gone now"

Vision via the computer is not Design, CAD, GIS, GEO or any strictly geometry or imagery defined process. Computervision was a good name for visual computing and still is a good name.

However, INTERGRAPH was coined from INTERactive GRAPHic Design Systems, IGDS; INTER being a more inclusive international word with GRAPH being a term used for centuries in mapping and math. INTERGRAPH is a better CAD name in many languages than Computervision. INTERGRAPH overtook Computervision, Calma, VersaCAD, Versatec, Evans & Sutherland, etc. Look at the history in 1979 as to who was the top CAD company and then compare that to 1983, then 1993. INTERGRAPH changed its name in 80 from M&S and hit the really big wave in 83 with the introduction of the InterAct. If they had developed the I/EMS product line into a relational, associative, parametric, feature based product, ProE would not have beat them. Really, how crude was ProE in 1992? And Intel vs INTERGRAPH, that's a different story.
I/EMS could do G3 continuity NURBS solids and surfaces with raster imagery, typography, encapsulated postscript, ray tracing, animation, and solids all in the same 3D volume. Then, go out to a 64 bit double precision floating point accuracy CAM process or on into engineering and marketing documentation? Even a straight line was a NURBS, cause you want to change it in time to a sweeping curve. You could change a whole page of formatted type to outline defined solids. Whatever. ProE could do good parametric brackets and some CAD executives who didn't know product design started running scared of PTC, instead of holding on to their fantastic software and evolving new products like BMW did autos.
Those INTERGRAPH Z Stations that Hollywood loved in the early 90's were designed using I/Design, the industrial design set of I/EMS. So were many consumer products, autos and competitive computers. The INTERGRAPH software people should have listened to the hardware designers. Look at all the CAD software today, finally pushing the capabilities I/Design had in 1992.
INTERGRAPH is still a CAD company today. It just does not compete with PTC, SolidWorks and its Solid-Edge child in their major markets. But the name is still a great name in CAD and GIS.

More importantly, this industry is the reason that the corporations and geo based government groups of the world have been so productive. The fantastic people who started it, developed it and continue working in CAD, CAE, CAM, GIS, etc., these people, not the politicians are the reason for the tremendous productivity gains of the past twenty five years.
And Computervision, with its mustard colored cabinets was a hard competitor in the 80's.
So, what will happen to the UGS name? Well, I have not forgotten Computervision or McDonald Douglas, and Unigraphics is still a good name.

Steve G

This is truly unfortunate and somewhat short sighted. The establishment and of a brand name and its recognition in the market place is one the hardest things to accomplish in business. Ford Motor Co. found this out when it tried to retire the Taurus brand name from its line of vehicles. I feel that Siemens is taking a step backward with this move at this time.

Thomas Teger

This is not the first time that UGS lost its name. Think EDS PLM Solutions.

And then - how about SDRC? It was part of EDS PLM Solutions, UGS, now Siemens.

TT


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