Roopinder Tara lists his Autodesk University 2011 hits & misses

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com

Part 1
One might think Autodesk would be content in hosting what is by far the biggest CAD gathering in the world, but it's not. It is inflating the numbers: in addition to the 8,000+ that are expected to be here, Autodesk is also counting those that are attending "virtually," as if that matters. So the number being bandied about is in the hundreds of thousands. 

IMHO, there is no substitute for being here. If I was attending "virtually," I would also be doing my regular job, answering emails, shopping on Amazon.com, or a half dozen other bad habits I have picked up on my way to ADHD -- none of which would have put in in good standing as a student or careful attentive listener.

There's 95 of us from the media, a category that increasingly includes bloggers, international press, some of whom represent titles that have little to do with CAD. We have been corralled into a large room a and are being treated to one presentation after another by Autodesk VPs. Carl Bass, CEO, will be the the dessert.

 

Part 2: 10 Billion Mobile Computers

Autodesk wasted no time in declaring its desire for the consumer market. Only a few minutes into the media presentation, VP Chris Bradshaw, who is prone to reminding us of the computing power of his iPhone eclipses the computers of my youth, went on to say the half of us in the room who are now on iPads were representative of the world at large. He sees the rush to mobile computing not abating until there are 10 billion of these devices. Never mind there are only(!) 7 billion people on the earth. That just means that we'll all have more than one. As proof, he asks the assembled media how many of us had more than one mobile computer, meaning a laptop, tablet PC (like iPad) or smart phone? Most of us were guilty as charged.

And on these mobile devices will be many DIYers, hobbyists, artists... in other words, non-professionals. Non-designers. Non-architects. Non-engineers.

Part 3: And Now a Word From Our Conscience

The mad rush to put professional tools in the hands of non-professionals was given a face and a voice Monday afternoon when Autodesk CEO Carl Bass excitedly told of an inventor who flew his "aerocopter" to a height of 3,000 ft. "I don't even know if this guy was an engineer," says Carl, who was on the panel of judges for the contest in which this device was featured.

Clearly, Autodesk wants to empower individuals with software. It is making software available to all who want it, a lot of it is free or cheap, a lot of it runs on cheap tablet PCs. It's a way to reach way to reach people who may never have been Autodesk customers before. I get that.

But it make engineers like me cringe. If you are a Professional Engineer, you have even sworn to protect the public. But how do you protect the public when you are not even in the design process? When the inventor has the tools to design an aero copter and the tools to build it, how do you protect the public from itself?

Carl admires the inventor who risks his own life to commandeer this aerocopter. Should such endeavors be regulated? Carl does not think so. He's a Libertarian. I am reminded of the Darwin Awards, in which someone rigged his lawnchair to dozens of balloons and tried to lower himself down to earth by shooting the balloons with a BB gun. 

What a dope! It's funny. Unless the dope falls on your head.

[Reprinted by permission from CAD Insider.] 

Comments

[Duke]

Autodesk is empowering millions of individual right now with their software, its called torrents!

[R. Paul Waddington]

Non-"professionals" have, since time started, often led the way. Autodesk won't help or change that situation.
Bass may admire a person who risks his life to an idea but, we do know, he does not respect those who speak-up about corperate intrusion and injustice.
Which is the more important in a leader?

[Jon Banquer]

Autodesk is yet another CAD company that fails to understand the significance of fully integrated CADCAM. Sadly, the subject of true fully integrated CADCAM will not be discussed at Autodesk University 2011 despite the fact that there are very few CAM solutions that run inside of Inventor compared to SolidWorks.

Autodesk should have purchased a CAM company by now. That would be a CAM company that would focus on creating true fully integrated CAM for Inventor where the CAM file is an actual Inventor Assembly file instead of just riding on top of an existing Inventor Assembly file. Stock models for solid cut part rending also need to create their own files.

http://cadcamtechnologyleaders.blogspot.com/p/fully-integrated-cadcam.html

Sad how once again the badly broken basics in CAD and CAM are being pushed aside and ignored

Jon Banquer
San Diego, CA