Autodesk to SpaceClaim: Get Lost
3D CAD News learned today that SpaceClaim Corporation has been delisted as an exhibitor at the upcoming Autodesk University 2007, Nov. 27-30 in Las Vegas.
Every year some one or some company gets booted from Autodesk University at the last minute. The line employees -- who don't know one person or company from another -- sign up anybody willing to pay the fee. Then eventually, somebody more senior at Autodesk starts going over the list of attendees and exhibitors and sooner or later gets the "oh-oh" feeling. Meetings are called, people yell and wring their hands, and eventually a line employee is told to make the call.
More than once the left foot of disfellowship has been extended toward industry gadfly Evan Yares, who until a year ago was Executive Director of the Open Design Alliance. One year he was so bold as to hang around the host hotel as a registered guest but not a registered attendee, striking up conversations with anybody who would listen. One Autodesk VP asked me after a brief conversation with him, "Was that really Evan Yares?" It seems they had never met.
I doubt Mike Payne, co-founder of SpaceClaim (also co-founder of PTC and SolidWorks) will pull a Yares and show up at The Venetian Hotel next week, but you never know. If he already has the plane ticket and the hotel room, might as well enjoy Vegas.
Part of the marketing line at SpaceClaim Corp. is that the product is not a competitor to existing CAD programs, but should be viewed as complimentary, thus the rationale for trying to become an AU exhibitor. To that we say, yuk yuk yuk.
Being kicked out of Autodesk University is a rare and exceptional accomplishment -- more people have won an Oscar than have been given the boot from AU, even though similar talents are required. We think such status deserves acknowledgement. So, on behalf of the staff and management of 3D CAD Blog, we award SpaceClaim Corporation our new trophy, which we will refer to from now on as The Yares Cup. We will award it when needed, not just for AU but for other industry events or when somebody really does a stellar job of outraging a CAD vendor. (For the record, we were the first winners of our own trophy. We still get anonymous phone calls late at night about the Bernard Charles Head Fake article. Especially from crabby English teachers who remind us the correct tern is "head feint." To which we say, blow it out your Funk & Wagnalls. On the basketball court, it is a head FAKE.)
The Yares Cup, awarded for exceptional performance in outraging a CAD vendor.
Every year some one or some company gets booted from Autodesk University at the last minute. The line employees -- who don't know one person or company from another -- sign up anybody willing to pay the fee. Then eventually, somebody more senior at Autodesk starts going over the list of attendees and exhibitors and sooner or later gets the "oh-oh" feeling. Meetings are called, people yell and wring their hands, and eventually a line employee is told to make the call.
More than once the left foot of disfellowship has been extended toward industry gadfly Evan Yares, who until a year ago was Executive Director of the Open Design Alliance. One year he was so bold as to hang around the host hotel as a registered guest but not a registered attendee, striking up conversations with anybody who would listen. One Autodesk VP asked me after a brief conversation with him, "Was that really Evan Yares?" It seems they had never met.
I doubt Mike Payne, co-founder of SpaceClaim (also co-founder of PTC and SolidWorks) will pull a Yares and show up at The Venetian Hotel next week, but you never know. If he already has the plane ticket and the hotel room, might as well enjoy Vegas.
Part of the marketing line at SpaceClaim Corp. is that the product is not a competitor to existing CAD programs, but should be viewed as complimentary, thus the rationale for trying to become an AU exhibitor. To that we say, yuk yuk yuk.
Being kicked out of Autodesk University is a rare and exceptional accomplishment -- more people have won an Oscar than have been given the boot from AU, even though similar talents are required. We think such status deserves acknowledgement. So, on behalf of the staff and management of 3D CAD Blog, we award SpaceClaim Corporation our new trophy, which we will refer to from now on as The Yares Cup. We will award it when needed, not just for AU but for other industry events or when somebody really does a stellar job of outraging a CAD vendor. (For the record, we were the first winners of our own trophy. We still get anonymous phone calls late at night about the Bernard Charles Head Fake article. Especially from crabby English teachers who remind us the correct tern is "head feint." To which we say, blow it out your Funk & Wagnalls. On the basketball court, it is a head FAKE.)
The Yares Cup, awarded for exceptional performance in outraging a CAD vendor.
http://cadkicks.com/adkAU/SpaceClaim_Corp_delisted_as_an_exhibitor_Autodesk_University_2007 (Comment this)
During the waning years of the AEC Systems show, more and more vendors set up shop in the suites of nearby hotel, and then invited the media to come across the road.
Perhaps SpaceClaim will convert Mike's hotel room into a media welcome center. (Comment this)
Regarding the episode you related: I showed up at Autodesk University, as a pre-registered full-price attendee, and was told I'd been blacklisted. So, rather than wasting the time (my airplane tickets were prepaid too), I just hung out and talked to people I knew. Made the trip worthwhile. Plus, I was un-blacklisted the next year by Carl Bass himself. (Think I ought to attend this year?)
Funny thing is, COFES (my favorite industry event, natch) was created based on the premise that hanging out in the bars and hallways to talk to interesting people is the most valuable part of a conference. I realized this at a Daratech conference, and was subsequently banned from future Daratech conferences as a result.
(Comment this)
Regarding the episode you related: I showed up at Autodesk University, as a pre-registered full-price attendee, and was told I'd been blacklisted. So, rather than wasting the time (my airplane tickets were prepaid too), I just hung out and talked to people I knew. Made the trip worthwhile. Plus, I was un-blacklisted the next year by Carl Bass himself. (Think I ought to attend this year?)
Funny thing is, COFES (my favorite industry event, natch) was created based on the premise that hanging out in the bars and hallways to talk to interesting people is the most valuable part of a conference. I realized this at a Daratech conference, and was subsequently banned from future Daratech conferences as a result.
(Comment this)
Yes, it’s true, SpaceClaim has been officially uninvited from attending or exhibiting at Autodesk University (AU), after having been encouraged to exhibit by Autodesk personnel (who know who they are, but shall remain unnamed). And after SpaceClaim accepted the invitation, and prepped demos, logistics, and paid for travel reservations, Autodesk then rescinded its approval to exhibit or attend.
I wonder what Autodesk, with over 1 million users and $2B in annual revenue, fears from little SpaceClaim, which offers to make ACAD models more useful to the entire extended product development chain?
Is it fear that better use of the AutoCAD models might enable its users to (according to Aberdeen):
Hit or beat development budgets 94% of the time?
Meet goals for product revenue 89% of the time?
Meet product launch dates 96% of the time?
It amazes me that in this world of complete transparency, where information is just a mouseclick away, that organizations still believe they can control what their prospects and customers can see and do.
So in that sense, I think the official AU banning probably helped SpaceClaim get its message out to the AutoCAD userbase even better than had they attended. According to some of the folks I spoke with at SpaceClaim, on Tuesday (the day the news hit) they experienced the greatest volume of website traffic ever, and downloads of SpaceClaim’s 30 day trial software rose 400% above the daily norm. http://www.spaceclaim.com/getdoc/dd5e13e3-4902-490a-8933-7ce0fcd95a55/Explore30.aspx
So, I guess a big hearty “thank you” to Autodesk is in order :-)
Joe.
(Comment this)
http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?t=18214 (Comment this)
My topic was ultimately deemed "strategic" (which, I guess, translates to "not unambiguously pro-ADSK") and only ADSK employees themselves are allowed to deliver classes with "strategic" content -- so I was told, after the fact.
Hey, it's their house and their rules (maybe that's why they hold AU in Vegas).
Jerry Laiserin (Comment this)