AutoCAD for Mac, iPad and iPhone

[Eduardo Rolon]

http://www.macworld.com/article/153761/2010/08/autodesk.html

[Laszlo Nagy]

As far as I am reading, this is not really a version of AutoCAD, but a thing called Project Butterfly.
Only its name is AutoCAD WS.
But it is not like a very simplified version of AutoCAD or something.

[Thomas Holm]

It is a DWG viewer in concept. You will be able to do some manipulation and editing too, but how much remains to be seen.

The scary and really Autodesk-smart thing seems to be that your DWG files need to be uploaded to Autodesk's servers to be accessible from the Autocad WS iOS app.

I don't know if they'll implement some fence there, but it seems likely they'll be able to stop third-party DWGs this way. They could always blame some otherwise minor flaw in these reverse-engineered DWG converters! They'll have full control of what's happening.

I thought the app would let you access your own files directly on your own server. If that's not the case, I don't think this app is for me anyway.

And Lazlo, if you [moderate] my comments on Nemetschek' asset management, please at least try to forward them to the upper levels for a comment from the people in charge!

I don't usually use such words. But we users have been waiting for years for some declaration of strategy from them, but nothing has surfaced AFAIK, and we are getting ever so frustrated from the lack of action. Someone should be in the know of what's going on. People are defecting to Revit just because of the apparent lack of dedication from the people in power - why trust them with your money if they're just out to milk Graphisoft until it fails?

They have quite a strong combo on their hands. C4D, Vectorworks, Archicad and Allplan could complement and strengthen each other if development was consolidated and market strategy and segments defined. I think even GS's infamous NotInventedHere syndrom would fall if a clear market strategy could create new hope and enthusiasm among employees, now just scared by Autodesk's commitment.

But a strategy is needed. Work needs to be done. None is heard of. And many of us are beginning to think that none is heard of because there is none. Nemetschek needs to come out of their closet! So strong words are really motivated, I think. If Nemetschek's asset manager isn't an [moderated], let him show us why!

[Laszlo Nagy]

Sorry Thomas, I had to moderate your new post too.
The words you are using for a high ranking person of our parent company is just not appropriate on this Forum.

By the way, a sort of related news I just read today is that Vectorworks 11 will have Cinema 4D rendering engine in it:

http://planet.vectorworks.net/2010/09/nemetschek-vectorworks-inc-announces-partnership-with-maxon-co...

[Thomas Holm]

laszlonagy wrote:
Sorry Thomas, I had to moderate your new post too.

I'm not surprised

But as a person with more insight and contacts than yours truly, I think you could make a difference if you tried to get the message through to the high authorities. We're not [moderated]s down here either, if you know what I mean 😉

Still waiting for the Allplan/Archicad/Vectorworks cooperation/coordination plan!

[Laszlo Nagy]

Thomas wrote:
...I think you could make a difference if you tried to get the message through to the high authorities.

I will do that. Not to Nemetschek, but within Graphisoft. I know nobody at Nemetschek.

[Thomas Holm]

My humble thanks!

[Karl Ottenstein]

Hi Thomas,

Nemetschek has made clear in their press releases that they are a holding company and do (did) not have any plans to change anything about the management of any of the individual companies in which they have ownership interests. Maybe that has changed, but that is the last I read from them.

So, it is to Graphisoft that your comments should be aimed. 🙂

Cheers,
Karl

[Anonymous]

Karl wrote:
Nemetschek has made clear in their press releases that they are a holding company and do (did) not have any plans to change anything about the management of any of the individual companies in which they have ownership interests. Maybe that has changed, but that is the last I read from them.

So, it is to Graphisoft that your comments should be aimed. 🙂

Karl, I was looking for a wink in your smilie but there doesn't seem to be one.
Autodesk is a holding company, so is Goldman Sachs but both magically (ok, no so magically) leverage the power of a singular brand identity.

I look at it this way - the Autodesk whole is greater than the sum of its parts ... the Nemetschek whole is just parts

I look forward to more VW/Maxon-type collaboration but I will just wait to be pleasantly surprised. It just so happens that in recent history the VW and Maxon folks have been the most on-the-ball in the group ... but we should be saying that about the group as a whole ... with responsibility squarely on the shoulders of Nemetschek.

[Karl Ottenstein]

amonle wrote:
Karl, I was looking for a wink in your smilie but there doesn't seem to be one.
Autodesk is a holding company, so is Goldman Sachs but both magically (ok, no so magically) leverage the power of a singular brand identity.

Hey John,

Well, I'd wink if there was any rumor that Nemetschek was going to coordinate their holdings. But, they explicitly said that they did not intend to do so. So, just reporting their stated policy. Doesn't make sense to me, but that's what they said. 😉

Cheers,
Karl

[Thomas Holm]

Karl wrote:
Hi Thomas,...So, it is to Graphisoft that your comments should be aimed. 🙂

No Karl, I can't agree with that. The fact is, Nemetschek has the power. The fact seems, they don't use it. If that is their stated policy, all the more reason to call the responsible guys what Lazlo keeps [moderating] away. They do not leverage their investments. Knowingly! What kind of policy is that? It hurts their business, it hurts their customers (us), and it hurts our businesses too.

When Nemetschek aquired Graphisoft, they named an introvert CEO (former developer) instead of the extrovert predecessor (businessman and marketer). I thought that was a strategic decision, to be followed by development cooperation and a common marketing strategy. No such follow-up has surfaced. And Nemetschek North America (former Vectorworks Inc.) still has an extrovert marketer as CEO, and apparently also a person who sees the benefits of using the resources within the Nemetschek cooperation.

Are you telling me it is Graphisoft's executives who resist this, and Nemetschek doesn't lift a finger? I don't believe it. What are they afraid of? The Hungarian mafia's vendetta? If this is true, I'd better start learning Revit ASAP. Business reality counts in my world!