hi andy,
do you mean creo/direct or creo/direct modeling?
they are diferent softwares: creo/direct is just the old pro/e with the add oh "handles" to pull or push entities; creo/direct modeling is the former solid designer.
i'm not so confident about the future of creo/direct modeling: my infos is that ptc will force users to migrate to creo/direct and to windchill as pdm solution.
actually, the post that you reported states that creo/direct modeling is still on the way, but the future will be creo/direct.
a very good question! actually, there's even a third product to add more confusion! the direct modeling products are:
- creo elements/direct (formerly cocreate/soliddesigner)
- creo direct (the proe/creo parametric counterpart)
- creo parametric with the flexible modeling extension (fmx), which is really the creo direct engine running inside creo parametric, allowing modification of the parametric parts, but not used for part creation, i believe.
the naming is really a terrible choice on ptc's part -- even the ptc people get confused! so, for purposes of this conversation, i'll just call them creo direct and cocreate!
paul's message does talk about both, and creo direct is getting better and is where ptc is putting most of their direct modeling efforts. however, i have heard from reliable sources that it's likely to be 5 to 10 years or more (if ever -- their words, not mine) before creo direct has the functionality of cocreate.
your statement about ptc forcing users to creo direct is interesting. i believe when ptc bought cocreate in late 2007 that they intended to force all of the cocreate users over to proe, not realizing the loyalty of the cocreate user base. once they realized the customers didn't want to move, they decided to actually look at cocreate to see why the users were so loyal, and discovered that cocreate really is a fantastic tool (though much of the management still doesn't understand much about direct modeling in general).
i think ptc has realized that forcing users away from cocreate is not a good choice -- i know of several that have decided to leave cocreate and move to a different tool -- but not one made by ptc! (and some of those companies have tried to move to other tools and realized that cocreate is still the best tool for the work they do, and decided not to move after all, choosing instead to keep using their older versions of cocreate).
as i mentioned before, my company builds add-on products for cocreate (and currently that's the only software we develop for).
because of this reason, i'm very interested in the future of the cocreate product, and in knowing what the current customers are thinking. some of my customers are very happy with v17 but don't like the ribbon interface in v18 and later, so they're staying with 17 and have no plans to change. because our tools work on multiple versions (currently 15-19), those customers get new functionality even with their old tools, so they don't feel they need to change. if they want new functionality, they let us know and we decide what makes sense to include, and they often get it, even for their old tools.
this is not meant as a sales pitch!

the above paragraph is just an example of how existing cocreate customers can get great value from their current tools without needing to worry as much about the future because companies exist that can help provide the necessary or desired functionality.
sorry for the long message! i hope that's not a problem! thanks to anyone who read this far!
please let me know if you have any questions.
thanks!
andy
andy poulsen
ai maxtools, inc. |
www.ai-maxtools.com