gregmilliken
Senior Member
X-CAD Revealed as Alibre Design Xpress
Hi All,
Well, the rumors you have heard are true. Alibre is behind X-CAD, although this was just a placeholder name for the initial 100,000 seat giveaway contest.
When launched on August 1 – I say when rather than if, because there is no doubt we will make the goal of 100,000 -- the product will be called Alibre Design Xpress.
It is not a trial, there is no time limit and aspects of all the major subsystems of the product (i.e., parts, assemblies and drawings) will be included. It will also be possible to pass files between Xpress and the other members of the Alibre Design product family. Of course, there are a number of features and capabilities not included in Xpress as compared to our other products, and the way you get these additional features is to purchase one of our existing products at its current price.
More details are provided on the new site http://www.alibre.com/xpress and I am happy to engage in an ongoing discussion on what this means for all of us.
We believe Alibre Design Xpress will only mean good things. This is the way that Alibre is going to touch an order of magnitude greater number of people. The opportunity to radically change our business and the market -- and dramatically accelerate the pace of enhancement in Alibre Design -- is right before us.
One of our challenges has always been how to break through the noise in the market, and the barriers created by the larger vendors, and get more people to experience our technology. This industry is strangely, and self-destructively, resistant to change and new ideas. Established vendors are allowed to dictate customer-hostile policies like forced product retirements/upgrades and encrypted file formats. We’re not accepting that. Think of the famous line shouted by Howard Beale, the character played by Peter Finch in the movie Network, “I'M MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE.” We want everyone in the industry to stand up and shout that!
Ok, maybe that is a little much, but seriously, many simply don’t want to believe that a product like Alibre Design is for real. The way to convince them it is for real -- and for us to learn more from the market -- is to get it into their hands, and that is what we are doing with Alibre Design Xpress.
As you can see the contest has been a tremendous success. 100,000 registrants in less than two months is astounding. It is our intention that this will change the market for 3D mechanical modeling, and you all have been and continue to be key participants in that vision. 100,000 is just the start; add another zero to that number and imagine what that means. We are committed to truly bringing 3D to everyone, whether you’re a hobbyist, a home user, a student, or an experienced engineer at a Fortune 500 company.
Get ready for the ride. You all have critical roles in a movement that has the potential to change the market. I hope you are all as excited as we are.
On a related note, at first we have created a separate forum for Alibre Design Xpress registrants and users because we did not want to clutter this forum with a lot of people just dabbling or who are not serious users. However, we believe this community is directly connected to all of us so based on your feedback we are happy to consider merging the forums in the near future if it makes sense. Also, your user name and password for this forum will work on the Xpress forum too, and vice versa.
Regards,
Greg Milliken
President and CEO
Alibre, Inc.
Hi All,
Well, the rumors you have heard are true. Alibre is behind X-CAD, although this was just a placeholder name for the initial 100,000 seat giveaway contest.
When launched on August 1 – I say when rather than if, because there is no doubt we will make the goal of 100,000 -- the product will be called Alibre Design Xpress.
It is not a trial, there is no time limit and aspects of all the major subsystems of the product (i.e., parts, assemblies and drawings) will be included. It will also be possible to pass files between Xpress and the other members of the Alibre Design product family. Of course, there are a number of features and capabilities not included in Xpress as compared to our other products, and the way you get these additional features is to purchase one of our existing products at its current price.
More details are provided on the new site http://www.alibre.com/xpress and I am happy to engage in an ongoing discussion on what this means for all of us.
We believe Alibre Design Xpress will only mean good things. This is the way that Alibre is going to touch an order of magnitude greater number of people. The opportunity to radically change our business and the market -- and dramatically accelerate the pace of enhancement in Alibre Design -- is right before us.
One of our challenges has always been how to break through the noise in the market, and the barriers created by the larger vendors, and get more people to experience our technology. This industry is strangely, and self-destructively, resistant to change and new ideas. Established vendors are allowed to dictate customer-hostile policies like forced product retirements/upgrades and encrypted file formats. We’re not accepting that. Think of the famous line shouted by Howard Beale, the character played by Peter Finch in the movie Network, “I'M MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE.” We want everyone in the industry to stand up and shout that!
Ok, maybe that is a little much, but seriously, many simply don’t want to believe that a product like Alibre Design is for real. The way to convince them it is for real -- and for us to learn more from the market -- is to get it into their hands, and that is what we are doing with Alibre Design Xpress.
As you can see the contest has been a tremendous success. 100,000 registrants in less than two months is astounding. It is our intention that this will change the market for 3D mechanical modeling, and you all have been and continue to be key participants in that vision. 100,000 is just the start; add another zero to that number and imagine what that means. We are committed to truly bringing 3D to everyone, whether you’re a hobbyist, a home user, a student, or an experienced engineer at a Fortune 500 company.
Get ready for the ride. You all have critical roles in a movement that has the potential to change the market. I hope you are all as excited as we are.
On a related note, at first we have created a separate forum for Alibre Design Xpress registrants and users because we did not want to clutter this forum with a lot of people just dabbling or who are not serious users. However, we believe this community is directly connected to all of us so based on your feedback we are happy to consider merging the forums in the near future if it makes sense. Also, your user name and password for this forum will work on the Xpress forum too, and vice versa.
Regards,
Greg Milliken
President and CEO
Alibre, Inc.
