SolidWorks:Heard! - Episode 424 - 2012 Year In Review

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2012 Year in Review:

This podcast covers a summary of 2012 and the specific SolidWorks' most memorable moments from the rise and fall of n!Fuze to eDrawings on the iPhone and everything in between.  Topics covered:

SolidWorks 2012 Highlights:

- SolidWorks hints at SolidWorks V6 in early 2013 (@ sww13)
- SolidWorks early testing on Windows 8 (March 2012)
- Introduction of SolidWorks Plastics (Simpoe agreement in April 2012)
- 3DVIA Composer V6R2013 ships (May 2012)
- eDrawings for iPad (May 2012)
- SolidWorks Electrical hits the scene (August 2012)
- Unveiling SolidWorks 2013 product line (September 2012)
- Debut of eDrawings Pro for iPad (September 2012)
- SolidWorks launches 2013 products with Windows 8 Support on day 1 (September)
- SolidWorks 2013 SP0 Ships (October 2012)
- eDarwings Pro support for iPhone (November 2012)
- SolidWorks 2012 SP5 (giving backwards interoperability to 2013 (November 2012)
- 3DVIA Composer V6R2013x ships (December 2012)

Technology Highlights:

- Apple ships retina iPad and iPad mini
- Google ships Nexus 7 and 10
- Windows 8 goes live
- Amazon launches Kindle Fire HD
- Microsoft launches Surface RT (Arm based tablet)
- The rise of webGL 3D tools emerge with Sunglass, GrabCAD and TeamPlatform

From a technology standpoint, 2012 has been an amazing year!  Consumer electronics were brought to a new level, not only in technology but in adoption.  Tablets have hit the scene in a huge way, brining larger screen mobile devices to a significant portion of the population.  This is changing the way many of us compute on a daily basis.

As far as the CAD scene, the emergence of more mobile tools that extend the workflow of markup and communication is far overdue and I hope becomes more expansive in the coming year.  Web-based collaboration tools for 3D are also growing in capabilities allowing teams to use cloud centric tools to bridge the gap.

2013 should bring many technological surprises, especially since the comfort with the cloud is slowly but surly growing.  We might actually see something from DS SolidWorks at SolidWorks World this year if the hint of Bertrand Sicot stands true.  

I want to take a moment to thank you all for listening/reading for another year and I am excited to see what 2013 brings to us in the engineering and tech world.  Happy New Year!  ~Lou

Remember to check out the SolidWorks: Heard! Blog and to follow me on TwitterFacebook and THE HEaRD!

SolidWorks:Heard! - Episode 368 - 2011 Year In Review

2011 Year in Review:

This podcast covers a summary of 2011 and the specific SolidWorks most memorable moments starting with Jeff Ray leaving to SolidWorks 2012 SP1 shipping and everything in between.  Topics covered:

SolidWorks 2011 Highlights:

- Jeff Ray out, Bertrand Sicot In

- Solidworks pre-announces 3 web products

- DraftSight for Linux 

- IE9 and Windows 7 SP1 

- 3DVIA Composer ships two major releases

- SolidWorks 2012 

- Jon Hirschtick leaves SolidWorks 

- Toolbox Woes

- Top 10 list goes live (just to name a few)

Technology Highlights:

- Google launches Google+

- Windows 8 in Developer Preview

- RIM is fading

- HP open sources WebOS

- iPad 2 ships

- Steve Jobs dies at 54

- Android is killing it

- Amazon launches an Android Market and the Kindle Fire

2011 was quite a year in the tech industry and there changes across SolidWorks in many areas.  SolidWorks was business as usual for the most part.  CEO change at the turn of the year, SolidWorks World announced new products, and a new version of SolidWorks shipped.  Despite early announcements of 3 cloud tools (n!Fuze, Post3D and Live Buildings), none of them really caught on due various reasons.  SolidWorks 2012 is a quality release with some solid additions but mainly seems to be embraced due to the little things.

The active SolidWorks blogging community somewhat slowed way down this year with many stopping blogging all together. Although blogs still bring the most helpful content, the social networks seem to be where the interaction is today across Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Google+.  

2011 also brought a tremendous growth in mobile, especially in the ubiquity of smart phones.  Everyone has a computer in their pocket today and use it to be productive (and not) on the go.  Companies across the globe are producing apps and mobile sites to allow their users to do device-specific activities on the go. Personally I believe SolidWorks needs to get into the mobile game in 2012 in order to meet and exceed that of the competition, some of which (AutoDesk) have built a number of apps to view, markup, and collaborate across a number of their products.

I want to thank you all for listening/reading for another year and look forward to bringing more tech news and other tech tips to you in the coming year!  Happy New Year! ~Lou

Remember to check out the SolidWorks: Heard! Blog and to follow me on TwitterFacebook and THE HEaRD!