For some CAD users, the drawback of the cloud ain't so new

The fundamental problem with putting CAD software on the cloud is that it will be paid for through rental. Like renting a home, you will pay month after month, the price increasing set at the whim of the landlord. And after paying for years and years, you own nothing -- not even the data, should the landlord decide to change the rental terms so drastically that you need to find a new place on a month's notice.

Over at Matt Lombard's Dezign Stuff blog, Kevin Quigley relates his story of renting think3. His experience serves as a worthwhile warning against users embracing the cloud as enthusiastically as CAD vendors want them to.

Read it and heed: dezignstuff.com/blog

Comments

[Kevin Quigley]

Ralph just to clarify things, I'm not saying I disagree with the concept of cloud based delivery or rental. I'm just saying that there needs to be some consideration as to the implications of this on day to day business operations. I see SAAS being aimed at medium sized companies or large enterprises where, let's face it. the cost of an annual subscription is much less than employment costs.

Where I see problems are for individual contractors or very small businesses where the relative cost of CAD is much more substantial. For CATIA customers who are generally larger this is not an issue, but for many SolidWorks customers - who are like this - it is a major issue.

[R. Paul Waddington]

I agree with Kevin here, and would take the point just a little further. I teach young, new starters. Rightly or wrongly for those 'testing the waters' they can sit alongside and watch the use of CAD and or can be left to 'play' and learn something on their own - just as I did alongside my father on his drawing board.

As a self employed person, I am more than happy to help these young people and whilst I can justify letting them, momentary use of my systems, in short downtimes; if I was then expected to pay 'hourly' for software access I would have to terminate the opportunity.

Who, in the long run, is the loser here? Industry of course, and then the CAD vendor!

[IntelliCAD]

If clouds are bundles of floating gases wouldn't CAD software in the "cloud" be considered "Vaporware"?

The current trend to cloud based "renting" is not too different from the not so distant past when Autodesk locked customers into buying AutoCAD and the user had no choice but to pay what Autodesk demanded? "the price increasingly set at the whim of the landlord".

Until the ODA and the IntelliCAD Technology Consortium were formed this is the same situation most of the world was in due to the proprietary, "all your design data belongs to me" nature with which Autodesk has always done business.

Today you do have a choice though. You can lose the "CAD TAX" man and select a comparable, compatible CAD Software Product that costs a fraction of the price of AutoCAD, reads and writes DWG, and has little or no learning curve for AutoCAD users... Just in time for another round of vendors grabbing market share by locking you into a proprietary solution in the move to offer cloud based solutions...