WorldCAD Access

Optimizing the news for a "we want it free" culture

The legacy fails Newspapers remind me of stores that used to carry music CDs. As customers bought fewer CDs, stores carried fewer CDs, and so customers had fewer reasons to come to the store. The only stores today that still sell CDs in my hometown are Walmart and the independent Christian bookstore. The CDs that remain are not to my taste, so iTunes is my A&B Sound (western Canadian version of Tower Records). Our local newspapers went the same route. We had two, each with two issues a week. One publishing chain bought the other, shut it down, and cut... Read more →

People tracking is so insidious

Enuff already It was bad enough to see how many corporations track us by doing something as innocuous reading just the headlines at a government-funded Web site like Deutsche Welle (the German international broadcaster). The list I show below (found at dw.com/en/european-union-general-data-protection-regulationgdpr-valid-may-25-2018/a-18265246) is about 2/3 of the data skimmers DW employs. It got worse when at a trial last week we learned that Google still tracks us when we run its browser in incognito mode -- never mind what it states: It's what Google doesn't say in its incognito statement that's alarming. - - - It is the nice things... Read more →

Now is the time to cancel MailChimp

"In our sole discretion" About five years ago I was looking around for the mass email service to take over my homegrown effort. I was spending too much time updating the mailing list, and there were firms who promised to take the work over for me -- for a fee, 'natch. I settled on MailChimp, and for the most part it worked mostly to my satisfaction, at first. I have just two needs in sending out my weekly upFront.eZine newsletter: Take care of additions, subtractions, and changes to the mailing list Let me create my newsletter in the way I... Read more →

Bricsys launches a TV channel, and it's got my videos

After a year planning it, Bricsys this week launched its own TV channel Bricsys TV at http://www.bricsys.tv.(Tv is the top level domain of the islands of Tuvalu, but no matter.) The site has Latest news, video Tutorials, Stories, third-party Apps, and Fun. The videos are tutorials and are presented in a range of accents, from Jason Bourhill, Jan Bergmann, and Ilya Tatarnikov, to Louis Verdonck, Sander Scheiris, and me. I've produced seven videos so far, and these will be posted her over time. I plan another one or two dozen, the overall theme being "BricsCAD for AutoCAD Users." One of... Read more →

AU fallout: Why Autodesk wants into social, badly

Digging through the backlot of my blog posting software, I discovered several items I had written but never posted. Here is one, written after I came back from Autodesk University 2012. - - - I was puzzled why Autodesk this year added a pair of commands to AutoCAD 2013 and its other CAD software that lead to NSFW sites, Facebook and Twitter. It seemed like an anti-corporate move. After all, when design firms remove USB ports from workstations (to prevent IP theft), they're not going to then allow employees to catch up on company time what their friend's cat ate... Read more →

Do CAD vendors contribute to PRISM?

A report from Bloomberg this morning says that an awful lot more than just eight firms are contributing to the American NSA monitoring of communications: "Thousands of technology, finance and manufacturing companies are working closely with U.S. national security agencies, providing sensitive information and in return receiving benefits that include access to classified intelligence..." Of the thousands implicated, the report names just two, Microsoft and Intel-McAfee. However, the way Microsoft supports the NSA sheds a light on how CAD vendors might be helping out. Microsoft secretly provides advance notice of bugs to the American government, allowing agencies to exploit the... Read more →

Transoft duz April foolz early

In a press release dated 1 April but slipped out on March 29, Vancouver's Transoft Solutions announced it was such an innovative leader that it was moving technology into the fifth dimension. As their subhead put it, "Vehicle Turning Simulations Will Never Be the Same." The is-it-real-or-is-it-april-fools aura is, however, immediately dashed as the press release starts off, "In honor of April Fool's Day..." and "...a video spoofing its flagship software...". It would have been more fun if the first two paragraphs were canned, and the press release instead emphasized the point made in paragraph three: We asked ourselves, how... Read more →

How to read between the lines of a press release

For an editor like me, I see the purpose of press releases as a way of imparting information that a company deems important. Companies usually see it this way, as well. Sometimes, however, the press release is a way to puff up the firm, unhappily. Unhappily, because it wastes the time of everyone -- the people putting together the press release, the people approving it, the people distributing it, and the people reading it. In this case, I do like to examine the complimentary quotes, because they cast light on how justifiable the puffing-up is. Here is an example of... Read more →

Tech support, part 1 (marketing): Tech support, part 2 (reality): Read more →

Objet: We do cheesy cuts, too

Sometimes, marketing departments with too much money try too hard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRC9HfBJGOc&sns=em (hat tip: RT) Read more →

Autodesk yawns

Press release this morning from Graebert GmbH: GRAEBERT ANNOUNCES ARES COMMANDER EDITION 2013 FOR WINDOWS 8, MAC OS & LINUX with 14 LANGUAGES, IN-PLACE TEXT EDITOR, 64-BIT VERSION, DWG 2013 SUPPORT, AND OPERATING SYSTEM ENHANCEMENTS POSE A PRODUCTIVITY AND PRICING CHALLENGE TO AUTOCAD (Emphasis mine.) Read more →

Wired's unfortunate juxtaposition of advertising and editorial

Wired this morning is running a story on Autodesk. Above it, an ad reads, "Who is the liar?" in the version showing in my Web browser. The story is about Autodesk's efforts to get into the maker niche, and has nothing to do with pointing out liars. The article does not quote anyone from Autodesk says that "anyone" can make anything; this is something the headline writer made up. If it were true, however, then Mr Anybody is bound to run afoul of copyright law and patents as he makes his anythings. Still, the article does provide us with insights... Read more →

CAD renderings now illegal on Kickstarter

Marketing departments love it that CAD models generate lifelike renderings -- as do the CAD and rendering software companies who make the millions licensing their software. Manufacturers, such as car makers, can stick their next model on brochures and ads without having to hire the camera crew -- or even have bring the car on-site. It's all virtual. (Yes, every car commercial you see on tv is fake. The car was never filmed speeding through the parkade or bursting out of old self. That disclaimer about the car being driven on a closed course? It was driven on no course.)... Read more →

Expensive cost of CAD software limits its growth

With big CAD software vendors struggling to keep growing quickly in this double-dip recession, research firm Technavio (a branch of Infiniti Research Limited of England) says its the CAD vendors own fault: However, the high license and maintenance costs of engineering software could pose a challenge to the growth of this market. Of course, giving software away doesn't encourage growth, either. But Technavio holds out hope for SMBs benefiting from lower CAD costs through cloud-enabled systems. Otherwise, the market should grow just under 10% for the next three years, less than the double-digit growth CEOs are promising Wall Street. Vendors... Read more →

Vehicle lands on Mars; Siemens PLM: "yes!!!"

Siemens PLM and its pr firm are pretty excited that NASA used some of its software to design that latest vehicle to land on Mars, "from the initial concept to simulations of the harsh space environment." You can read Siemens' overview how NX and Teamcenter were used at inr.synapticdigital.com/Siemens/MarsRover. The presentation is dull (unlike Dassault's Let's-tow-an-iceberg-to-Africa thingy), but at least Siemens is putting some marketing mileage into this prestigious event. Where are the racing stripes? NASA's clever "7 Minutes of Terror" marketing strategy is designed to get people excited about space travel again; more specifically, American taxpayers and their currently... Read more →

Name the 3DEXPERIENCE company

Which CAD vendor is calling itself "the 3DEXPERIENCE company"? Read more →

What's the price of Catia, really?

As my boss back in the early days of CADalyst said, "Price is news." Problem is that today most software vendors in our industry don't publish prices. For instance, how much does Catia cost? It has the rumoured reputation of being the most expensive CAD system on the planet. Over on Dezignstuff, Rick McWilliams got us a price: I got a quote on CATIA V6 from a VAR. It took them 3 weeks to do it. $34,700.00 Plus 18% maintenance per year ($6,246 in this case). He adds that it consists of many modules, and so the price ranges from... Read more →

Mystery new MCAD company wants to make mysterious new MCAD software - Updated

SpaceClaim must be getting old, 'cause there's a new group of developers who want to do MCAD fresher: We are a small group of mechanical engineers and software developers working on a fesh [sic] approach to how mechanical design is done on a computer. Our backgrounds are firmly planted in the industry, and chances are that you've used products that we helped bring to market or develop; However we are not affiliated with any existing CAD company. They figure that there're four areas in which current MCAD systems are lacking, and for which MysteryCAD has the solution: Design How to... Read more →

In the category of 'Maximized TLAs in a Single Paragraph', the winner is...

Imagine your brain juggling this many acronyms in a single paragraph: As already announced by Mayor Boris Johnson, SCOOT (Split Cycle Offset Optimisation Technique) is playing a major role in reducing traffic delays across London, helping to improve Journey Time Reliability (JTR). TRL, in collaboration with UK traffic systems suppliers, developed the SCOOT urban traffic control system which is now co-owned by Peek Traffic Ltd, TRL and Siemens Traffic Controls Ltd. Not enough? Second paragraph: The latest SCOOT MMX Service Pack 1 provides a facility to assist with improving the Journey Time Reliability (JTR) along critical routes. This was originally... Read more →

"The Poles like us!" Chinese CAD vendor addresses critics

Chinese CAD vendor GstarCAD this morning attacks critics of the Chinese software industry: People may be skeptical about "made-in-China" products, but there is no denying that with its 1.3 billion China definitely has no lack of brain power. GstarCAD team employed part of this amazing brain power to create its full-featured, IntelliCAD-based software. In its press release, the company credits a number of reasons: GstarCAD is active in intellectual property protection. Eighteen years experience in technology. Lost-cost software based on IntelliCAD. Positive feedback from exhibitions in Austria, Poland, and Italy. Read more →

Autodesk 2012 Suite unboxing photos

AutoCAD Release 12 was the mother of all software packages. It got a special mention by PC Magazine in 1992 for having a package size that spanned something like two feet of shelf space. (I still have my copy of the software, but it is buried at the back of one of my storage areas.) Then the AutoCAD package began shrinking, first to CDs, then to DVDs, and finally downloads. With 2012's emphasis on suites, the download size is getting a bit large, and so the suites are available on 16GB and 32BG USB keys (aka thumbdrives). For example, Ultimate... Read more →

Will we have to get used to "BIM Washing"?

I first heard about this story from Roopinder Tara, who tweeted about it yesterday. I waited a day to see if there would be more reactions, but I have not seen any. The story is this: An American cable news network, MSNBC, ran a featurette (sponsored by Boeing) about BIM being used to renovate buildings. During the report, we see computer animations of several buildings, as well as of a plant, perhaps an oil refinery. (Update: I have confirmed that some of the "BIM" footage shown by MSNBC was created with AutoCAD Plant 3D -- and not Revit or ArchiCAD.)... Read more →

Their bad: tantalizing news release fails to deliver news

The headline in this morning's news release from Tekla is tantalizing: Latest version of Tekla BIMsight application brings along the ability to handle even bigger, combined 3D building information models much faster. Software users who have a 64-bit computer will benefit greatly from this 64-bit version. Based on the headline teaser, I eagerly scanned the body of the news release to learn how much bigger, how much faster. Zip. Na da. Ei mitään* Instead, I learned the following: That this is the third release of software that is "constantly being developed." That the director of B&C Project Delivery segment at... Read more →

CAD vendors should spend their time ignoring the Social

When Dassault Systemes launched DraftSight, it made sure it had the Social. When PTC launched Creo, it made sure it had the Social. Other CAD vendors spend on having staff and Web resources for the Social, also. (By "the Social" I mean the Social Web, the whole Twitter, Facebook, texting thing.) Here's the problem. The Social is mobile. Social networking relocated to the smartphone a year or so ago, because the desktop is static (locked onto the desktop, like a landline rotary telephone) and smartphones are our new notebook computers. CAD doesn't work on phones, so CAD vendors don't need... Read more →

Vendors talk openly about DE's ePOW

Since I first reported on Desktop Engineering's multi-thousand-dollar price tag for a CAD vendor to become their "editor's pick of the week," vendors have been submitting to WorldCAD Access their experiences through comments to this blog and emails. Some report the service was free; others say the magazine asked them to pay as much as $3,995. Some say it just started this year; others report it has been on-going for several years. One vendor wrote me (he wished to remain anonymous): We've gotten several of these emails [from DE]; they arrive shortly after we've made a press release about a... Read more →

Desktop Engineering fails to reveal pay-for-play

Desktop Engineering charges CAD vendors $3,995 (see update below) to be featured as their "DE Pick of the Week." Well, that's the list price; in these economic times, deals abound. Whatever the amount, the CAD vendor get a press release issued by Desktop Engineering, whose staff copies'n pastes the vendor's name into a template, "...Selected Editor's Pick of the Week by Desktop Engineering," and then blasts it out by email. They also get an enthusiastic article written by Tony Lockwood. Neither the press releases nor articles state that the editorial endorsements are paid for by vendors, and so do not... Read more →

Putting the "Pro/E" into CAD

PTC is pretty excited about shaking up the CAD industry in October. Some of its marketing statements explain why: Since its peak of innovation over 20 years ago, the CAD market has stagnated during the past decade. Recent CAD advances have focused on incremental user interface changes and niche capabilities. The problem for PTC is that Pro/E is part of the CAD market, which means we can substitute "Pro/E" each time "CAD" appears, like this: Since its peak of innovation over 20 years ago, the Pro/E market has stagnated during the past decade. Recent Pro/E advances have focused on incremental... Read more →

CAD vendors are vowing to stir up the industry; if only

As part of Dassault's campaign to get the media excited, we were told, "Dassault Systemes is making an announcement next Tuesday, June 22nd that will shake the CAD industry." Such a shake-up was also predicted by no less than the head of Dassault Systemes, in that this product will "make some people in the West of America sweat." Considering the unseasonably cold weather we are experiencing here in the West of America, perhaps he meant "sweaters." As it turned out, it was yet another free 2D DWG editor -- a bit of a letdown from, say, yet another free 3D... Read more →

The press release as JPEG

As a newsletter editor, I received dozens of press releases a day. They arrive in a variety of formats. I'm listing them here in order of my preference: - embedded in the email as regular text. - attached to the email as a DOC or DOCX file. - attached to the email as a PDF file. - a hyperlink in the email that directs me to read the release on the company's Web site (why make me go through this extra step?). But most odd are press releases from Rapidform of Korea, who attach press releases as DOC files and... Read more →

Advice for CAD corporations on understanding social media

A CAD editor told me last week that he is working on figuring out how best to use Twitter. "The stuff just disappears, unlike a blog," he moaned. I suggested that we need to tailor the content to suit the medium. For example: - News by the minute: Twitter is good for brief, disposable announcements of breaking news items. - News by the day: Blogs are good for longer-length, real-time news stories, and is archivable (has staying power). - News by the week or month: Newsletters are good for summing up events and reactions; it is also archivable. CAD vendors... Read more →

Designing vehicles that drivers want

Today's press release from Siemens PLM Systems says that the company is helping "to shape the future of mobility" at a technical congress. The subhead reads: [President of Siemens PLM Software] Dr. Helmuth Ludwig Explains How Siemens PLM Software Balances Environmental, Economic and Social Concerns While Assisting Automakers in Developing Vehicles Consumers Want Problem is that North American drivers don't want cars that balance environmental, economic, or social concerns; they want SUVs and pickup trucks. (Evidence: take a look at the vehicles on any California freeway and count the tiny number of nice cars, like Prius, vs SUVs. Futher evidence:... Read more →

Talking with journalists

A very few CAD vendors really understand how to work well with us CAD journalists, but I suppose that's because all our needs are different. Mark Suster sums up his experience in 6 Tips for Building Relationships with Journalists. Let's take a look at his six points: 1. Have a great product. Me: I am most interested in future directions. 2. Know that journalists are human. Me: The best ways to develop an in-person relationship with a journalist is to not talk about your product. 3. Understand their needs. Me: My needs are simple: (a) getting interesting information, (b) meeting... Read more →

The fallacious credit-card-on-the-Web analogy

As they tried to promote this murky thing called "SolidWorks on the Web," Dassault Systemes executives used a number of analogies. One ran something llike this: "Some years ago, nobody would give their credit card number over the Web; today, everyone does." This analogy was supposed to parallel our current and future feelings regarding storing data in the cloud: today, we are too worried about security to do so; in the future, we won't give it a second thought. The analogy is fallacious, and here's why: it deals with two different items of value. One is replaceable money, the other... Read more →

Adobe-kettle calls Apple "pot"

Adobe's been doing a fair amount of squawking over Apple's disinterest in sending Adobe large cheques to license Flash technology. Some commentators have pointed out that Flash may become unnecessary once HTML 5 is pervasive. I myself don't understand the point to Flash, because its content cannot be searched. Even as Adobe's official bloggers and execs talk against Apple, Adobe itself ignores an important piece of technology in its own products, OLE. That's right: none of its software packages support object linking and embedding anymore, something that even Windows v3.1 supports. Here's a practical example of how OLE is useful:... Read more →

Autodesk: James Cameron Likes Us Best

by Roopinder Tara SolidWorks scored quite a coup having James Cameron, creator of hit movie Avatar, keynote at their annual user conference. This chafed many at Autodesk, as it was Autodesk software that was responsible for the creation of many of the special effects the movie is already famous for. Autodesk had made sure everyone who attended their annual user meeting knew that. In fact, a 20 minute exclusive about the making of the movie was one of Autodesk University's highlights. But they didn't get the man himself. SolidWorks says they signed up Cameron to speak before Avatar became a... Read more →

Penton magazine publisher reorganizes under bankruptcy protection

Penton files with the brankruptcy court a pre-packaged reorganization plan that includes an agreement for restructuring with its lenders to eliminate $270 million worth of debt. The magazine publisher has set up a Web page that explains the process here. (HT: Roopinder Tara. And thx to DK for noticing that I left out the word mllion!) Read more →

Social media whithers on corporate branches

A blogger wonders why it is that corporations don't get social media: Most company blogs are dry and boring. Do these people even know what to do with social media or is the social media department handed over to people in a company that cannot be put to better use? As a specific example, he cites Parametric Technology Corp: For example, PTC came up with this thing called "Social Product Development" and decided to create a blog named Social Product Development written by senior executives. The last post is dated September 3, 2009. Ironically enough, that final entry (written by... Read more →

Dassault and Siemens excited by same two auto show winners

First, there were the excited retweets from Germany's Siemens PLM Systems: The North American Car of the year is... The 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid! Congrats again, @Ford! Retweeted by SiemensPLM The North American Truck of the Year is... The 2010 Ford Transit Connect! Congrats, @Ford. Retweeted by SiemensPLM Then, there was the we-own-the-auto-world* press release from France's Dassault Systemes:...CATIA was utilized in the design of the 2010 North American Car of the Year -- the Ford Fusion Hybrid -- and Truck of the Year -- the Ford Transit Connect. I s'pose the good thing is that Government Motors didn't win.... Read more →

German AutoCAD Magazin getting thinner

I've been receiving copies of the German-lanuage AutoCAD Magazin monthly since 1991, when I wrote for them several articles on AutoLISP. The Dezember/Januar issue arrived, and sadly it has the emaciated look of a print magazine in decline: - the cover is as colorful and glossy as ever, but inside the pages are of thinner, somewhat lower-quality paper. - there are far fewer pages, down to 56. - cover price is now e14.80 (about $20!). - December and January issues are combined into one. - The formerly separate Inventor Magazin is folded into AutoCAD Magazin. Read more →

Dassault: We Design Cars Like Nobody Else

What with Autodesk going on and on about how their software designs cars (well, their Alias software makes prospective cars look pretty), I figure Dassault figured it was time to shot some large statistics against the HMS San Rafael: ...CATIA ...was used in the development of over 80 percent* of all the vehicles on display at the 2010 LA Auto Show...** (I wonder who did the other 20%, NX?) Who's Your Daddy? To ensure Autodesk knows who's not the upstart, Dassault added this line: It has long been recognized that implementation of CATIA allows automakers to reduce vehicle development cost... Read more →

60th Anniversary of 65 Million Killed

From last night's press release by Dassault Systems: In China, in addition to supporting the first ever World Expo Online, 3DVIA Virtools was also the application used for the virtual design and rehearsal of the parade in celebration of the country's 60th anniversary this year. Er, no. Not the 60th anniversary of the country. The 60th anniversary of the imposition of the brutal communist dictatorship that killed as many as 65 million of its own countrymen. Not something of which I'd want to be a proud sponsor. Read more →

A Bad Hair Day for PR People

It is the job of PR (public relations) people to competently present clients to the public, especially the narrow niche of public that writes vociferously. Yesterday, two pr oopsies landed in my email inbox. At times a desperate pr person asks to "recall" a press release due to an error. This is the first time I have seen a double recall: Date: Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:50:56 Release and image are attached. Call or e-mail with questions. Date: Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:07:23 Please disregard the release sent earlier... It has a typo. Date: Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:41:23 Please... Read more →

Get Ready for the Next GUI Overhaul

One problem faced by CAD vendors who are locked to the Microsoftian API/OS combo is that they get dragged along by whatever Microsoft considers necessary to further lock in users. Take the ribbon... pu-lease! My daughter needed a copy of Word in order to be file-compatible with her profs. (She runs OpenOffice, but sometimes it screws up formatting of imported DOCX files.) Just in time, I learned of the free Office 2010 beta, and installed it for her last night. (No sense giving a company with $34 billion in the bank a fistful more dollars.) I was bemused to see... Read more →

Dassault's Stunning Spin

Al Dean has already commented on Dassault's breath-taking spin on spinning off one of its old acquisitions: Dassault Systemes Strengthens Commitment to ENOVIA SmarTeam V5 Strengthening its commitment by dumping its development team into the newly created and independent-of-Dassault company Artizone); ie, if DS were instead acquiring SmartTeam, then its press release would have to read the opposite: "Weakens Commitment." (Former CEO of SmarTeam brand and former VP of Dassault Systems value channel Alex Zeltcer becomes CEO of artizone.) Source. Read more →

AutoCAD 2010 Reduces Work Week to 3.3 Hrs

A number of people have been writing in, chuckling over efficiency gains Autodesk is claiming for AutoCAD -- not just this week, but over the last decade. Here are some of the claims I tracked down: AutoCAD 2004 "Study Finds AutoCAD 2004 Boosts Average User Productivity By Up to 35 Per Cent" [over AutoCAD 2000/i/2002] http://www.autodesk.co.uk/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=452932&id=3516672 AutoCAD 2005 "Designers and other professionals can realize as many as 14 hours per week in productivity gains by shifting to AutoCAD 2005 from older version... [2002 -- works out to 35%]. http://www.dexigner.com/architecture/news-g2978.html AutoCAD 2006 "Study participants using new features in AutoCAD 2006 completed... Read more →

CADalyst Unaffected by Questex Failing

CADalyst magazine is reassuring its readers, writers, and advertisers that it is unaffected by Questex Media's filing for creditor protection. (Questex Media is the former publisher of Cadalyst.) Here's the low-down from the magazine's "new" owners:We have a licensing agreement with Questex to use the Cadalyst name. We own all assets (databases/lists, products, infrastructure etc) and staff are employees of Longitude Media. This summer we completed the arduous task of moving all Cadalyst products off Questex infrastructures. Our sites, newsletters, and processes have all been running independently... The Questex situation is unfortunate and complicated. One key burden for the company... Read more →

Questex in Chapter 11

Two confirmations now from writers that Questex Media started Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in Delaware. We don't think CADalyst magazine will be affected, since employees bought out the magazine earlier this year -- after Questex wanted to shut down the world's oldest CAD magazine. Read more →

Do We Report Bad News?

One of the problems I face is, do I report bad news of a company about to go under, or who makes a really bad product? There's an argument in favor, and one against. Yes. Reporting bad news warns readers against buying badly-made products, or sending money to a company about to go out of business. No. Reporting bad news could cause the company to lose orders, or a shaky company to go under. After receiving several threats of law suits over the years after reporting bad news, it's easier on me to report only neutral and good news --... Read more →

Either Way, It's All About The Growth

I had a chuckle at this headline at the top of my My Yahoo page customized for CAD-related companies: Symphony Technology Group Completes Acquisition of MSC.Software; Transition to Privately Held Company Creates Foundation for Growth If Symphony were to take MSC public at some point in the future, the headline no doubt would read in exactly the same way: "Symphony Technology Group Completes IPO of MSC.Software; Transition to Publicly-Held Company Creates Foundation for Growth" Gallello is CEO More interesting to the CAD world, however, is that Dominic Gallello becomes the new ceo of MSC. He is the former ceo of... Read more →

Problem: Marketing Non-Windows-centric Products

Until yesterday, it was easy for most CAD companies to market their products to reviewers and opinion-shakers. CAD ran on Windows, 97% (est.) of the time. Yesterday, Autodesk's external pr firm offered me a no-cost version of Sketchbook Mobile for the iPhone cell phone: We'd like to offer you the opportunity to download the app for free to try it for yourself ...and upload your own work on the Flickr Gallery. Oops. Autodesk is now faced with marketing a piece of software running on hardware used by 0.00097% (est.) of all CAD users. I had no choice but to reply:... Read more →