One of the most common questions I get is the title of this post. There are a lot of reasons depending on the person asking the question and the nature of the reasoning for asking the question in the first place. First off, there have been a lot of wacky patents thrown about in the software industry with everything from a method of licensing software to how a user actually clicks around and uses software. Secondly, there are so many unique uses of these general design and manufacturing software that it is rather difficult to expect what everyone wants in the software.
Now what to do about all this? Sit back and wait for the next release of Inventor and hope they read your mind telepathically from Lake Oswego? Maybe get a weejie board out and try and predict your wishes? Maybe make a Jump to Conclusions Mat and see where the cards fall? How about something a bit more practical. Here are a couple ways to get your opinions and suggestions heard...
Join the Beta program
Start by signing up here: Autodesk Beta Programs
When you enter into direct beta testing you are able to talk directly with the project managers and programming gurus at Autodesk to help shape the next release of the software and test for gross oversights and missing functionality. Granted, if you don't get involved in the beta test early enough you may not be able to exact change in their internal builds. So if you signed up and they are on Beta3 already, just be happy you got to see it early. Now that doesn't mean your suggestions should stop. In fact they look in this group of passionate users for ideas that eventually make it into the Subscription Bonus Packs as well as the next release of the software after the one that is being beta tested.
Also remember to swear the secret oath and to not reveal anything unless Autodesk does a press release first or major marking junket. Or else the men in black suits will find you and put you in a bunker in Oregon.
Add an Augi Wish List Item
Surf your mousy thing here and click --> Augi Inventor Wish List, Augi AutoCAD Wish List
These wish lists are voted upon by members of the Augi (Autodesk User Group International) community and are a usually looked at with as much vigor as the beta forums. So if you just can't find enough time or passion in your life to be a beta tester, the next best thing is to provide a wish here. Now, you may sometimes see a wish in here that actually already exists in the software. Well, we can't all be geniuses right? But feel free to provide a wish after you have thought about it enough and tried everything else (discussion forum support or your local neighborhood Spiderman...er reseller I mean). Twice a year they run a voting for the wish list and then you can rank everyone's wishes on a scale from 1 to 10. As a reseller myself you can imagine that I get a few off the wall requests and a few common sense ones. When I provide my feedback to Autodesk I do so through my direct method, but I also double it up here as to get more recognition of the wish. The more visible the need, the higher the priority to Autodesk. However if you ask Inventor do something that takes a complete overhaul of the software or takes the software in a direction that has nothing to do with Mechanical Design, don't be surprised when your wish upon an Augi never comes true.
Provide Direct Feedback
When I say direct feedback there are a couple of methods to go about this.
- Submit a wish/feedback directly to Autodesk: Product Feedback
- Use the Discussion Forums: MFG Community
- Tell your reseller: They usually have a lot of high level conversations with Autodesk and can get your wish or feedback in their ear a lot faster and through a lot less red tape.
But if you wish for nothing, then your wish will come true!
Posted by: Corey Jenness | 12/30/2009 at 03:13 PM