The CAD Insider

John Cleese Returns to Autodesk University

You have to credit John Cleese for hanging in there. The comic genius best known for the groundreaking 1980's British sketch comedy Monty Python's Flying Circus, was enthralling a full-of-adulatiion crowd at a private party at Autodesk University 2013. Cleese has plenty to say.

Why was he here? Don't worry, he's paid money. "One of his wives...#3 I think, has sued me for $13 million. That is quite a bit of money."

Apparently, Cleese must speak at a lot of conferences to recover that sort of money.

About technology."It's a double edged sword." When print was invented, people moaned that it would reduce the need for memory.

"I'm 74 years old," he says. The pleasures in life are personal relationships. How that would be enhanced by technology was something Cleese diplomatically avoided before this decidedly tech crowd.

Buying Delcam Puts Autodesk on Path of World Domination

Autodesk buying Delcam is the biggest news in the CAD, CAM and CAE world since…umm… the CAD, CAM and CAE world existed. Yet, at this late date, 25 days after the announcement, I am amazed how scant has been the coverage of an event of such magnitude.

Wake up, guys!

The #1 CAD company buys the #1 CAM company. Autodesk, who used to irreverently claim to have designed everything God did not (their words, not mine) can now also say they can manufacture it. What was once a fractured CAM industry with several key players but none a 800 lb gorilla, is now changed forever. Autodesk has validated Delcam as the one CAM company to deal with.

A Long Time Coming

CAD Insiders have long amused themselves and irritated CAD executives with the idea of a conjoined CAD/CAM company. Why not buy a CAM company? Why not have a design of a part lead directly to the finished product on a CNC machine, all with 2D, without paper drawings, without data conversion, without one software hand off to another, suffering data loss or extra labor or confusion? What could be more natural?

But every time we suggested it to the CAD executives, we were met with “We already have several solutions with our 3rd party applications.” Sure enough, all mainstream MCAD vendors, Autodesk and SolidWorks especially, had all of the major CAM vendors as partners. After years of listening to this, we actually were convinced that CAD vendors were best served allowing every CAM vendor equal access. A CAD company buying a CAM company would just upset the apple cart.

It Had to Be Carl

A source in Autodesk says this deal was 2 years in the making. It is the 2nd biggest acquisition Autodesk has ever made (2nd only to Discreet).

Unverified as it may be, it would be hard to convince me that a major CAM acquisition was any thing less than a Carl Bass mandate. The Autodesk CEO has overstated his belief that design is only one part of the process. A furniture designer by hobby and a self-professed “maker,” Carl cannot be satisfied in leaving a concept in electrons. No, it must be something one can produce, to feel, to hold in one’s hands.

A Juggernaut

Already a market leader in CAD, Autodesk is now a total CAD, CAM and CAE company. Its $500M in CAE companies and technology acquisitions over the last couple of years have bought it some measure of credibility in the CAE world. Buying a market leader in CAM give Autodesk instant credibility as a CAM leader. Add to this Autodesk’s moves into cloud technology, PLM, a variety of far-reaching and exciting innovations out of Autodesk Labs, and you have the stage for an unbeatable force in the CAD, CAM and CAE world.