×

Management

CADfidential

30 Jun, 2005 By: Sara Ferris

---

Behind the scenes in the CAD world

X files

A mystery CAD vendor is offering free solid-modeling software to all those who register at the site below. The catch is that 100,000 people must register by August 1 before the software will be made available for download. www.x-cad.net

Survey profiles CAD use in European AEC firms

Laying it online

Thomas Industrial Network, the publisher of the Thomas Register of American Manufacturers and the Thomas Register Regional Buying Guides, will discontinue all print versions (the big green books) and make their information available online at www.thomasnet.com.

Conference tallies

The May AIA Convention in Las Vegas drew record attendance of 24,444 architects, exhibitors, and design professionals, a 10% jump over the previous year. The 2005 PLM World for UGS customers drew close to 1,600 attendees to Dallas in early May, and PTC/User drew a similar number to Orlando in early June.

Mac love

Autodesk updated its free DWF Toolkit to support multiple operating systems, including Mac OS X and Linux. Meanwhile, SolidWorks did the development work itself, extending its eDrawings software for 3D review and markup to Apple Mac OS X Tiger. CAD programs supported by eDrawings include SolidWorks, AutoCAD, CATIA, Inventor, Pro/ENGINEER, Solid Edge and Unigraphics NX. The eDrawings for Mac OS X is free, and eDrawings Professional is $995. www.edrawingsviewer.com/MAC_Viewer.html

When do you foresee transitioning to 3d design?

From CTO to crusader

Autodesk CTO and vice president Scott Borduin has stepped down to head up a nonprofit organization, Democracy Talking, designed to foster grassroots involvement in the U.S. political process. The organization's strategy is to form a "broad interest" network of small groups, which it calls Democracy Circles, to discuss hot issues and develop solutions. www.democracytalking.org/

PDF proliferation

Adobe says PDF documents make up almost 10% of the content on the Web, citing a report from the School of Information Management and Systems at the University of California, Berkeley.

Technology will annihilate traditional [AEC] industry practices.

BSA backs free trade

According to a new BSA (Business Software Alliance) study, Trade in the Digital Age, as much as 65% of revenue for U.S. software companies is generated outside the United States. The study cites outdated trade rules and software piracy as factors that hinder growth. The report singles out China for a spanking for its 90% piracy rate, home-grown standards that favor Chinese developers, and plans to restrict government software procurement to Chinese products.