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Software Giant Autodesk to Axe 13% of Global Workforce

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Re: Software Giant Autodesk to Axe 13% of Global Workforce

#21

Post by ryanwaggoner »

galfarragem wrote: post #11
ginko wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do they manage such abysmal numbers after essentially monopolizing the CAD software market?

Architectural offices that still use cad, prefer ZWCAD, that is literally a Chinese copy of Autocad (with the same UI and even Lisp scripting) that you can buy for 10% of price. AutoCAD as a software is nearly done: Autocad 2017 is just a chromy version of Autocad 2007 despite their R&D efforts. IMHO their product is nowadays REVIT (3DMax has fierce competition and is a lost battle). REVIT is a product that is still…

Seems premature. Sales of AutoCAD in 2016 were down, but still $600mm.

Re: Software Giant Autodesk to Axe 13% of Global Workforce

#22

Post by LeifCarrotson »

analognoise wrote: post #3

I hope this doesn't effect the team working on EAGLE. EAGLE sucks, but it has gotten much better since Autodesk took over and actually started making improvements.

I hope the same for the teams working on 3DS and Maya.

For the ordinary product design/CNC workflow, Solidworks has been knocking the pants off of Autodesk for the past several updates. It's overwhelmingly more popular with new engineers.

They do have a few electrical and civil engineering products that are hard to find elsewhere (and very hard to migrate from), but the bread and butter of a CAD software company is that Inventor/AutoCAD/Fusion CAM workflow, and Solidworks is just so much easier to use and equally powerful.

Re: Software Giant Autodesk to Axe 13% of Global Workforce

#23

Post by pc86 »

stctgion wrote: post #16
pzone wrote: post #2

The 2016 layoffs of similar magnitude didn't seem to make a noticeable impact in their software's update cadence. They are a company formed though an old sediment of mergers and acquisitions and I'm not surprised they've built up inefficiencies.

Do you realize that calling people inefficiencies sounds rather cold?

Saying objectively that 12 people are doing the work of 8 isn't making any value judgment on the 4 people who get let go.

Re: Software Giant Autodesk to Axe 13% of Global Workforce

#24

Post by bhouston »

adventured wrote: post #20
bitL wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could that be they now have incompetent/malicious management siphoning money out via subcontracting companies (tunels)? $1B loss in 2 years is super suspicious.

Overall it looks pretty easy to explain, such that one doesn't need to leap that far. For example, if you build your costs for a $2.4 to $2.5 billion sales run-rate, generating $80m in net income, which is what they did for fiscal 2015. Then, you drop sales to $2 billion instead (which is now where they're at), while not reducing their operating expenses (which actually went up slightly), you get a big fat loss. I'd…

Autodesk continuously touts that they are in a big transition from product sales to subscription and that huge growth is just around the corner. Do you discount those claims?

Re: Software Giant Autodesk to Axe 13% of Global Workforce

#25

Post by bhouston »

adventured wrote: post #7
margorczynski wrote: post #5

Probably just cutting the standard big-corp fat. If I'm correct their financial results are great, in many areas even improving

It's much worse than that unfortunately. Pre-tax income 2013: $310m on $2.3b in sales Pre-tax income 2014: $279m on $2.26b in sales Pre-tax income 2015: $83m on $2.5b in sales Pre-tax income 2016: -$20m on $2.46b in sales Pre-tax income last four quarters: -$544m on $1.95b in sales Net income for 2013 was $247m, for 2014 it was $228m, for 2015 it was $81m. For the last eight quarters, it's nearly a negative billion d…

Autodesk continuously touts that they are in a big transition from product sales to subscription and that huge growth is just around the corner. Do you discount those claims?

Re: Software Giant Autodesk to Axe 13% of Global Workforce

#26

Post by bhouston »

namdnay wrote: post #14
ginko wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do they manage such abysmal numbers after essentially monopolizing the CAD software market?

I don't think they monopolize this market. All the big industrial groups I've worked with were using CATIA

CATIA is Mechanical CAD right? AutoCAD is for architecture.

Re: Software Giant Autodesk to Axe 13% of Global Workforce

#27

Post by leon_sbt »

LeifCarrotson wrote: post #22
analognoise wrote: post #3

I hope this doesn't effect the team working on EAGLE. EAGLE sucks, but it has gotten much better since Autodesk took over and actually started making improvements.

I hope the same for the teams working on 3DS and Maya. For the ordinary product design/CNC workflow, Solidworks has been knocking the pants off of Autodesk for the past several updates. It's overwhelmingly more popular with new engineers. They do have a few electrical and civil engineering products that are hard to find elsewhere (and very hard to migrate from), but the bread and butter of a CAD software company is t…

I was a heavy user of Solidworks. I switched over to Fusion 360.

In my experience, I found Fusion 360 to be a better experience. The ability to do parametric modeling, surfacing, CNC toolpaths,PDM data storage, "cloud" FEA solving. Everything just works. I don't need to manage licensees from multiple vendors. Set up runboxes for simulations. Manage my own PDM server (PITA).Or re-learn 3rd party vendor specific UI/terminology.

On boarding new team members to projects is as easy entering their email address.

Pricing is transparent,straight forward, and reasonable. All my data is auto backed up to "the cloud".

Free for personal use, and commercial use under 100k of revenue. After that the pricing is very reasonable and straightforward. $300 year for basic, $1500/year for ultimate.

The Ultimate version includes shape optimization, 5 axis machining toolpaths, and a few other things. If you had to piece that together from vendors. Your looking at $40k a year per seat. The value is incredibility hard to beat.

Solidworks does have the lead in having a huge 3rd party plugin system,weldements, wire routing. I did get thrown off from the idea of a "mate to the idea of a "joint". It forces you not to use hacky practices when building assemblies.

I feel that Fusion 360 has better product direction compared to Solidworks, and with their SAAS based model can update users more frequently, when compared to Solidwork's yearly basis. But honestly both products are VERY good in general.

Note:Not affiliated with Autodesk in anyway shape or form, other than as an end user. I just really like Fusion 360.

Re: Software Giant Autodesk to Axe 13% of Global Workforce

#28

Post by bhouston »

leon_sbt wrote: post #27
LeifCarrotson wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope the same for the teams working on 3DS and Maya. For the ordinary product design/CNC workflow, Solidworks has been knocking the pants off of Autodesk for the past several updates. It's overwhelmingly more popular with new engineers. They do have a few electrical and civil engineering products that are hard to find elsewhere (and very hard to migrate from), but the bread and butter of a CAD software company is t…

I was a heavy user of Solidworks. I switched over to Fusion 360. In my experience, I found Fusion 360 to be a better experience. The ability to do parametric modeling, surfacing, CNC toolpaths,PDM data storage, "cloud" FEA solving. Everything just works. I don't need to manage licensees from multiple vendors. Set up runboxes for simulations. Manage my own PDM server (PITA).Or re-learn 3rd party vendor specific UI/ter…

What do you think of the re-imagining of Solidworks that is https://onshape.com? Have you tried it?

Re: Software Giant Autodesk to Axe 13% of Global Workforce

#30

Post by leon_sbt »

bhouston wrote: post #28
leon_sbt wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was a heavy user of Solidworks. I switched over to Fusion 360. In my experience, I found Fusion 360 to be a better experience. The ability to do parametric modeling, surfacing, CNC toolpaths,PDM data storage, "cloud" FEA solving. Everything just works. I don't need to manage licensees from multiple vendors. Set up runboxes for simulations. Manage my own PDM server (PITA).Or re-learn 3rd party vendor specific UI/ter…

What do you think of the re-imagining of Solidworks that is https://onshape.com ? Have you tried it?

I heard about it. I have never tried it. I believe the guy that started Solidworks and sold it to Dassault Systemes is behind it. I'll give OnShape a shot this weekend and report back.

I like how they have a free tier for public projects. It lowers the cost of entry dramatically for people just want to "feel" out CAD. I remember when I was little, that I had to visit some sketchy websites to "try" out CAD. It's a great time to be alive now and play with things.

Just checked out their website. Linux support! I'm already 50% sold. My gripe with Fusion 360 is that their is no Ubuntu support. That and Adobe CC is the only reason why I haven't dissolved my windows machine.

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