Over the past week or so there has been a webtroversary brewing. What is a webtoversary? Its a combo of web and controversy. Anyhow, take it or leave it, the 2008 Solidworks Interface has changed. For the good, or for the bad, thats up to one person to decide, and thats you. Each year we all expect changes to the software, but I would imagine most would agree that the 2008 changes are big. If you have used Vista at all, you may associate the same sort of leap in the interface with what Windows has done from XP.
Matt Lombard has without a doubt been the most vocal when it comes to speaking out about the 2008 interface. A series of what seems to be unfortunate events has only served to heighten the tensions surrounding this uproar. Whether you agree with what Matt has to say or not, his view is his view, and he chooses to express it in the way that he does. The important aspect of this situation is that Matt has the ear of lots of people out there, especially lots of senior people at Solidworks itself. In an earlier blog post, Matt Wrote About a conference call he was going to be having with some Solidworks people in regards to documentation. Here is a list of attendees:
Mark Biasotti (product manager)
John Cochrane (product definition)
Jim Wilkinson (usability)
Dave Pancoast (training)
Greg Jankowski (customer satisfaction)
Fielder Hiss (Product Management Manager)
Donna Allman (documentation)
Thats a pretty impressive list! What I'm showing is that despite Matt's dislike for the newest version of Solidworks, his view is still important enough to garner the attention of a group like that. So to think that a company like Solidworks would resort to childish tricks and stupid moves just doesn't make sense. Furthermore Matt has been invited to attend Solidworks 2008 as a member of the press. This means that his hotel room will be paid for by Solidworks, will have unrestricted access to the entire event, can schedule interviews with Solidworks Corporate people, and will be able to attend the press dinner. Again, if Solidworks were choosing to try to quiet this voice, I don't believe they would have asked him to attend.
Just this morning, all the Solidworks Bloggers received an email from our contact at Solidworks in regards to this whole matter. We were reassured that in no way was Solidworks targeting Matt individually in any way. Solidworks is a customer driven product. I truly believe that they want to always hear the praise, along with the detriment.
Matt Lombard to me is one of the legendary names in the Solidworks Community with the likes of Ed Eaton, Greg Jankowski, and both David and Marie Planchard. Their names are synonymous with Solidworks. Matt's sessions at Solidworks world are always heavily attended, and he always seems to have an answer for anyones question (along with a spare wireless mouse in case his dies!). That is precisely why his voice is so important to the future development of Solidworks. That is also why I highly doubt he is being singled out because of his views.
If you have ever visited the Customer Experience Feedback Page on the Solidworks site, you can see the options available to users to help shape this product. If you don't make your opinion heard, we will all end up with an Inventor like program.
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