Alibre CEO Greg Milliken shot me an e-mail, talking up the trend of personal 3D CAD. The argument goes like this: engineers who use use CAD software at work use it for personal projects at home just as writer would use a word processor both professionally and personally. That may a little bit of stretch given that a lot more than professional writers use a word processor.
Milliken writes: "A time is coming when owning a personal 3D CAD system will be as common for designers, engineers, machinists and others in manufacturing industries as a carpenter owning a set of hand tools, or a writer owning a word processor."
Of course, Alibre sells low cost CAD products and even has "Casual Use" and "Woodworking" versions so it’s very much in its interest to promote the idea of personal 3D CAD. Alibre even gives away 30-day trial version of CAD software.
But self-interest doesn’t mean Milliken is wrong. Check out his blog where he explains his views and another post with a solid (as in Solidworks) perspective, explaining how Solidworks came in under PTC’s radar in 1995 and eventually passed it in the marketplace. Clearly, he is hoping history repeats itself with Alibre.
Check it out.
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