3DMojo

Everybody wants to buy software that is "easy to use", but what does that mean? "Ease of use" is a very subjective term, something that often is impossible to define. But yet in every software evaluation I've been involved with over my career, "ease of use" seems to be an important criteria for product acceptance. But ease of use does not guarantee product performance or avoiding the purchase of shelfware.

I believe that it's time to introduce a new concept, and to forget all about "ease of use". We need to start using a category where we can rate a piece of software on its "fun of use". "Fun of use" means that users enjoy working in the software – which inherently means that the user is happy and effective and looks forward to using the product to get their job done. If a piece of software is "fun to use", then it doesn't matter whether the software is "easy" or "complex", because the users will want to learn it, use it, and be productive with it. Fun of use creates a passionate user community. It creates strong product champions. It creates happier, more productive employees.

Fun of use is exactly what 3DVIA Composer delivers. I have heard countless stories of application engineers enjoying the software on their own personal time, because like a good book, 3DVIA Composer is hard to put down. Earlier this week, a prospect that is evaluating 3DVIA Composer told me that their users that are involved in the evaluation are excited, rejuvenated, and wanting to know when they will get the software for production use. And they are bragging to their counterparts about the great new technology they are soon going to be using.

Fun of use is one of the best indicators of the greatness of a product: elegance of design, superiority of performance, and richness of functionality. And 3DVIA Composer is a great product! It's why so many people want to be on the 3DVIA team.

A couple of weeks ago, both Right Hemisphere and Anark announced the sell-off of their gaming divisions. While the similar timing for two separate companies to make such division sales is coincidental, it is interesting to see that they are both abandoning their core and founding technologies. And the more interesting observation is about the sales themselves. Whenever a privately-held company restructures, or divests, there are always some interesting questions to ask about the action. Certainly if a company is meeting and exceeding their sales and profitability goals, the equity holders and investors are going to be happy and are not going to be interested in interfering and in selling off assets and divisions of the company.

Indeed, it begs the question as to why these two companies have done this. Is it a revenue problem, with a need to re-focus the sales force on a single product in hopes of generating some market traction? Is it a cash flow crisis, and a need to sell off assets to improve the balance sheet? Is it a cleansing of operations, to align the company structure and make it more attractive to a potential new investor or buyer? However you imagine it, what it does say is that these companies are trying to re-invent and simplify themselves, at a time when Dassault Systèmes is expanding and looking to further proliferate 3D into many new domains.

And as if to answer my prayers to know more about these actions, this week we are presented with some more information about these sales. Hallelujah!

In an interview with Cadaylst, Anark CEO explains why they took the company away from their core gaming platform, moved into a new business, and then ditched their gaming division to NVIDIA (as the rumor has it). He even says that: "…straddling the fence requires a lot of duplicate efforts to manage multiple properties, sales efforts, and marketing communication programs." Translation: they were spending a lot of dough with not a lot of results. So clearly it was a move to re-focus the sales operations and to infuse much-needed cash to build this new business into the "enterprise 3D CAD-PLM and visualization division". Great idea! We've always said that visualization does not add any value, and should ALWAYS be free. And there's nothing like a having new competitor in the free visualization space! Best of luck.

As for Right Hemisphere, they announced a tighter partnership with SAP. That's no real surprise, considering SAP Ventures owns a stake in the company. Perhaps this restructuring is a courting move by Right Hemisphere to get purchased by SAP? Or a requirement dictated by the potential acquirer? Right Hemisphere CEO explains this "on-going and evolving relationship" in their bright, pithy, and exceptionally interesting blog. (Ok, that is a sarcastic stretch… but for a really good rant on Right Hemisphere you should read this blog post by our former head of marketing). Regardless, it sounds to me like they are prepping to be bought by SAP. Time will tell.

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Many times I am asked to explain how 3DVIA Composer "integrates" into a PDM or PLM system. While this is a perfectly valid question, what I find interesting is that this question is often asked before anyone even begins to use the software, and sometimes it is even asked as a pre-requisite or must-have before further consideration of the product.

I find this line of thought to be extremely backwards. Asking to see the integration before seeing the content creation system is like putting the cart before the horse. And unlike the chicken or egg debate, the answer to this question is obvious: content creation must always come before content management. It makes no sense to create a complex and powerful content management solution, and then not have an effective way to create content to add to that system. It's like buying a PDM system before you have CAD software and CAD data to manage.

Additionally, it makes no sense to implement a content management system but then put in place an inferior content creation system. Without great content, what are you managing? While we could spend all day discussing the pros and cons of a single vendor solution versus a best-in-class composition of products, one thing is certain: a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Take Arbortext and Isodraw, for example: a single vendor solution, for documentation content management and publishing (Arbortext) and for technical illustration creation (Isodraw). Whether or not Arbortext is great at managing and publishing content, all of its potential benefits are lost by Isodraw's inferior ability to quickly create and update content from 3D CAD data. Being inefficient, outdated, and neither easy nor fun to use, the content creation tool is the weakest link.

Content management systems all have their nuances, but as it relates to workflow and vaulting, they all offer very similar benefits. In this context, content creation is king, and our customers keep telling us that 3DVIA Composer is the king of kings. And once they have maximized the initial benefits from a desktop-oriented (i.e.: non-integrated) implementation, they also tell us that 3DVIA Composer is exceptionally easy to integrate into their systems. And their logic is clear: begin by implementing an outstanding system at the desktop and make your users exceptionally happy and productive without a massive process disruption. Then integrate from the desktop back into the servers, based on how the users want to work.

Imagine that: a system that the users like and one that makes IT people happy by offering a natural, phased progression of capabilities that doesn't need to be force-fit into the environment. Now that's like having the chicken and the egg at the same time.

Ryan Foss was a guy with some ideas. He happened to share those ideas with some folks at Right Hemisphere, and now alleges that his ideas were actually stolen by them. He blogged about this on April 30, and you can read his story here.

It goes to show that you always need to watch your back, create contracts, look at the fine print,  and always beware of the wolf in sheep's clothing. This is especially true when implementing a new software system.

In their efforts to build a system that reuses 3D CAD and PLM data for the downstream user, Right Hemisphere has embedded the requirement for a server-based product. One that is necessary if you want the slightest chance of seeing any of the proposed benefits of their product. One that manages its own workflow, searching, and processing. One that must be connected to your other servers in a complex array of SQL and API scripting. One that is expensive and difficult to implement in a global environment. And, dare I say, one that is illogical.

Companies have heavily invested in PLM and ERP systems, data replication and redundancy, vaulting and revisioning, workflows, approvals, and many other IT systems. But then Right Hemisphere comes along, in their sheep's clothing, and talks about simplifying things for the non-engineers and gaining all sorts of wonderful benefits. But the wolf underneath is asking for these companies to invest in another disconnected set of servers and add even more complexity to their systems.

It just doesn't make sense. Any improvement you want to make in your downstream infrastructure should not require massive process changes, and should make use of existing systems. They say that logic is governed in the left hemisphere of the brain, something that seems to be missing with Right Hemisphere.

So don't be bitten by the wolf. 3DVIA Composer does not need a complex server solution to give you incredible productivity gains. Just ask our customers. And if you want to integrate the system into your existing environment, it can be done extremely quickly and can be setup to do exactly what you want it to do.

Go with the product that has the full brain working. Go with 3DVIA Composer.

Many people are familiar with this illusion of the "old lady, young lady" image. This old/new paradigm seems to be all the rage lately. On American television, we witness countless new reality shows featuring celebrities from the 80s and 90s, desperately trying to find new fame. While sometimes entertaining, there is also an embarrassing undertone to the shows, like watching a train wreck in slow motion.

It's very similar to how PTC is reviving old Itedo Isodraw references and massaging them into wonderfully new Abortext Isodraw references. These retreads from the past, pure 2D technical illustration references, are being re-framed and re-branded as great new references that are fully leveraging 3D in new and innovative ways. While these references are sometimes entertaining, they are also incredibly misleading -- they are still "old ladies".

3DVIA Composer is faster, easier to use, and far more flexible than anything else on the market, and we continue to prove that in benchmark after benchmark. Don't be fooled the next time you hear some propaganda from the competition, and be sure to put them to the test. It is the new architecture of 3DVIA Composer that is the only "young lady" in the picture.