PTC’s Tri-lemma

Opinion

 

Software firms selling mechanical CAD software tend to have two products: a really expensive one for prestige and a less expensive one for popularity. In the world of architectural CAD, this tends not to be the case.

So we have...

Vendor       High-end    Mid-range           

Dassault     Catia       Solidworks
Siemens      NX          Solid Edge
Autodesk     ...         Inventor, Fusion
PTC          Creo        Onshape

Autodesk doesn’t have a really expensive CAD program; by really expensive, I mean in excess of $10,000 and ranging up to $20,000. Each.

PTC last month added a third CAD program, Creo+. This one is just like Creo, but uses PTC’s new Atlas platform to add Internet-friendly functions like multi-user editing, branching-merging, and remote licensing. Atlas is based on Onshape.

Creo+ user interface

The most shocking thing reported by Monica Schnitger from PTC’s LiveWorx conference is that Creo cannot read Creo+ models, after they are modified by Creo+. [https://schnitgercorp.com/2023/05/26/its-a-wrap-a-recap-of-ptc-liveworx-2023/]

For customers, this means that PTC is offering three incompatible MCAD programs:

1. Creo
2. Creo+ - not backwards compatible with Creo
3. Onshape - uses a different kernel (Parasolid instead of Granite) and doesn’t use a file structure at all (data is stored in a database)

Four, if you include CoCreate, which PTC still sells. (PTC acquired CoCreate from HP, where it was known as ME/30, for its direct modeling capabilities, which were merged into Pro/Engineer to come up with Creo.)

If I was PTC, I would dump Creo, because, as the company noted at Liveworx, it is feature-identical with Creo+, but without the Internet-bits. PTC execs, however, enthused that Creo is good for another one or two decades.

PTC has otherwise done a good job is differentiating Creo for desktop-bound users who need the benefit of functions that have been developed since 1987, with Onshape for new firms and schools, who are okay with a less mature MCAD system that runs in the cloud -- with the benefits and drawbacks that entails.

 

 

Comments

[Tim Neumann]

Why does a CAD program have to cost 20 grand? Is it due to a slicker interface, comprehensive command set and etc. or is it more along the lines of "well, this is THE cad program for the likes of fortune 500 companies only?

To be honest though wouldn't mind taking a 20 grand program for a spin, w/o the pesky sales people hounding me.

[Ralph Grabowski]

The $20,000 price tag is one I have in the past seen quoted for the likes of a Catia or Pro/E. These would be the ones fully fitted out with every add-on offered by the CAD vendor.
As well, having a high price makes the big-time customer feel good.