Autodesk University 2012 Keynote

One of the themes at Autodesk University 2012 here in Las Vegas is "working in a connected world." I recall during the First Internet Boom of the late 1990s when "collaboration" was so over-used by CAD vendors that we in the media began calling it the "C word," because we got so sick of hearing about it over and over. 

So here we are, more than a decade later, and apparently the collaboration problem never got solved, just renamed as connected. Autodesk this morning at the keynote address is claiming that we all suffer from "connectivity schizophrenia". This is where we are all well-connected in our personal lives, but not in our professional lives. Clearly, whoever came up with that one doesn't know about our household, where it is the other way around.

Two Big MCAD Announcements this Morning

The two big MCAD announcements both involve the cloud, but the two different kinds. First, from Germany, Geomagic announced Spark, which combines their 3D point cloud processing software with SpaceCaim. The combination lets you go from point cloud to assemblies in one package priced at $10,000, and ships at the end of January, 2013. http://www.geomagic.com/en/products/spark/overview

That's one kind of cloud connectivity. The other is Fusion 360 announced by Autodesk this morning in Las Vegas. It does free-form modeling, surfaces, and solids, and has a user interface that adapts to user-experience level. There is mention of it running on Macs and PCs, and beng asissted by cloud processing. Price and shipping date not announced, other than "term" pricing and being available next year. http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?id=20884205&siteID=123112

CEO Carl Bass

Carl Bass quickly introduced new software, two of which were announced yesterday: FormIt, Infrastructure Modeler (combines data from models, GIS, and raster, and then creates drivethroughs of road projects), and Fusion 360. He also mentioned BIM 360 as "BIM in the field." I wonder how it compares with TurboSite?

Carl Bass

He does not, however, give any details on new software, just running over lightly all their cloud apps. This is disappointing, as it would have been nice to see a few minutes of each one in action.

"We are the first company to provide professional tools that are cloud based to do the entire projects, " he summarizes. To conclude, he addresses the concerns of cloud skeptics inadequately, and fails to address the issue of data integrity, where data leaves the design frm for destinations unknown with no guarantee of protection. (Surprisingly, he uses the long-discredited online banking analogy.) The fellow sitting next to me mutters, "Every firm I know implementing cloud software does it on private servers. They don't trust data leaving their premises."

Comments

[Steve Johnson]

Carl had a perfect platform here to either confirm his earlier statement about the death of Autodesk desktop software in 2-3 years, or to align himself with his underlings who are saying the opposite.

Did he do either, or is he leaving the FUD in the air?

[Ralph Grabowski]

My theory is that he wants all of his company's software to run only on the cloud, but for now desktop software will continue to exist.
I wish Autodesk would use the phrase that Andrew Anagnost has used, "cloud-assisted desktop," which explains things very well. Also, the abbreviation spells "CAD."

[Dave Ault]

Nice. To bad Bass did not get asked about the US governments position that once things are in the cloud at a server farm the data is not yours any more. Legitimate customers using Megaupload for storage and file transfers are still trying to get their data back after a year has passed when the US government seized it all.

I guess these companies figure we can't read or research the reality of the cloud world for CAD today so they can just trot out whatever whopper they want to today and then sweep legitimate concerns under the carpet.

[Steve Johnson]

Is that a "no, he didn't clarify the matter"?