Re: Microsoft Asleep At The Wheel Again: Missing the New Era of CAD
- From: "Kevin Spencer" <spam@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 4 Nov 2006 08:13:47 -0500
Hi Clinton,
As someone who has worked with DirectX and Direct3D specifically for a few
years, I can certainly understand your concerns. I have had to work with
ever-changing object models, and a number of 3rd-party tools to enable me to
work with (convert) various 3D file formats, such as Akino PolyTrans, as
well as tools for building meshes, such as 3D Studio. In fact, due to the
nature of the work I've done, which involves Geography to a large extent,
I've had to deal with the vast variety of geographic projections, as well as
lots of different 3rd-party software for working with various geographic
file formats and projections. I've spent hours and days digging up
algorithms and writing code to work with them. It has certainly been
frustrating. But it has also been educational.
From a personal perspective, I believe that this is typical of "new"technology. Now, 3D graphics programming has been around for more than 20
years, but video cards and graphics adapters that make 3D development on PCs
are relatively new to the market, which means that 3D programming for PCs is
still in its' infancy. As someone who has worked with earlier versions of
HTML, I'm sure you can understand the challenges and difficulties inherent
in the early stages of technology, particularly with regards to
standardization.
Vista, I believe, is a reaction to this emerging market, and the need for
platforms that natively support 3D vector graphics. XNA, the next generation
of DirectX is also a step in the right direction. Now, companies that
develop CAD software can relatively easily create their own file formats and
proprietary software in a relatively short time. Microsoft's problem is that
they are dealing with ubiquitous platform technology and software. They have
in the past been at fault for being too proprietary, and have suffered as a
result of it. Backwards-compatibility over a decade or more can be a real
impediment to new technology when a company has to ensure that their
software and systems work on an ever-increasing number of systems, with an
ever-increasing backlog of proprietary code to support.
However, in recent years they have been devoted to working with quite a few
standards organizations, and creating less proprietary technologies that are
capable of interoperating with other systems and platforms, and will not
require extensive rewrites over time. Certainly, this has impeded the swift
move forward that we all would hope for. But my guess is that they are
looking at the long haul, refactoring in such a way that this sort of
impedence will be attenuated in the future.
Of course, that's just my guess. But I think I'm a pretty good guesser. ;-)
--
HTH,
Kevin Spencer
Microsoft MVP
Ministry of Software Development
http://unclechutney.blogspot.com
I just flew in from Chicago with
a man with a wooden leg named Smith
who shot an elephant in my pajamas.
So I bit him.
"clintonG" <csgallagher@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:O2ffCc7$GHA.144@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I'm aware of XNA. Check this out [1] and note the low-key reference to
Autodesk. Yes I'm also aware of Vista's support for vector graphics.
Months ago I posted comments to Michael Swanson's blog (a Microweenie
involved in the development of the Expression Suite who asked for public
comments about which vector file formats should be supported). Swanson
removed all comments that were calling for support for file formats used
by the technical and licensed professionals, e.g. CAD which has evolved
into 3D modeling applications.
Microsoft already sells several of their rebranded acquisitions into the
technical and licensed professional markets that use CAD but they have
failed to follow through and have no comprehensive "solution." It has
puzzled me why they have avoided applications that are used to create and
manage content that has spatial properties. Visio has certainly been given
short shrift.
<%= Clinton Gallagher
NET csgallagher AT metromilwaukee.com
URL http://clintongallagher.metromilwaukee.com/
MAP http://wikimapia.org/#y=43038073&x=-88043838&z=17&l=0&m=h
[1]
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9002437&source=NLT_APP&nlid=48
"Kevin Spencer" <spam@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:eq3vLR6$GHA.4740@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Off the medication are we today, Clinton? ;-)
Have you had a look at Windows Vista, and the Windows Presentation
Foundation?
Yes, Microsoft isn't (exactly) jumping on the latest end-user CAD
application software market, but they have always been more involved in
platforms and development software (with the greatest exception being
Microsoft Office). I don't imagine they could get into *every* lucrative
and emerging end-user technology field. Thankfully, that leaves room for
the rest of us! However, Vista's UI is almost entirely vector graphics
(with some raster graphic support for backwards-compatibility of course),
and includes full support for 3D graphics built into the OS layer. A few
links for your edification:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/06/01/WindowsPresentationFoundation/
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa663300.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdntv/episode.aspx?xml=episodes/en/20060504wpfdl/manifest.xml
In addition, the next generation of "DirectX" (XNA) is almost ready to be
released. This is possibly the closest thing to what you are talking
about. Check it out:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/directx/XNA/default.aspx
--
HTH,
Kevin Spencer
Microsoft MVP
Ministry of Software Development
http://unclechutney.blogspot.com
I just flew in from Chicago with
a man with a wooden leg named Smith
who shot an elephant in my pajamas.
So I bit him.
"clintonG" <csgallagher@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
message news:%23zTIbo2$GHA.3316@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Google and Second Life have proven there are market$ and economie$ in<snip>
the
XBox, Virtual Earth and other related virtual realms.
<%= Clinton Gallagher
NET csgallagher AT metromilwaukee.com
URL http://clintongallagher.metromilwaukee.com/
MAP http://wikimapia.org/#y=43038073&x=-88043838&z=17&l=0&m=h
.
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