Though never faulted for its technical prowess, Solid Edge has languished in the MCAD market as the spotlight often shines on SolidWorks and Inventor (see  my post "The Best MCAD Program You Won't Buy" June 2006).  But lately, Siemens PLM's Synchronous Technology, which is poised to introduce updates to Solid Edge and NX this summer, has received an incredible amount of press --...

oLONG BEACH, CA (PTC World Event) -- As I wasted way too much time online shopping for my own Father's Day gift, a GPS unit (hey, kids need help!) it occurs to me I should just walk into a store and pick one out. It may not be the perfect one, maybe I'd pay a bit more, but this should not be a big decision. Aren't they all pretty much the same? It's not like picking out a CAD program, right? Wrong....

BALTIMORE, MD (BE Conference) - I caught up to Keith Bentley at this years annual user meeting in Baltimore. I enjoy meeting with Keith, who despite his stature in the CAD software business (CTO of Bentley Software), makes himself accessible, listens patiently and answers every question, no matter how foolish. I resolve to test his limits. "Any little Bentleys ready to take up the reigns?" Keith la...

The folks at Adobe gave me a 90-minute demo of version 9 of their products over a Web connection. That's about 3 times as long as a normal tradeshow demo. It wasn't long enough. There's more CAD functions in Adobe now than any product from a non-CAD vendor. It's going to change the way you think about Adobe. Exploded views are a cinch with Acrobat 9 Pro Extended One feature th...

May 28. 2008, BALTIMORE, MD (BE Conference) -  Bentley is convincing everyone at their annual user meeting that it has gone green. Examples abound. Their corporate logo has been redone in green, for one thing. They have reduced their corporate carbon footprint for their big show by coming to Baltimore by bus instead of flying. They've hired Andrew Winston (author of Green to Gold) to let us kn...