Why Did I Do It?

For a number of reasons but mostly because I believe it is time that the users of CAD started speaking out in a world that is terribly one sided.

It’s one sided from an information point of view, a financial point view and a choice point of view and I can from personal experience draw both positive and negatives from each viewpoint, but the overriding reason is because I believe the CAD vendors are leading users down a path that will prove to be detrimental to many including some of those same vendors.

Vendors do not see the path they are treading very clearly because many do not know how to effectively apply the products they are peddling.

It is good to see new products and to read and learn about them and to use them when appropriate but it is also increasingly necessary that the ‘warts’ to be found in these products be known prior to their purchase.

My personal experience has been one that has encountered a CAD vendor that truly believes that the expression ‘commercially confidential’ allows them to avoid answering direct questions (about warts), the answers to which are absolutely necessary to any person buying their products for design and draughting purposes.  In avoiding answering these questions, we have been forced to waste good money and a lot of effort trying to apply a product that was destined to fail from the start and that was known but never revealed.

The impact this has had on our bottom line can never and will never be recovered.

The ‘one sided choice’ I mentioned has much to do with the reduction of outlets from which we can purchase CAD product.  On the one hand vendors do, and want us, to treat their products as consumable items (which they are not) and on the other hand they have chosen to drive us into a net consisting of only a few favoured (because of sales abilities not technical expertise) dealers.  The net result; at a time when information about products is more and more important, it is only available from fewer 'not so' knowledgeable sources and as I have found out this means that much of the research work that should be done for you by vendors and dealers now must be done in house at an ever increasing cost with a decreasing amount of resources. This situation is set to become much much worse!  Think WEB and rental and it’s very obvious.

I have no doubt that those of you who read all I have done may say my comments are one sided or biased but they are not.  The conclusions I have drawn are as a result of my testing and applying these products not just selling them. The comments I have made reflect what has happened, is happening or what I believe should happen, a bitter pill for CAD vendors quick to tell us that change is the only way forward but are very reluctant to change for us.  Maybe what I have done in releasing these documents will prevent some readers from losing productivity (and money) unnecessarily and hopefully will galvanise others in to responding similarly to bring about a change that in the long run will benefit all participants in the CAD industry not just the vendors.

As I have done in the prologue and other documents, I issue an invitation to any person who may wish to respond to this document, supporting comments or dissenting no matter, your views will be respected as I trust mine will be also.

R. Paul Waddington
Proprietor –cadWest.