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Ha. If they haven't said this about every previous product they've come out with, I might actually believe it. They are getting further and further from their roots.
Maybe this istheir way of pushing co-create intoapareto tail application to compete withSpaceClaim,DassaultEnovia, or Acrobat 3D.Some CAD-dy/PLM-y facebook/amazon/itunes mashup.
This should be interesting. I don't think SpaceClaim makes any money besides the buckets of venture capital that have poured in, andI suspect you couldsay the same aboutEnovia. I know Acrobat has restructured3D and made layoffs.
Love em or hate em, you have to admit that PTC has carved a unique place. They've always tried to cater to the whole spectrum from small to big, simple to complex. Even Facebook can't figure out how to make money on Facebook but maybe the PTC model can figure it out.
I don't know if anyone paid any attention to their recent earnings call. CAD to big companies is flat, but CAD to small ones is growing. Conversely, PLM to big companies is growing while PLM to small companies is flat. Maintenance is down across the board. Sothat's wherewe are two years after they tried and apparently failed to prep the company for a takeover.
I'm a modeler, so thisisn't forme unless they come up with something crazy like merging trajpar parameters instyle edit surfacewith subdivisions.
I'm mostly paying attention for the entertaiment value. It's clear when you look at their numbers that they have to somewhow come up with some way to merge the low end CAD with the high end enterprise stuff. This takes care of the two big areas of growth - the product manager at Target and the designer/administrator/shop foreman and Bernie's Tool & Die.
Where does that leave the rest of usmodeling inPro/E? We will soon find out.
PTC has had several low end modelers over the years. I think Pro/Desktop was the last one but there have been others, can't even remember their names now. Co-create will follow into the dust bin. Lighting bug will also fade with the new dawn.
I just wish they would complete the conversion of WF to
the new interface. Listening to the users would go a long
way to satisfying most people.
WF5 is a step forward but menu manager is still there
even in the new drawing module. How many people actually
use dynamic editing - or more to the point how many
people use WF5 ? They need to get the basics right.
Theres also been a lot of painting over the cracks eg
animated results output in mechanica are still buggy -
just as they were in WF4 and WF3. They created a whole
new interface and debugged it and left the old bugs in
there!
Two final words - Repeat Regions - need I say more ...
i think we should expect some good surfacing capabilities to come. there are some good signs in wildfire 5 that has lead me to believe that higher curve and surface degrees are coming. why would someone need surface knots analysis while he has no control over it? almost like giving someone an eraser but not giving him a pencil.
Since a couple of weeks they removed Wildfire 6.0 from PTC:s Product Calendar.
I have a hard time understanding that they
will release the next major step in CAD design, or detailed information
about it, in October and have Wildfire 6.0 scheduled as late as Q2 for
C000 and Q4 for F000 based on previous calendar.
Will there ever be a Wildfire 6.0? It seems strange that a breakthrough CAD release would only be a number release. On the other hand there seemed to be some info about WF 6.0 at PTC User.
At the PTC/User conference in Orlando this summer, it was almost comical tohear everyone avoid calling the WF5 follow on release "WF6". They stepped all around it, calling it "the release following WF5" or simply "a future release". I think there will be a renamaing, similar to when PTC stopped going by genereic relase numbers (V17, 18, 19...etc) and went to WF. Lightning CAD, anyone?
Agreed. I got an email about Project Lightening requesting that I take a survey about my biggest complaint in using CAD. Have you seen it? It's on the Project Lightening main page.
I went thinking that PTC was finally interested in the frustrations of the user. The 2 question survey was comical to the point of being insulting. The choices for 'biggest frustration' were more manager focused than user focused.
There's been a level of consistent flaws in Pro|E for the 14 years I've used it that I've wanted to help PTC fix if they'd only listen. To be offered to "Have someone famous write [my biggest frustration] on an Etch A Sketch
I second that, Doug. I don't want my CAD frustration "pulverized in a powerful blender", I want itapplications fixed. The cutesy survey is insulting to anyone actually using the software and comes across as a hollow marketing ploy intended for those who don't even use PTC software.
If "Lightning" is Wildfire 6 with a new name, fine, but when announced I hope theygive it a more sensible name like Pro/Engineer 2011. Take the money spent on marketing consultants and "what are we going to call the next major release" brainstorming sessions and spend it on improving the software, guys!Either way I'm guessing can't make use of any of the"benefits"it until I finish migrating us from Intralink to Windchill and probably spend more money for added "modules" or license reconfigurationdue to revised software packaging.... again.
I am interested in what details they may announce in October. Perhaps we'll all be pleasantly surprised. I wouldn't want to go back to Pro/E 2001 or 2000i2 (remember that release) and I think PTC has been taking Pro/E in the right direction. They just occasionally seem to forget that pleasing the customer isn't about product teases or other games to please the shareholders, it's about a good, stable product that doesn't require spending a fortune every 6-8 years because they revamp their offerings oroverhaula PLM package.
dgs kind of said it all when he said the PTC survey was management-oriented, not user-oriented. PTC's philosophy for many years has been to market their products to management, not users. There is some merit in this strategy: managers make buying decisions, and users are often left out of the loop. But the fundamental underlying problem with this strategy is obvious to all: the users are the ones who have to make things work, not management.
So the slick PTC demos and presentations to management have sold a lot of software, butmost companies (esp. those who listen to their users) have headed away from the PTC product line to Windows-based products. The companies that are still running PTC products are hobbled by their legacy with them, continuing to submit to the constraints of substandard software rather than commit to building towards a better future. Yeah, we are also still running Intra/Link 3.4. Although the corporate Preventers of Information Technology have mandated a global change in the data management process within 'a few years', it may not include a meaningful upgrade in the PDM system here.
managers unfortunately make requisition orders. Should have seen all the managers loving the learning management system at the conference. Booooring. Edited by: design-engine
The part about "commit to building
towards a better future" moved me to tears... I'm visualizing a wrecked city and a lonely hero walking away towards the rising sun... with his copy of Saladworks on his back
Gee, I seem to have touched an nerve on some of you. Sounds like some of you are spending too much time playing post-apocalytic video games. I'm still here in the real world, watching what's going on around me and not retreating into a private fantasy. But not all is lost at my day job: change is inevitable, and I embracethe opportunities thatthe future offers.
Since this division capabilities are constrained (in part due to the low productivity of PTC products), much of the product development is now being outsourced. And the outside design houses are running - you guessed it - SW. So some of our new products are being designed in SW: the change is being forced upon management due to their own unwillingness to commit to the future, and they are losing control over our product development processas well. They are placing it in the hands of highly paid outside design firms who are more focused on milking us for every nickel they can get than on providing a product they will have to live with.
It appears that my efforts (and expense) in staying current with SW is going to prove lucrative. I see my calendar has me scheduled to review the design of one of our new products (done by an outside consulting firm) this afternoon. The design is in SW. Thankfully, I see the merits of owning more than one hat that fits.
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