With all of the new product releases and new products on the market for CAD and Data Management I thought I would share a view / concern I have on what is going on. Back in the day for 2D CAD like AutoCAD release 9ish I would say that the users needed more functionality to do their job then the CAD system had to offer. Also I think the users pretty much used the full system for all it had. Then as we moved into the later releases (AutoCAD 2002 plus) I think the 2D CAD system had more to offer then the users used or knew how to use. This is kinda true for the early days of 3D design like back in the Mechanical Desktop days and early SolidWorks days. How with Release 11 of Autodesk Inventor for example I think the software applications offer more benefits and features to help people then most realize or utilize. Moving into the future I also believe that the gap may widen if knowledge transfer and a method to successfully train people doesn't develop. The image below is my first crack at illustrating this theory.
I thought this may give you something to think about over this holiday week in the US.
Dan
