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Management

Dialog Box January 2007

31 Dec, 2006 By: Cadalyst Staff

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Readers have their say.

TALK TO US For your letter to be considered for publication, please include your full name and daytime telephone number. Letters are subject to editing for length and clarity. Send letters to: Cadalyst Dialog Box editors@cadalyst.com

This Might Be Overkill
After reading "Learning Curve: Put Your Files on a Diet," readers might also find it helpful using the OVERKILL command that's in the Express Tools now standard with AutoCAD. OVERKILL will get rid of any objects that are stacked on top each other. You can specify which type of stacked or overlapped items to get rid of in the dialog box that pops up upon initiating the command. Give it a try; it works great, folks. I recommend practicing on a sample DWG until you are comfortable with how it works.

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Service Bureaus and Scanning
In your article, "How to Justify a Large-Format Scanner, Part 1," you've made the incorrect assumption that all services bureaus use the same technology (hardware and software) that is commercially available. For our large-format scanning services, we developed specialized software as well as several hardware enhancements and improvements. As such, we can offer much higher levels of image and data quality at costs much lower than noted in your article. Furthermore, I'm not aware of any product or service that can be built or performed better, faster or cheaper than what can be done by a "production" factory. ... This cost justification was settled many years ago during the Industrial Revolution.

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A Coffee Server by Any Other Name
The second sentence of your November 2006 "PLM Strategies" column, "A Tall PLM with Low-Fat Milk," has me puzzled: Neither the Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition, nor the Oxford Concise Dictionary, Tenth Edition, nor the Oxford Spanish Dictionary, Third Edition, defines the word "barista."

Could you kindly give me a definition of this word and cite a definition somewhere in some reputable dictionary?

Editors respond:
Here is a definition from Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of English:

Barista: a person who works at the counter of a coffee shop; a coffee bar server. Example: He plans to become a barista at Starbucks. Etymology: 1982; Ital. Usage: pl. baristi.

It's also listed in Merriam-Webster's online dictionary:

Barista: Italian, person working behind a bar, from bar (from English) + ista; a person who makes and serves coffee (as espresso) to the public.

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Benefits of Larger Screens
I work for BBA, a firm with engineering consultants using AutoCAD and soon Smart Plant. All drafters and designers are presently using one or two 19" monitors. We are moving, and I suggested to my superiors that we should get one 24" or possibly two 22" monitors as upgrades.

Management and others within IT want our group of designer technicians to write a report identifying the benefits of larger screens. It sounds ridiculous, of course. Perhaps your readers or staff has come across such information.

Editors respond:
A variety of research is available on the Internet about both large monitors and dual monitors -- we provide links to two reports below. In general, the main advantage is the ability to display more -- whether it's more of a drawing, more tools, more windows, etc. Work goes faster because of the easier access to items. There may also be ergonomic benefits in reducing the amount of mouse movements required.

• "Toward Characterizing the Productivity Benefits of Very Large Displays" (Microsoft Research; PDF file)
• "The 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display Productivity Benchmark" (Pfeiffer Consulting, PDF file)

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Matter of Trust
I read "Autodesk Goes After ODA for Trademark Infringement" and felt that as a longtime user, if Autodesk cannot make its product succeed based on merit, then its product should fail and go extinct. When a salesman says, "Trust me," psychologists warn that he's only saying it so that you don't see his lie. Same with Autodesk. The more I see Autodesk trying to manipulate and direct me purely for its own benefit, the stronger I look at competing products. Shame on Autodesk.