Cadalyst - January 2008 - (Page 35)

cadmanager What’s in Store for 2008? Expect increased pressure to keep your users productive and your time accountable throughout the New Year. By Robert Green you need to do so in a controlled, small test environment to limit the chance of error. The time to find these easy pilot/test studies is before you’re pressed into duty. Constantly keep an eye out for a test project that would allow you to get new software up to speed with minimal risk, so when you get the approval to proceed you’ll be set. I t’s a new year, and that can only mean it’s time for my annual attempt at predicting the future for CAD managers. As I’ve done for the past eight years, I distilled my list of predictions from CAD Manager Survey data, observations from the field, conversations with many groups of CAD managers, and old-fashioned gut feelings. Along with my predictions, I’ll also offer some advice on how to deal with the trends. I’ll try to give you some concrete ways to react to each trend as well. Hardware Upgrades Hardware continues to get faster, better, and cheaper on all fronts. But there’s more to the mass hardware upgrade trends that I foresee for 2008. Here’s my logic: Multicore processor machines are cheap. Dualand quad-core machines are widely available, and the 4 GB of RAM they crave is cheap as well. Throw in a highquality graphics card, 30” flat-panel monitor, and a RAID hard drive array and you’ve got a workstation on your hands! These machines burn through CAD and handle high-end 3D software with relative ease. With prices as low as they are, there’s no longer a reason to put off purchasing high-end hardware. New software assumes big hardware. Want to model large tracts of land? Want to crunch through huge point clouds of terrain data? Want to model a whole building or mechanical assembly? These are the sorts of tasks that newer software technologies are tasked with, and they need high-end hardware to do it. So in a very real sense, new software will require new hardware, and that should trigger upgrading when new software is adopted. Special advice. Make sure to include new hardware prices in your budget this year. With this much change in technology — both hardware and software — you don’t want to miss out on your chance to upgrade your hardware, right? Software Backlog Continues It used to be that CAD managers had to beg their bosses to purchase software upgrades. Then they would implement the new releases with Christmas morning–type zeal. No more. Now we receive software on subscription faster than we can implement it. I believe that 2008 will continue this trend in software backlogging, as more advanced 3D and data-intensive tools await implementation while 2D stalwarts (AutoCAD and MicroStation) continue to run in almost all workplaces. From my discussions with hundreds of CAD managers, I’ve settled on a few conclusions that can help you to determine what new technology is worth implementing as you move from 2D to 3D: Fix and patch existing systems. If you can’t get bold new technology implemented, then focus on updating your current CAD system when new updates fix problems or provide useful new features that save you time. In plain English, upgrade if the new software saves you enough user time to pay for itself. Constantly evaluate newer tools. Just because you don’t have the luxury of putting your whole company on the latest 3D technology due to time or budget constraints, you still need to be well informed. So install the latest software on your machine, learn all you can about it, and then start talking it up with other influential users around the company. This methodology gets the new software out in the open, builds advocacy within your user base, and allows you to see where the warts are prior to implementation. Look for easy pilot/test studies. When you do get the chance to break the backlog and install new software, The Vista Issue The majority of CAD users in the field are still using Windows XP, but XP is going away as hardware vendors drop support for it. I believe 2008 will be the year that you’ll start using Vista for your machines. To be honest, I’m surprised at the slow rate of Vista adoption, but it’s starting to pop up more in the field. If 2008 will be the year when Vista can’t be ignored anymore, here are a few methodologies that can ease the transition: www.cadalyst.com | cadalyst | January 2008 35 http://www.cadalyst.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Cadalyst - January 2008

Cadalyst - January 2008 Contents Editor's Window Cad Central Chasing the Dolphins CAD that Won’t Break the Bank AliasStudio 2008 — Design and Visualization Software VectorWorks 2008 — CAD/BIM Authoring Software Dell Precision M4300 — Mobile Workstation What’s in Store for 2008? Low- or No-Cost CAD Goliath Reinvented Doin’ the DEED Cad Cartoon Issue Indexes The Return of Hot Tip Harry

Cadalyst - January 2008

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