On 09/18/2015 05:22 PM, andy pugh wrote: > I just noticed that in the Autodesk store you can actually click on a Penguin: > http://store.autodesk.co.uk/store/adsk/en_GB/DisplayHomePage
Autodesk definitely seems to be making a strong push into the large market of small shop users with some of their products and marketing in the last few years, probably after SolidWorks ate their lunch. I was encouraged by AutoDesk's recent shift in marketing strategy and went onto their forum to encourage them to gain a competitive edge by providing solutions to the Linux and LinuxCNC community that is under served in the the CAD/CAM marketplace. However, the AutoDesk representative was very dismissive. Despite my effort to make a strong and realistic business case, I was hit with the same old nonsense. Linux users refuse to pay for software, so AutoDesk won't spend any time developing software for Linux users even though they deliberately selected cross platform development tools to make it easier to develop products for Windows and Mac, and Linux wouldn't take much additional effort. They seemed to have a religious aversion to Linux. It reminded me of Microsoft comparing Linux to cancer. I tried to explain that BY FAR the most expensive software I've ever purchased was electronic CAD software that I bought specifically because it ran as native Linux code, but my first person example was simply ignored and AutoDesk continued with that old saw about Linux users not paying for software. Several of us who were advocating for Linux support on the AutoDesk forum were summarily dismissed in a manner that felt like ridicule and derision. It's a lost opportunity for AutoDesk. Despite their recent products targeting the large market consisting of small shops, I guess they still don't understand their market and they'll continue to lose out on some low hanging fruit. They'd apparently prefer to compete in a crowded corner of a very competitive market rather than recompile their existing products for the Linux market that would be grateful for a serious CAD/CAM product. This seems nuts to me, considering the incremental cost of selling another copy of commercial software is very low and adding loyal Linux customers would greatly contribute to paying their significant development costs. I'll continue to write G code by hand, use PyCam, and play with FreeCAD while waiting for it to mature. I like where it's going. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
