3D CAD NEWS

SpaceClaim is the sneaky new Trojan Horse of MCAD. It is being passed off as a “breakthrough CAD-neutral modification solution” by the hyperactive chain-smoking Mike Payne, a Brit whose previous claims to fame include being a co-founder of both PTC and SolidWorks. I suppose planning to conquer all existing MCAD programs qualifies as “CAD neutral.”

The SpaceClaim team leaves a CAD-neutral gift.

xPLM Solution is a seasoned Teutonic codehaus, dedicated to solving the mysteries of PLM. As they adroitly say on their website:

Count on us to master together with you the challenge of optimizing and synchronizing your complex heterogeneous engineering environment and processes across your enterprise, partners and suppliers.

The staff at xPLM Solutions stands ready to synchronize your every heterogeneous processing whim. “SAP first; all others stand in line.”

Combine nervy Brit with gallant Germanics and you get a software match made in PR heaven. Which means somebody at the PR agency was randomly selected to pound out the release using the same fifty superlatives as every other announcement.

I am PR. Hear me roar.

There are several advantages to reading press releases from the bottom up:

+ The first two paragraphs of every CAD industry press release are filled with 40-word sentences that use such useless words and phrases as (quoting from the announcement) “the leading provider,” “comprehensive integration platform,” “leveraged,” and “an integrated and more efficient design and manufacturing environment.”

+ Approximately 50% of what a release says is true at the top turns out to be either not true or is scheduled to become true only after at least one business cycle passes.

+ Reading from the bottom postpones the reading of those dreary and obligatory quotes from executives who “are excited to partner” with somebody. They are always excited about this partnering, which is troubling.

The truth about executive partnerning; Fagin taught him well.

+ A good journalist always tries to turn corporate spin upside down to get to the truth. This method does it literally.

+ Every time there is a press release, several people labor over the exact meaning and placement of EVERY SINGLE WORD. Some executives lose days this way. All involved get so tired of this turd-polishing they let their guard down near the end and just let the facts speak for themselves.

A magic goose lays a golden egg. A magic dog lays the essence of PR.

+ Every press release ends with boilerplate text that appears on every announcement. If you like sucking on the table to retrieve spilled beer foam, you’ll like reading the boilerplate text at the bottom of a press release; more froth from the top.

Reading the SpaceClaim/xPLM announcement from the top down, the reader is told xPLM is building a “SpaceClaim PLM Integration Module” for “leading PLM systems.” Reading from the bottom up, we learn that it will only ship for various flavors of SAP and Infor PLM systems. It is available “on demand” for two varieties of Agile PLM (soon to be Oracle). No mention of PLM from UGS Siemens, Dassault, or even PTC, each of whom has more seats, just “others on request.” But then, the users of those “on request” PLM systems already have a CAD platform, unlike the “leading PLM systems.”

Wait a minute… If SpaceClaim is CAD-neutral, but its new PLM partner only works with non-CAD centric PLM systems, then it must be that SpaceClaim is trying to become the CAD system of choice in shops using these so-called “leading PLM systems.” If we had read this announcement from the top down, we might have been lulled into sleep and missed the real story. Another triumph for reading PR from the bottom up.

If you are dying to read the original, from top to bottom, it is on the SpaceClaim website.