A Christmas Card…

.. for Autodesk? In this time of peace-on-earth and good-will-to-etcetera, perhaps the two warring factions could agree that SolidWorks gets to use the orange box in squarish form, while Inventor applies it in more rectangularish form. E Cognito Spud In unrelated news, 2008 had been the International Year of the Potato. As the son of a former part-time... [Read more]

One Year Cake

Monday night, "Jacques" got his one-year cake. For the third or fourth time. For more than twenty years, he's been an alcoholic, drug addict, and someone with severe mood disorder. For the last five, he's alternated between recovering and relapsing. (I've written before about Jacques in upFront.eZine.) Alcoholics Anonymous members... [Read more]

Waiting on A/CAD

IMSI/design showed off its provocatively-named A/CAD software during Autodesk University (note that I wrote during, not at). And now it's no longer named A/CAD. Reader N.C. is keen on checking out this free, AutoCAD-like software, but this week discovered the name's been changed to DoubleCAD. In addition, the marketing acadnow.com URL points... [Read more]

Free MEDUSA4 CAD for Linux

Merry Christmas: CAD Schroer Group updates its free-for-personal-use version of MEDUSA4 2D & 3D CAD software.  It's available in six distributions of Linux and three of Windows. You'll need to register before getting your free copy.  Pay-for verticals include Parametrics, Sheet Metal Design, and Med2SAP. Go to Source SHARETHIS.addEntry({... [Read more]

Adobe’s Problem: Sales Down; Solution: Increase Prices

During its Q4 conference call with financial analysts, Adobe reported that revenues from its new CS4 (creative suite 4) software are down, says ceo Shantanu Narayen: …CS4 revenue down more than 20% when compared to the equivalent CS3 period. So, does this mean you going to put off the planned price increases on February 28, asks Heather Bellini... [Read more]

Autodesk Mergers Continue; Buys Algor FEA

When I posted several days ago that economic downturn was a good time to invest in new technology, I didn’t exactly have serial corporate takeovers in mind. Despite its fallen share price, Autodesk continues its series of acquisitions with its takeover of Algor. In business since 1974, ALGOR, Inc. is a long-standing provider of finite element... [Read more]

Matt Reviews SynchTech

If you are interested in getting past the Siemens generated hype on synchronous technology from last summer, you probably should read Matt Lombard's posting yesterday, More thoughts on Synchronous Technology. He goes through a valuable process of "Yup, this works well" and "Nope, this doesn't." His summary statement: Solid... [Read more]

Autodesk Buys Algor: $34 Million

Upon completion of the acquisition, Autodesk's current intent is to integrate ALGOR into its Manufacturing Solutions business unit and to continue developing and selling ALGOR's core product line. Autodesk plans to continue developing the ALGOR products with an open approach, allowing direct data exchange between ALGOR products and multiple... [Read more]

the doctrine of equitable estoppel

The Free Dictionary tells me that the doctrine of equitable estoppel means that…  …a court will not grant a judgment or other legal relief to a party who has not acted fairly. The OpenDesign Alliance uses the phrase in their latest filing with the US trademark office against Autodesk. The PDF file contains other fancy lawyer phrases... [Read more]

PTC Frustrates Out of the Box

The Pro/E “out-of-the-box” experience has got me in a bad mood. I had never installed Pro/E before. I had been warned that it “takes forever” which had already made me a tad anxious. But a customer sent me a PRT file and I had no choice. I pulled the Wildfire 3.0 box off the shelf and in 5 minutes, came to a screeching halt. A... [Read more]

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