OTC [Offshore Technology Conference

sent this to SW on OTC pavillion:

Dear SolidWorks Corporation:

For what my opinion and a few well intentioned suggestions may be worth
to you: I attended the OTC (Offshore Technology Conference) in Houston
this past Wednesday, May 3th, and was particularly unimpressed with
SolidWorks miserable (and seemingly miserly) presentation. The
display booth was first of all located in the hot and steamy outdoors
in a small, nondescript, wind-whipped, tent totally inappropriate for a
supposedly 'world class', 3D parametric, CAD software instead of
inside the main AIR-CONDITIONED, exhibit hall. Does SolidWorks
Corporation think designers such as myself would actually be using your
CAD software out of doors in a hostile climate such that of Houston
Texas?! For oil derricks or mud-shaker equipment I could understand
but software?....software?!! To make matters even worse: I seriously
doubt that demo computers could even be relied upon to function
properly in the 90-100 degree heat Houston is so famous for. If the
totally inappropriate physical setting were not enough, I also observed
pathetic group of Solidworks sales people, dressed in stealth-black
uniforms, milling around as if they had no clue as to what they were
for. Contrast this seemingly inept presentation with your chief
competitor, Auto Desk, with its impressive showing which was,
appropriately, inside the exhibit hall and fortified by a large,
knowledgeable staff with ample presentation equipment. Though it may
have in fact been there, I curiously did not notice either computers or
video presentation equipment at Solidworks outdoor 'Canvas Palace'.
Thankfully, I did however notice that Dassault Systemes S.A., your
parent company, was not guilty of the same major mistake because it was
located indoors. Would it have been a mistake to reach both potential,
high-end CATIA and mid-range Solidworks users under the same Dassault
parent umbrella - sharing a booth and fittingly inside?

While I fully understand that display space is expensive at the
world's largest oil & gas event, OTC, I none the less feel that
Solidworks forfeited an important showing opportunity in its miserly,
outdoor, canvas headquarters. To give you a background: I am a senior
designer working for a medium size, down-hole, tool company which uses
you product exclusively. Pathfinder Engineering, for example, was not
notified of the your planned presence at this major event let alone
offered a few complimentary OTC passes as is the normal
Supplier/Customer practice in this industry. I do indeed take pride in
the fact that I have made my living with your product since I began
using Solidworks in 1998 so I trust that these proceeding impressions
(and suggestions) may be both timely and of some benefit to your
organization. With this in mind, I would have expected more from
Solidworks at OTC. And finally: I fully understand that there may have
been unforeseen, mitigating circumstances involved resulting in why
Solidworks was unable to obtain suitable display space for this all
important event. If indeed this was the case, I sincerely apologize
for my hasty opinions. If not, I believe you have a great opportunity
for improving your marketing exposure in this region of the country.
In either case: thank you very much for your interest and continued
support.

Sincerely and Respectfully Yours:

Navy Diver

 

How oridinal, Mr. G-35!

 

How original, Mr. G-35!

 

Thanks for taking the time to write to them. A well written, calm, sensible
letter will hopefully be read and attended to properly. And to think - he
hangs out here with us - makes one proud!

WT

 

Mr. Diver,

I think your letter was well written but sometimes these booth's are
run by the local VAR and not by SolidWorks themselves. As I look at
the SolidWorks website they make no mention of being at the show of
having it scheduled as run by corporate SolidWorks. Unfortunately for
SolidWorks it is their name that is splattered all over the tent you
mentioned. My guess is that this was under a VAR's control and when
SolidWorks reads your email the VAR that ran that booth is going to get
slapped around.

KMaren

 

Ken,

this was SolidWorks Corporation and not any VAR. only select persons
were notified to attend the un-event

 

Navy Diver,

What in your opinion makes SW suited for Oil and Gas Equipment?


TOP

 

Perhaps they were expecting better weather in the spring ..

 

Since Navy Diver is familiar with "down-hole" oil drilling, he would be
familiar with my company's inclination recorder, (seen here
http://www.precipart.com/oil.html) which is designed in SolidWorks and
measures the angle of the drilling hole. It's fairly complicated. We also
were working on a gearbox design for an inspection device that crawls
through oil filled pipelines. Is this what you mean by SWx suited for Oil
exploration and gas equipment? Just curious, not flaming....

Scott

 

That's two companies. Is that all?

 

Nope. I'm in the oilfield and even had a booth inside at OTC!

I prefer SW not advertise........

 

What do you oil the gears with?

 

duh, Cliff. Oil.

 

I used to work at a company that made equipment used by the oil and gas
industry. The equipment itself didn't go down the hole, but the sensor
did. I'm sure like any industry, they use a lot of different types of
equipment. Ours was sheetmetal, electronics and optics, which I
consider SW pretty well suited for.

 

Mr. Diver:

You have not only wantonly plagiarized and taken thus unwarranted (nor
deserved) credit for my adroit commentary on the recent
'SoiledWorks' display fiasco -IF THAT WERE NOT ENOUGH: you are
still into me for the parking fee, 'Mr. Diver'!! What audacity!
What n-e-r-v-e!

I rest my case, ace!

Regards,

Mr. Smoke-Pole


Navy Diver wrote:

 

SmokePole,

Thank you for exposing me but I just couldn't resist such an austute
observation and needed to 'tell the world'.

Sorry I forgot about the parking fees. Many happy returns!

ND

 

it would be suited to any mechanical design software

 

Hey,

I asked CJ (the local area rep for Swx) who he pissed off and his
response was that Corp had lost the paperwork he submitted to get a
real booth. So, they got all that was available. CJ indicated that
next's year's booth was already reserved and paid for. Lighten up, it
sounds like an honest mistake.

To all those out there who want to know which oil field companies use
SolidWorks we have:

Oceaneering
Halliburton
Sonsub
T D Williamson
Perry Slingsby Submarine Systems,
etc, etc, etc.

In the past, the oil field was most driven by ProE. There has been a
migration over the past 5 years to SolidWorks. I know as I was one of
the first users of SolidWorks in this community in 97.

 

Many firms use many different systems.