Opinions

Democratization Of CAD

Joe Lichtenberg left an interesting comment on my earlier post on CAD 2.0. I guess this is the same Joe Lichtenberg, Vice President, Business Development of Eluma, someone who knows a thing or two about Web 2.0. This is what he had to say:

“Yes, Deelip, CAD 2.0 is exactly the right term.

Why?

Web 2.0 is about the “democratization of the Web.” Whereas Web 1.0 was about content being controlled by a relatively small number of content publishers, Web 2.0 is all about enabling everyone to participate. Web 1.0 is worldbookonline.com. Web 2.0 is wikipedia.org, where lots of people can make changes to the entries to make them better.

CAD 2.0 is not only about the next generation of CAD, it’s about the “democratization of CAD.” There are lots of folks that need to work with existing CAD models. Don’t make them learn the equivalent of a complex Content Management System. Give them tools that let them edit CAD models as easily as editing an entry on Wikipedia. And just like the way that the democratization of the Web makes content better, the democratization of CAD will make the products we design better.

CAD 2.0 indeed. This is getting interesting.”

Interesting indeed.