Pro/E is first, SolidWorks is 6th

According to a recent press release hosted on TenLinks.com, Pro/ENGINEER has
the most seats worldwide while SolidWorks is 6th. This is from a MCAD study
done by Wohlers Associates.The seat counts include educational licenses.

See the whole press release at:
http://www.tenlinks.com/NEWS/PR/WOHLERS/062504_5mil.htm.

 

: According to a recent press release hosted on TenLinks.com, Pro/ENGINEER has
: the most seats worldwide while SolidWorks is 6th. This is from a MCAD study
: done by Wohlers Associates.The seat counts include educational licenses.
:
: See the whole press release at:
: http://www.tenlinks.com/NEWS/PR/WOHLERS/062504_5mil.htm.
:
:
Just off hand, I'd have to be skeptical of a study that put Inventor ahead of
SolidWorks in the number of seats, even if you included educational licenses. Or,
that UG is still second. Sure would be nice to know how they did the study, but I
guess you've got to spend the $425 to find out.

David Janes

 

:

A couple of years ago Autodesk bundled Inventor with MDT and gave it to all
"subscription" contract holders as the Autodesk Inventor Series. Nobody in
heaven or on earth knows how many seats are in full time use. What I found
interesting was that MDT still ranks ahead of Inventor. Who knows......

Now then, was that really posted by Ten Links' editor? I don't think so.

 

:
: A couple of years ago Autodesk bundled Inventor with MDT and gave it to all
: "subscription" contract holders as the Autodesk Inventor Series. Nobody in
: heaven or on earth knows how many seats are in full time use. What I found
: interesting was that MDT still ranks ahead of Inventor. Who knows......
:
Knowing Autodesk, that's kinda what I figured. But I'm sure, just from the number
of jobs available, that Inventor is way behind SW in actual, professional design
use.

: Now then, was that really posted by Ten Links' editor? I don't think so.
:
Good question, why don't I ask Mr. Tara Roopinder himself. Or maybe just someone
on the staff and see if they get back to me. If they do, and they don't post it
here, I'll pass it along. In any case, stroking us with a study saying WE'RE NO.
1!!!! is probably good advertizing. I wouldn't be surprised to find it turning up
on Proe Central or Engineering Tips forums.

David Janes

 

: Monster.com:
:
: Solidworks 585 positions
: Inventor 99
: Pro-E 436
: Mechanical Desktop 134
:
: Tenlinks.... coo-coo
:
: Bill
:
Right, now that's more realistic. Too bad you're not a good enough con man, Bill,
to sell it for $425, hunh!?! Oh, well, somebody's bying that shit.

DJ

: : > :
: > : A couple of years ago Autodesk bundled Inventor with MDT and gave it to
: all
: > : "subscription" contract holders as the Autodesk Inventor Series. Nobody
: in
: > : heaven or on earth knows how many seats are in full time use. What I
: found
: > : interesting was that MDT still ranks ahead of Inventor. Who knows......
: > :
: > Knowing Autodesk, that's kinda what I figured. But I'm sure, just from the
: number
: > of jobs available, that Inventor is way behind SW in actual, professional
: design
: > use.
: >
: > : Now then, was that really posted by Ten Links' editor? I don't think
: so.
: > :
: > Good question, why don't I ask Mr. Tara Roopinder himself. Or maybe just
: someone
: > on the staff and see if they get back to me. If they do, and they don't
: post it
: > here, I'll pass it along. In any case, stroking us with a study saying
: WE'RE NO.
: > 1!!!! is probably good advertizing. I wouldn't be surprised to find it
: turning up
: > on Proe Central or Engineering Tips forums.
: >
: > David Janes
: >
: >
:
:

 

-----------------------------------
Careerbuilder for the last 30 days:

Pro/E 283 (several different searches, very consistent results)
SolidWorks 221 (NOT including some unique results for "solid works")
Catia 176
Unigraphics 103
Inventor 59 (including irrelevant results for inventors AND results for
trainers which also included SolidWorks and other CAD software trainers)
Mechanical Desktop 23 (including 3 unique engineering results for MDT)
Solid Edge 25 (including results for "solidedge")

No doubt the number of licenses/seats reported by Wohlers is accurate,
as far as available data can confirm. No doubt also that results of
open jobs in the last 30 days doesn't tell the whole story either . . .
there could be any number of variables involved, including just raw
chance. But combined with Monster's results and knowing something about
AutoDesk's bundling practices and educational licensing policies one can
say FOR PRETTY CERTAIN that it's LAUGHABLE to think that Inventor and/or
Mechanical Desktop (even together) are in greater actual use in the USA
than is SolidWorks. AutoDesk's practices have basically "dumped"
licenses on the US market, and anybody who can't see that is an idiot or
just likes to kid themselves.

'Sporky'

 

Doesn't the US have copyright and trademark laws ? What's this
crap with Autodesk calling anything related to 3D graphics
"Inventor" ? Confuses the heck out of me every time I hear it ....
Isn't that what trademark laws are supposed to _prevent_ ?

 

In the end the number of seats means nothing if the software and the company
providing it stink. Case in point Pro-E, the company stinks and has from day
one, they alienate customers like nobody else in the industry even more than
Autodesk. Also the product is not easy to use , hell its taken them 3 years
of non stop work to try to make the interface more usable and they still
arent done.

 

You apparently haven't been an Adesk M(ediocre)CAD customer in recent years.

It may not be the easiest thing around to use (does the square go in this
hole or that one...) but it ain't bad.

 

I don't know, but if there's anything that Autodesk IS good at; it's
lawyer'n.

 

What's to be confused about? Inventor is the name of a program. Simple.

 

You're absolutely right, it is. Inventor is the name of a program
by Silicon Graphics. There is Inventor and now Open Inventor. They
are the precursor to VRML and the whole virtual reality schtick.
Inventor is a three dimensional graphics format from SGI that's
been around for *years.*

Look at the dropdown list in your Pro/E ... one of the formats is
*.iv. That'll create Inventor files, as in the SGI "Open Inventor"
variety.

So where does AutoCrap come off using someone else's trademark ?
For a product which is easily confused with a pre-existing product
in the same field ? As someone else said, they're best at lawyerin' ?

 

: AutoDesk's practices have basically "dumped"
: licenses on the US market, and anybody who can't see that is an idiot or
: just likes to kid themselves.
:
:
Seems like they are in the business of kidding the RP people. They're the ones the
study is aimed at and the ones who use the figures for making decisions on capital
expansion. 'Oh, yeah, guys, go out and buy that half million dollar Super SLA
machine. Look at these numbers, there's a ton of work in the pipeline, judging by
this jump in solid modelling licenses [points to chart with spike on it]. No, no,
those machines won't be sitting idle for months at a time, sucking the life out of
your bottom line. We're absolutely, positively almost certain of that, judging by
the numbers.' Everyone loves optimistic predictions and when they don't come true,
who remembers the ones that made big bucks selling you on the "next big thing".

On the validity of the job figures for judging installed base, consider a couple
things. First, the numbers (50, 100, 300, whatever) represent a very, very small
portion of licenses in use, like .02%. Even a small fluctuation in something like
retention rate (job hopping, layoffs) can dramatically change the numbers, easily
doubling or halving them. Second, comparing the numbers of jobs available assumes
that one seat of brand x is the same as a seat of brand y. But what if licenses
among SolidWorks users (or Inventor or Alibre) were mostly by individuals; what if
the vast majority of Pro/e users worked for companies like Caterpillar with 3000
licenses. Which of these is going to turn up on Monster? Not the oneseys and
twoseys. They don't show up on Monster or in the unemployment figures either. It
also effects what proportion of licenses have been handed to agencies where the
highest turnover is and where the bulk of jobs appearing on Monster, Yahoo Jobs,
Net-temps come from. So, the numbers are probably skewed, but not in a way that
favors Inventor over SW. They're probably skewed in a way that makes Pro/e look
like it's more than it is.

DJ

 

: Jeff Howard wrote:
: >>:
: >>Just off hand, I'd have to be skeptical of a study that put Inventor ahead
: > > of SolidWorks. A couple of years ago Autodesk bundled Inventor with MDT
:
: Doesn't the US have copyright and trademark laws ? What's this
: crap with Autodesk calling anything related to 3D graphics
: "Inventor" ? Confuses the heck out of me every time I hear it ....
: Isn't that what trademark laws are supposed to _prevent_ ?

Maybe the lawyers already settled this, 5-10 years ago. Maybe you're just a little
behind the times and Autodesk already bought the right to use the name "Inventor".
It's just intellectual property, just another commodity to be bought and sold, not
some sacred SGI cult icon, eternal and inviolable.

David Janes

 

But maybe not. You didn't clear anything up here. Just practicing your
typing?

 

:
: : : > : Jeff Howard wrote:
: > : >>:
: > : >>Just off hand, I'd have to be skeptical of a study that put Inventor
: ahead
: > : > > of SolidWorks. A couple of years ago Autodesk bundled Inventor with
: MDT
: > :
: > : Doesn't the US have copyright and trademark laws ? What's this
: > : crap with Autodesk calling anything related to 3D graphics
: > : "Inventor" ? Confuses the heck out of me every time I hear it ....
: > : Isn't that what trademark laws are supposed to _prevent_ ?
: >
: > Maybe the lawyers already settled this, 5-10 years ago. Maybe you're just
: a little
: > behind the times and Autodesk already bought the right to use the name
: "Inventor".
: > It's just intellectual property, just another commodity to be bought and
: sold, not
: > some sacred SGI cult icon, eternal and inviolable.
: >
: > David Janes
:
: But maybe not. You didn't clear anything up here. Just practicing your
: typing?
:
I'm not the one to "clear it up", am I. We're talking about fairly big boys who
are not shy about litigation. If there were grounds for a trademark infringement
dispute or whatever, it was had and done with years ago. All Hamei had to do was
look up the history. If he doesn't know it and it doesn't ring a bell with anyone
else (apparently not with you, either), then this isn't even old news. A red
herring, perhaps? and way off the topic besides.

David Janes

 

Monster also had 633 items pertaining to Solid Edge (and solidedge).

Ken

 

If you do a search for Solid Edge you're going to get a WHOLE lot of
irrelevant results. You have to do a search for "Solid Edge" including
the quotation marks. Do it THAT way and you get 49 results.

Mark 'Sporky' Stapleton
Watermark Design, LLC
www.h2omarkdesign.com

 

OK... lets talk about PTC... (you don't really need a separate post do you?)

If you are willing to pay maintenance... their hotline is pretty good.
They do attempt to make it possible to get someone who knows something
live on the phone. Some hotlines are strictly "we'll call you back"
Their knowledge base and website have GOBs of stuff to read on just
about every piece of their code. And their code operates as designed,
unlike some others.

OK, I haven't been thrilled with the sales turnover, or some of the
corporate repackaging that requires constant vigilance. But their
products have gotten better over time. No... they are not "done" I hope
they never are, because that would mean there is no room for improvement.

To the original post topic... What!? No IronCAD or SDRC jobs?

-meld

 

Oh yeah, just "look up the history." Go ahead and "look up
the history" of all the lawsuits Microsoft has lost. With
rare exceptions, these people do not air their embarrassing
dirty laundry in public.

That's exactly the point - here's a person who's probably been
in the biz for a while, yet wasn't even aware that Inventor
most certainly *is* an SGI trademark and has been for years :

http://www.sgi.com/products/evaluation/6.5.5m_inventor_2.1.6/page1.html

Years ? probably decades .... here's something from 1995 :

http://www.dea.polimi.it/dea/news/events/vp95/proc/dufour.htm

Why does this bother me ? How about the word "hypocrisy" ?
WHICH company is the biggest sniveller about "piracy" and
"millions of dollars in lost revenue" ? WHICH company plays
number three at supporting the SBA's gestapo program ?

Yup. The very same one that has no qualms about stealing
another company's intellectual property and violating their
trademark at will.

I really can't see why you'd think that ... this thread was
a discussion of the relative popularity of Pro/E, SaladWurx,
Autocad, and so on. I feel there is some confusion caused by
the misnaming of an Acad product .... which was borne out by
the fact that some other people weren't even aware that there
*was* a prior product by that name. A prior product owned by
another company. If exposing Autodesk's scum-sucking behaviour
affects their popularity in any way, good. They are thieves
and hypocrites. The only good thing about them is their nice
building.