SW 2006 better ???

Too all,

Do you think 2006 will be better ?

It seems to me that "they"(SW) are stuck in a downward spiral that is
feeding off it's own momentum. Let's just go back three releases. For the
sake of argument, let's say SW2003 carried over 500 bugs from previous
versions (this number is probably much higher). SW2004 is released with an
additional 500 new bugs. That's 1000 bugs. SW fixes 350 bugs, but in the
process creates 50, so now were down to 700. In the marketing driven haste
to release 2005, it's decided that they'll carry over the 700, along with an
additional 500 new ones currently in the released version. On & on
ad-infinitum.

You can see where were going here. They can't even keep up, much less make
headway. The hard evidence seems to bear out this scenario.

With this in mind, it's unlikely that 2006 will be better. It will probably
be worse.

SW isn't really an engineering software company anymore. They're a
marketing organization that "used" to develop pretty good engineering
software. The user community no longer has enthusiasm for the software. Most
experienced users won't reccommend it to people, and I think they know it.

What they seem to be focusing on are new users (new sales, and maintenance).
Preferably those that are completely ignorant of their options. This
probability is born out by all of the flashy useless gizmos in each new
release. Useless for the real world, but very impressive when used in a
carefully scripted demo. New sales, and probably an average of at least two
to three years maintenance money per seat. All to feed the hungry lumbering
marketing machine that Solidworks has become.

I don't have to tell you that this position is unsustainable. Eventually,
they'll run out potential market.

If the real situation is even close to what I've surmised, they have alot
more to fix than just their software. In fact, the software will never get
fixed as long as the current company philosophy remains as it is.

Vert,,, very sad


Mark

 

Hey Mark,

Please, go somewhere else to post your stupid thoughts!

Yes I do think SW2006 will be better!

 

I think SW are doing what any company would do. It's balancing act between
winning new customers and keeping the old ones. If they don't keep ahead of
the other mid range modellers with new widgets, the new customers will go
elsewhere.

To them, it's much easier to keep old grumbling customers than to win new
ones.


Look at Adesk. They've just bought out Acad 2006. What possible use could
that be?

 

Mark, You're on dangerous ground. I agree with you. That's probably a
bad sign for you.

Mr. McEleney: more meat, less sizzle, please.

 

Stefan,

Who the **** are you asshole !

I've been using SW and posting here since the beginning of SW AND this news
group, so **** OFF !!!

 

Mark Mossberg has contributed a lot more to this newsgroup over YEARS
than AT LEAST 90% of the participants here. In contrast this is the
very first post I can find in the Google archives by any "slukov". If
you want to have your opinion respected here, contribute something other
than insults to those who have proven their value over time. Otherwise,
go somewhere else yourself.

'Sporky'

 

Mark,

How about this, have all your CAD buddies to contact SolidWorks and tell
them that they only want to purchase an older version of SolidWorks
(2001Plus, 2003, you pick). Make sure they tell them that having new
features is not important, they just want the old code.

If SolidWorks honors their request, then the pressure to stay ahead of the
competition will be reduced. The programmers can just work on fixing old
problems, and life will be great!!

While you at it, suggest that the SW marketing department develop some nice
cozy ad campaign about being stable and ultra conservative.

BTW, interesting pseudo stats.

CG

 

Look back a couple of threads; spell check. In my CAD app. "Rubber" ok
buttons with it's cute graphics...

A little story...
When I was younger (and still had hair!), I worked for this scanning
electron microscope company as an electronics engineer. I actually
loved the job, 100 hour weeks and all. We were transforming the state
of the electron microscope. But the industry historically is based on
"resolution", not what we did best (it was an "environmental"
microscope, you could image ANYTHING, wet, dry, living or dead..)
anyway, we were loosing sales to the other guys that had better rez.
Went through a couple of VP of Sales. Then, we got one that convinced
the President that what the microscope did was second to user
niceites, like the color of the thing, and the fact that the user
interface should be "more like Windows"... puke...). They fired my
boss, a brilliant engineer that transformed this machine. I was
working on new amplifier designs that were state of the art. I was
told to stop, and "listen" to the marketing guys, who wanted "nicer
looking accessories".. well, I promptly quit.

My point is (yes, I have one) is that SW is doing the same thing here;
instead of fixing what's wrong, making it more robust, faster to use,
they're ignoring these things for "new features" and a cute interface.
I don't need a f**king spell checker, nor do I need animated buttons;
I need the DELAYS that these things incur removed so that I can get on
with doing some work... and not worrying every 5 minutes whether I
saved or not...

Mike Tripoli

 

Ok, tell us why - or if you have nothing to add .........

 

Dear Mark,

It's time to get off the computer and put the mouse deep into you shitty
a**hole. I'm sure you'll enjoy that much better than typing on the keyboard.
Wait! Just thought about that. Why don't you put the keyboard after the
mouse and let us know how much you enjoy your new experience.

Regards

 

Mike Tripoli wrote:
....(clip)...

Hear, hear. I wish SolidWorks' upper management would hear . . .

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

 

Mr. McEleney: more meat, less sizzle, please.

It's certainly easy to tell the difference between the company that
once was SolidWorks and now is SolidWorks. In my little mind, the
pinnacle was two or three releases after Dassault bought them out and
then the management migration began, and yes, they became much less an
engineering software company and much more a marketing company,
particularly when Hirshtic (sp) cashed out.

The days of being able to get bugs fixed in a timely fashion are gone.
Two releases a year prohibit that. I'd like to see a new release every
18-24 months (with service packs in between). This way they could get
rid of the dual development teams and really work on fixing the
problems instead of constantly reinventing the wheel.

Mark, just out of curiosity, what are people recommending if not
SolidWorks?

Up until recently I had been frozen at SWx2003 (which is a personal
copy that I own). I'm doing some customer work on 2005 and I'll be
honest, the true advancement in features is really not worth the
aggravation of the crashing and hanging that I'm experiencing. Most of
the new UI "enhancements" are not. All of the UI changes are
increasing the numbers of mouse selections. Remember the days when
SolidWorks used to advertise that the UI minimized mouse selections?
You haven't seen that in a while have you? It endemic of the process
of creeping featurism. Trying to be all things to all people is
impossible and SWx corp should stop trying. Unfortunately, this won't
happen anytime soon.

Cheers,

Chris

 

PLONK!!

 

HEY STEFAN!

Mark raised valid questions and opinions. You simply answered "Yes",
with a rude remark. Are you waiting for someone to tell you why it'll
be better? A press release from SW to put under your pillow? How about
what Mommy should have told you growing up; if you don't have anything
constructive to add, keep it zipped.

Mike Tripoli

 

just out of curiousity, did the company manage to make any money once they
put in a nicer interface?

 

Tick,

I really hope I'm wrong.

I'm not really tring to be negative. It's just that an honest, subjective,
unemotional, assesment leads me to this place.

Regards

Mark

 

Too much sizzle,
Meat will shrivel!

 

Depends on whether you like it well done or half baked..........

 

Mark, just out of curiosity, what are people recommending if not

Chris,

Personally, I try to avoid situations where I'm asked anymore. When this
isn't possible I'll try and give them enough truthful information to make an
intelligent decision. I used to be able to reccomend SW without any
reservations. I don't have enough "recent" experience with other systems to
recomend otherwise.

We were one of the first biotech engineering houses, here in So. Cal., to
implement SW. There are probably hundreds of seats of SW out there that are
a direct result of our choice back in 96. We have two big screen "theaters"
where we have brainstorming sessions with our clients. Usually, after just
one session, the client would ask us where to buy it. Now, the program is so
unpredictable and cumbersome, that we try to avoid these. It make us, as
well as the software, look bad.

Recently, I've been avoiding a certain "highly placed" individual whose been
asking for a CAD reccomendation. I can't devulge "who" or "what", but lets
just say it's a very heavily funded research organization, that's afilliated
with a "major" university. I honestly don't know what to say anymore.

Regards

Mark

 

I mean't "objective",,,,, whoops

Mark