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Archive for September 11th, 2008

What a great meeting it was! I wish everyone could’ve had the opportunity to be there last night, at the third meeting of the Tri-Valley SWUG, in Dublin, CA.  It was one of the longest meetings we’ve had so far (from 6:30 to a little after 10:00 pm) and one of the best ones yet, mainly due to the presence of the members of SolidWorks R&D team, that came all the way to California with the only purpose of listening to what SW users had to say about the software they create.  And the users had a lot to say to them! Some users even came prepared with a list of issues they wanted to address! 

From bugs  and doubts about confusing functionality, to length of release cycle and enhancement requests of all kinds, everyone there had a chance to express their ideas and concerns,  while SW developers listened carefully and took notes of everything. These four guys were really down to earth, very open and so easy to talk to. They seemed to be honestly interested in all our ideas and suggestions, no matter how crazy or impossible they sounded.

I truly believe that sooner than later we’ll get to see many of those issues that were addressed last night fixed and enhancements we requested being implemented in future versions of the software. I’m particularly interested in seeing backwards compatibility between different versions of SolidWorks. I know I’m not the only one, because several users expressed their interest in this, even though we all realize that this compatibility would be somewhat limited, but, as it appears, it’s not impossible. It was all discussed during the meeting and I got it all on tape. I’m editing the video right now.  As I said before, the meeting was long, and the (official) round table itself lasted a little more than hour and half. It had to come to an end when Kenneth reminded us that he had the room rented only until 10:30 pm, otherwise, I believe many of us could’ve been there all night.

Also in attendance and hiding away from my camera, we had Richard Doyle, who heads all this effort of bringing together a community of SolidWorks users, and really is the guy that makes user groups possible for the rest of us. It was a great pleasure to finally meet him last night.

From his hiding spot at the back of the room, Richard was still actively interacting with all of us, answering questions, doubts, and  contributing with ideas to improve the software, as well as our experience as users. Other familiar faces were fellow blogger Matt Lorono and Brian Titus, from Zeometric.

Now, please don’t think that the whole meeting was just about the developers’ round table. We also had Kenneth Barrentine’s demonstration on weldments, which I also caught on tape and I will be putting up here, as soon as it’s edited.  It’s really good stuff, so, even though it’s probably going to be a big file, I’ll try my best to keep all the material.

I hope to have the videos ready later today or tomorrow. There’s so much to edit and it’s all good stuff! I really encourage those of you that have never been to one of these user group meetings to join a local user group and attend.  Just do it once, just to see what you think, but I guaranty that you’ll find they are a really great way to learn and network with other SolidWorks users. And if you are lucky enough to join a group that will be hosting one of these SW developers’ round tables, don’t you dare to miss it. You’re in for a real treat!