SolidWorks using Catia V6 kernel?
Deelip has been at SWW10 this week, and I just ran into him today. Here are Deelip and John Picinich. Deelip writes a blog and John is a highly respected SolidWorks reseller, friend, and commenter on this blog when the topic warrants. SolidWorks World is really about meeting people like this that mostly just get to interact on the web.
Anyway, the point of this blog post is that Deelip took a picture of a computer screen showing SolidWorks running in one of these “cloud” configurations, meaning across a network, on a Mac or on a netbook, and the SolidWorks program showed SolidWorks V6 on it.
This image is from Deelip’s blog, and you should go over there to read his interviews with Jeff Ray and Shaun Murphy. Jeff Ray’s comments were fairly predictable, but Shaun took the rather extraordinary route of admitting the obvious, which of course no one expects.
Anyway, back to the picture. This likely means that the software running on the “cloud” is SolidWorks using the Catia V6 kernel, which has been a big topic of speculation on this and other blogs. One of the top 5 search phrases for folks landing on this site is “catia v6″, so people are out there looking for information on V6. Remember that the Catia V6 kernel is the one that has a lot of direct edit capabilities, among other things.
There is more to say here, but I’ve got to go for now. This mornings session starts soon with the new features to be delivered in 2011.
Talk amongst yourselves.
Ok, hypothetical talk. If it comes true, what would that mean for files created in previous SW versions with the Parasolid kernel? Would SW with V6 kernel be able to open them and recognize all their history?
One thing I’m sure, it would spell bad news for Siemens PLM and Solid Edge.
Ok, a believable alternate explanation of this is that SolidWorks is not using Catia V6 kernel, but Enovia V6. I would find it hard to believe that Catia V6 would be left out of a sea change in SW software of this magnitude.
Lets not forget the SW kernel is provided by a DS competitor! Certainly this is something BS is not happy about.
Matt,
Thanks for the kind words. It was great to see you, and finally meet Deelip.
I personally am not reading to much into the whole “SolidWorks V6″ window title topic.
In my opinion the presentations devoted to cloud computing SWW allowed users to get a glimpse at some of the long term R&D efforts at DS/SolidWorks. I think that if properly implemented, it could be a great thing. I also feel that we will not see a complete solution for a couple of years.
I’m OK with them giving us a view at the future, with ample time to voice opinions and point out potential issues.
In my utopian view users would be able to use standalone or SNL licenses of SolidWorks as we always have, while still being able to interact with users that run cloud based versions.
When a project warrants storing data in the cloud, we could upload our data from local hard drives or servers for collaborative purposes. If we needed data from a project workspace in the cloud, we could download it to our local systems.
Obviously working off a common kernel (CGM) with a full suite of import & export translators would be needed to provide a complete 3D environment. I don’t see Parasolid going away completely, just being relegated to a file format conversion utility similar to ACIS or STEP.
Can’t wait to learn more details!!!
I have heard this story since the time that Dassault acquired Solidworks. Quitting parasolid
would obviously mean a lot of money saved, but if they did not do it up to now it is a clear
signal of how much this is difficult and how many legacy problem it would give. Moreover
the more you wait the more legacy you have. I think they could perhaps develop a kind
of dual-kernel approach like Ironcad, to ease the transition.
Roberto Ciarloni, CTO, think3
This should make all SOlidworks customers VERY NERVOUS. We are jumping ship and going with a CAD system that is Proven and Stable.
What ship are you jumping to? Can you say why you think jumping ship is less risky than whatever is happening with SW?
I just found out Solidworks is changing their Kernel. We just signed a discounted 7 year maintenance deal with them. I have already begun to see serious instabilities that is affecting my work. I can’t tell my boss about the instabilities because I told him to sign the 7 yr discounted maintenance, but my work performance is incredibly poor bc of the problems. Any ideas on wtf to do!?
@Unhappy face
I assume the ptc.com part of your IP address is a strange coincidence? This is really a stupid move, when someone directly from a PTC facility posts crap like this. Who are you trying to fool? This is the move of a seriously desperate loser. Get a life, PTC.
Right now, it is not positively confirmed that SW is changing their kernel, and even if they do, users may or may not be affected in any way. Ideally it should be completely transparent. In practice, there will be new bugs, and probably some new functionality.
SolidWorks has enough real problems to deal with without making up fictional crap like this.
This quiet unassuming blog is not what it seems.
The whole future of CAD is being decided on these pages in epic discussions.
We have SW employees peeping through the windows.
Pets under foot. PTC vermin in the closet..
Everyone wants to be close to the action and influence it.
Its a wonder Matt can afford to host this site with all the extra traffic.
Nice to be popular though…
Dont forget to check out Matts excellent books while you are here and there’s a Donate button in the bottom right corner.
Matt,
This is a great thread with some great comments. I’m the Director of Social Media at PTC, and am stopping in here to address one of the comments here on your thread. It appears that ‘Unhappy Face’ is a PTC employee, from your IP address resolution. We’re looking in to see if it’s indeed a PTC employee or some IP spoofing or something else. In the event it is a PTC employee, I apologize on behalf of PTC for that comment – it’s unprofessional and uncalled for. We’re working swiftly to get to the bottom of the issue.
In response to the blog as a whole, I (like you – involved with social media) appreciate venues where conversations and opinions can be shared in an open and transparent environment, even if the conversations are with or about the competition! Misrepresenting one’s position undermines that. Keep up the good work.