So its here...SW08 anounced today

"Get Sun's Open Office."

Use Open Office Writer on a daily basis. Love the Navigator tool.

Jon Banquer
San Diego, CA

 

Well, I don't really want to get any of this on me, but it looks like
I'm getting dragged in. In the same way that I reject any criticism of
Ricky because he happens to like the interface changes in 2008, I also
reject any suggestion that I have "integrity" just because I criticize
the changes. It's not that black and white. If I have integrity it is
because I say what I think, not because of *what* I think. Ricky also
says what he thinks. We differ in opinion on this issue. Things would be
pretty boring if we all thought the same things. If you want someone who
parrots press releases, look at Tony Lockwood's Desktop Engineering
site.
http://www.deskeng.com/News/Headlines/SolidWorks-2008-Released-200706181961.html
The SW bloggers were given that same material by SW Corp, but none of us
parrotted it. We all write about our personal experience with the
software. Only a professional journalist would spew marketing crap like
that.

I also think its funny that I got called a "pufferfish" in one of the
strangest backhanded compliments I've ever heard, which I will guess
from the context means a "puffed up person" in Kiwi. People who know me
in person probably see me as a self effacing, unmitigated goofball,
silly and adolescent, with more bad jokes than you can shake a, well,
shake a... pufferfish at.

Again, the original poster is on my plonk list for reasons which he
continues to demonstrate.

 

"Why? Why?"

I wonder how robust SWIFT Instant3D really is? If SWIFT Instant3D
really is robust that's why!

If SWIFT Instant3D is not robust then then "Why? Why?" works.

Jon Banquer
San Diego, CA

 

....hmmm strange I wrote a reply that got lost in hyperspace
somewhere...

ok again but a micro version -


But I'm not completely wrong am I

see here http://designsmarter.typepad.com/mikepuckett/

Transparency is an interesting word isnt it...and marketing can be
quite insidious

 

thank you matt I wouldnt have it any other way )

 

Hmm,.. kind of like, greasing the hand.... wax on, wax off,....?

...

 

LOL! Sorry Neil, but you are are wrong on this one. As Mike plainly
states in his blog post, NONE of the Bloggers are told what to write
about. They simply provide the space so we can network a bit easier.
The day someone from SolidWorks tells me what I can and can't write
about in my Blog will be the day it is shut down. I don't think I can
explain it any better.

Best Regards,

Ricky Jordan
http://www.rickyjordan.net

 

LOL! Sorry Neil, but you are wrong on this one. As Mike plainly
states in his blog post, NONE of the Bloggers are told what to write
about. They simply provide the space so we can network a bit easier.
The day someone from SolidWorks tells me what I can and can't write
about in my Blog will be the day it is shut down. I don't think I
can
explain it any better.

Best Regards,


Ricky Jordan
http://www.rickyjordan.net

 

But why would they need to provide you space? and the formatting..
Why do you accept it? networking? really? why? This is your blog is
it? hmmm...
Has it occurred to you that this blog ring has marketing benefits and
you've done 3 hours preparing 08 promotional stuff for free? what does
a journalist earn for that?
You guys were provided with some sort of press kit with the
expectation you would write up something generally favourable about
the new release from a users perspective I would venture - which most
people have done other than Matt who bucked the trend slightly
If I were a marketing guy I would see it fits well to have a user
talking shop one to one with other users like this
Maybe we see the situation differently cos I'm outside and you're
inside?
There is no way I would touch this deal personally but then again I'm
not the profile you would select for a SW blogger am I? They need
company friendly people right? or well known figures of integrity like
Matt..
hmmm ok write something truly obnoxious about the product then as an
experiment.
I wonder how long it will be before you get slapped for it.
Anyway this is getting away from the UI issue...
I accept you have good intentions, peace and goodwill )

 

Anyway you look at it we're all whores. In my case I'm just a lot more
expensive than most CADCAM companies can afford. ;>)

Credit given to "Bing" for the whore concept of life.



Jon Banquer
San Diego, CA

 

How would you know?

 

Per you recently in alt.machines.cnc you get under US$ 20/Hr in
San Diego, California as a machine operator (RED & GREEN buttons)
& BS artist, right?

 

First, I would like to ask that comments attacking individuals
directly be kept off line. If someone really feels there's a need to
say something negative about someone else by name, perhaps it's best
to just tell that person directly. If that cannot be done, then
perhaps it shouldn't be said at all.

As far as interface goes, I find that some users I've encounter tend
to be very clicky. They've "learned" to click through the interface
instead of just setting up their interface to go right to the command
they desire in one click. I set up the interface/shortcuts/settings/
etc on computers for SolidWorks at my company. A recent new hire with
a nice new rather large widescreen set about to remove all but a slim
few toolbars. I noticed how long it was taking him to do each task
while he was modelling. I was a bit dismayed because he had to do at
least 2 clicks and lots of hunting for nearly every task. My thoughts
on interface is that if the person is using a mouse/keyboard set up,
use shortcuts (on the mouse and the keyboard) for the 10-20% of the
commands used most often, and set up the commands used the next 60-70%
of the time on the screen in the toolbars. For that slim remainder, I
just leave those where they are. I know this is a bit off topic for
the the 2008 comments, but just something about interface that seemed
somewhat appropriate.

Matt
http://sw.fcsuper.com

 

and the right-click! everyone, lets not forget about the right-
click. the things that are available in swx just from the right-click
menu is sometimes astounding.
bob z. has a rather nice mix of hotkeys and right-clicks. there are
VERY few items that require bob z. to hit an icon for and even less
for a pull-down. [if only bob z. had enough brain power to bring the
'check sketch for feature' command to an icon or hotkey (tools, sketch
tools, check sketch for feature). that would rock.]

back to on-topic (sorta). the swx2008 interface is different. bob z.
hates change. bob z. was surprised to find that after about 10
minutes of use, the new interface was a non-issue. besides, bob z.
doesn't use the buttons and pull-downs very much anyway. bob z. is in
it to win it and it takes two hands to fly this desk. a truly lazy
person will find ways to make his job simple. bob z.'s job is
painfully simple.
:~)>

bob z.
p.s. bob z. has a blog

 

Oh, look everybody, it's the Usenet Police! Martha Stewart meets Al
Gore. When you say something in public, you hang a bullseye on your ass.
If you can't deal with that, you oughtta stay home and keep your mouth
shut. Calling people out by name is part of the game. If you write a
magazine article or a blog or a website or a usenet post, the whole
world can comment on your comment. If you want polite, go play at
eng-tips, overmoderated and competing for stars.

Daisy

 

"Oh, look everybody, it's the Usenet Police! Martha Stewart meets Al
Gore. When you say something in public, you hang a bullseye on your
ass. If you can't deal with that, you oughtta stay home and keep your
mouth shut. Calling people out by name is part of the game. If you
write a magazine article or a blog or a website or a usenet post, the
whole world can comment on your comment. If you want polite, go play
at
eng-tips, overmoderated and competing for stars."

If you posted with your real name this might have some credibility.
Because you don't it's just lame.

Jon Banquer
San Diego, CA

 

I think you are referring to my comments? or more likely Jon who goes
too far too often...
I am sorry about that.I really wasnt about attacking Ricky
I think most likely Ricky is a genuinely good guy.I accept his
statements.
Now we know the 'deal' about the blogs it can be let lie.
If you visit the 'blog squad' you are - ( and I hope I have this
correct)
a.visiting a SW server ( except for Matt I understand - possibly he
has bandwidth paid for?)
b.looking at a template provided and maintained by SW (although some
seem more massaged than others)
c.the content has guidelines supplied by SW and may originate from a
supplied 'presskit'
d.the authors are hand picked by SW
e.the tangible reward would seem to be a free pass to SWW

time to move on...
thanks for your UI thoughts )

 

I thought I would throw in my 2 cents since I'm part of the blog squad
and following this thread. I'll comment on your statements below.

This is not true. You are visiting a blog page at www.typepad.com
which is a commercial site available to anyone for the purpose of
creating an mainatin a web blog. You can go and create an account
yourself now.

Also not true. The monthly fee for the blog page is paid for by
SolidWorks. The actual blog set up and page maintenece is done by the
blogger. Yes, SolidWorks can and has helped some of us set up the
graphics on the page but we are totally free to have what we want. I
wanted my blog page to resemble my website. I provided the graphics
and they helped me format the page.

SolidWorks does provide us with a "press kit" which it makes availabe
to all journalists but we are in no way required to use it.
SolidWorks also makes topic suggestions from time to time but again we
are in no way required to use those suggestions. The content on the
blog is in no way censored by SolidWorks and we are free to write
anything we like.

Well that I can't answer since I'm not in the "hand picking" decision
making process. SolidWorks asked if I would be interested and I said
I'd give it a try. I think you'll find the majority of the SW
bloggers are user group leaders or were active in the SW community
long before they started writing a blog.

I suppose that is a bonus but it's the same bonus offered to the
majority of the press community. I'm a SolidWorks user group leader
and this allows me to get into SWW free. I'm the Eastern region SW
user group network (SWUGN)rep and this earns me a free pass to SWW.
I'm a SWW presenter and this earns me a free pass to SWW. That makes
three free passes to SWW before I became a SWW blogger. So to think
I'm only blogging to get into SWW for free just doesn't make sense.

Honestly, I think the "blog squad" does this because they have a
passion for the software and want to share experiences (good or bad)
with the SW community. It's the same reason a lot of SW user groups
leaders devote so much time to their groups. It's the same reason I'm
a SWUGN rep and it's also the same reason I find myself traveling
around the country to different user group events. Think about the
well known names in the SW user community (many are members of this
board). I can name a few, Matt Lombard, Ricky Jordan, Ed Eaton, Wayne
Tiffany, Scott Baugh, Mike Wilson. None of these people are posting
at the news groups, beta testing, presenting at user group meetings,
maintaining websites with free content, etc because they're interested
in making money by doing so. I personally have spent more in time and
money blogging, creating and maintaining my website, user group
functions, SWW functions, beta testing, etc than I have ever
received. We're all doing this for free.

As for the previous comments about "us" being a SW marketing dream,
doing all this work for free. We might be. We could also be a
marketing nightmare at times. It's no different than anything else.
If you're walking around with a shirt or hat of your favorite sports
team aren't you paying to buy the shirt to promote them? Sounds like a
marketing dream.

Rob Rodriguez

 

ok here's a wee snip from Mike Plunkets blog I picked up on..

hmmm....so I dunno...its hard to say what goes on other than SW are at
the back of it

I think its fair to say Matt gets some exposure for his book by doing
this and I think he works as a SW consultant?so I 'm sure it helps
there as well
and well Ed Eaton does a little bit of advertising in his PDF
presentations and I'm sure it helps him drag in some customers to be
known out there...
I think Scott is or was a VAR...
Mike Wilson I havent heard of in a while..but I think his site
actually was just a fun thing for him...I dont think he was in an
organised fold so to speak with paid for space doing reviews or at
least not that I am aware of.. so I think we can leave him out..


I really struggle to believe busy adults have time to do this stuff
for free
I know if I was doing this I would be looking for financial
compensation but maybe I'm unusual...
Personally I never wear labelled clothing but I know some folks are
willing to do so.
Possibly this is more a part of US culture and maybe it doesnt travel
well??
Myself I see this as people being heavily compromised unwittingly or
not.
Am I likely to read the blogs with a large dose of reservation now if
I wasnt sceptical before? I'm afraid so.

A free pass still sounds good to me...
some of these people on the squad I've never heard of before sorry..
Mr Plunket seems to think its a good deal to have a free pass. Was he
getting one already too?
Do you get travel,accomodation and expenses as well?
I think its quite important we distinguish between a bona fide
backyard personal blog and one 'assisted' by SW.
In the web centric world the distinction between pseudo press or
'celebrity' endorsement etc needs to be clearly made.I suggested in a
comment on Mikes blog that all the bloggers should be carriyng a
statement setting out what their relationship is to the company.
I think there is actually a site I passed over recently setting out
what US law says re blogs and how matters should be safeguarded

Sorry guys it just doesnt wash with me that this isnt just kind of
icky.

 

"As for the previous comments about "us" being a SW marketing dream,
doing all this work for free. We might be."

I can live with that. What I can't live with is that the "SolidWorks
Blog Team" is so ridiculously one sided. Very little / no SolidWorks
Blog space is spent dealing with things a CADCAM programmer working
with non-native data often deals with. Where is the bitching about the
lack of powerful tools in SolidWorks that other products have for
dealing with non-native data? All I see is excuses and examples of how
to use the weak / wimpy tools in SolidWorks.

For example move face is a weak tool compared to what Kubotek is
working so hard on.... Dimension Driven Editing.

http://www.kubotekusa.com/swf/dimension-driven.html

Which tool would you rather use when you need to be making parts
yesterday and need to fix a model very quickly to make it
manufacturable / manufacturable at a reasonable cost?

Please tell me what SolidWorks Blogger is discussing these issues?
Which one of the SolidWorks Bloggers really understands machining and
what a small machining job shop really needs for CAD tools?

One of them goes so far as to call the highly skilled machinists that
work for her company machine operators. I don't think she does it
intentionally but it does show how out of touch SolidWorks Bloggers
are.

Maybe one day I won't give a shit and the shop I work for will use
Unigraphics because you can bet your last dollar that Unigraphics
truly understands the type of CAD tools that are needed. SolidWorks
Corp. barely has a clue.

http://www.ugs.com/products/nx/docs/multimedia_cd/start.htm

Now that Unigraphics is owned by Simmens perhaps they will lower
prices and Unigraphics will end up in more small machining job shops.

Jon Banquer
San Diego, CA