With all that bloggers are doing, what is left for the traditional press? By their numbers, voraciousness and speed, bloggers seemed to have nailed event coverage. It wasn’t even a contest. Ditto, tips and tricks — the press just cannot compete with hard core users — which most bloggers are. What
It’s hard for the press to compete with bloggers. There are so many of them. They report on each and everything. Sometimes it’s trivia (what I ate for breakfast), sometimes it’s borderline news (Lynn Allen attends SolidWorks World), but it can be the real choice stuff (enhancements shown for SolidWorks 2009).
With the ratio of blogger to CAD user nearing 1:1, it’s no wonder someone offers a service that ranks blogs. I got wind of one such service (blogged.com) when they sent me an award for CAD Insider and an 8.4 rating. That means "great" according to their rating system. Whew! I’m glad I had a few recent posts up, as that is one of their criteria.
Bloggers bring an excitement that has been been missing in the coverage of the CAD industry.
I am reminded of this as a room of journalists sit silently and impassively during a demo of Autodesk’s MCAD software at World Press Days 2008. I have arrived late so I am sitting in the back row and I have to look over several rows of heads, many of them bald or gray. Several are diligently taking notes — quite a few on special reporters notepads they must require at journalism school. I see a digital recorder has been turned on. Some of the demo jockeys giving the presentations are are visibly bursting with excitement. So much to show and so little time. I’m sure they are dying to know if the audience likes what it sees. But it looks like they are going to have to wait for the articles to appear to know.
It’s a far cry from the recently completed SolidWorks World, where bloggers were invited to all press events. When new software was introduced, I could tell immediately if a new feature was going to be a hit or a miss by their the bloggers’ reaction. "Cool," or "sweet" was heard more than once. A lack of reaction was significant — a polite indifference if not a condemnation.
CAD Insiders, many of them veteran journalists, find themselves increasingly in the presence of bloggers at CAD events. It is not unusual for bloggers to be granted the same rights, privileges, and perks that the trade press has enjoyed for years. For example, the recently concluded SolidWorks World in San Diego, the press room, long the bastion of "traditional press," was frequented by bloggers. Same for the press dinner. Journalists are accustomed to full, free access to conference classes (though most do not attend), ditto the bloggers. Journalists are used to hobnobbing with top executives at CAD companies — but I saw those same execs giving equal face time to bloggers.
So how is this going over? Major CAD companies have indeed recognized blogging as valuable. Has their treatment of bloggers given bloggers cred? Does the old school resent the intrusion? Do bloggers play by the rules — or do they even have rules? I’ll try to examine some of these issues in an ongoing series of posts. And as usual, I welcome you to chime in with your opinion.
Lynn Allen, the queen of AutoCAD, caused quite a stir when she showed SolidWorks World 2008 in San Diego. Blogs lit up with Lynn sightings almost immediately, complete with tabloid-style photos. Tongues wagged about Autodesk spying. Some SolidWorks employees grumbled how they themselves would be welcomed
Those little bitty fillets (AKA rounds, blends) so common on castings and molded parts can be ever so confounding to the conscientious designer trying ever so hard to complete the solid model. During the customer presentations at the PTC Wildfire Launch, one customer estimated 20-30% of their modeling
Mike Puckett has done the unspeakable: he has taken on a CAD CEO.
Who is Mike Puckett? To call Mike a SolidWorks user is to not do him justice. Super user? Champion? Avenger? All those that disrespect SolidWorks had better hope they don’t run into Mike. It’s not like Mike is a scary fellow.
SAN DIEGO, CA, Jan 20, 2008-Though SolidWorks has invited press to its annual user meeting for many years, this time they chose to declare an official SolidWorks Press Day, held in advance of the main stage presentations. It was a decision many SolidWorks employees may have regretted as they may have
SAN FRANCISCO (Autodesk World Press Days), Jan 13, 2008 - In the AEC demo shown today, Autodesk led off with a design study of high rise towers that were modeled in Inventor — an application considered by most to be exclusively for mechanical design. Then a train station concept was manipulated in
