Evan on Engineering Software

I just wrote this as a commentary on CADwire.net. It occurred to me that I ought to post it on my blog as well. So, consider the following to be egregious self-plagerization.

The common weakness with the most popular mechanical CAD programs is their inability to effectively use the data that people already have.

To a large degree, this is a problem of the CAD industry's own making. Many of the more agressive CAD vendors do all they can to make it difficult for competitors to use the data created by users of their software. They do this by locking up their native data formats, through technical, licensing, or business practices, and only exporting data from their systems in "dumb" formats. (Yea, spiffy publishing formats like DWF, JT, eDrawings, 3DXML and their ilk are great, but they're not workable alternatives to native data formats.)

Lost in the widespread practice of frustrating interoperability is the essential question: Whose data is it? If an engineer designs, for example, a wing-spar using a CAD program, who owns the resulting data file? Who has the right to use that data? Who has legal liability for that data?

Bob Bean of Kubotek is one of the most outspoken industry executives when it comes to interoperability. I think, possibly, it may be because of his position -- running a company that will never be in the position of being able to lock-out competitors -- but I think it's more than that. I think he's close enough to users to understand that they're just trying to get their work done, and that impediments to interoperability do not serve their interests. Take a look at this survey and you'll see what I mean.

Kubotek's new REALyze multiCAD tools are a reflection of a profound understanding of the interoperability roadblocks faced by users. They're designed to work with the most popular CAD programs And they're designed to work with the data that users have -- no matter how screwed up it might be.

In short, rather than trying to convince people that they have a better "solution," Kubotek is providing software that helps people more effectively use the tools and data they already have. That's a big deal, in my book.

I'm going to look around at my office, and see if I can't find a trophy or award, and send it to Bob. I think he, and his team, deserve it.

For more on REALyze, check out the press release at CADwire