SolidWorks, How about some DIY ?

MoldFlow Express, Used to be inside SolidWorks

...And I thought that the next time we heard from SolidWorks will be with the new V6. But,  perhaps the company may want to milk the old tech.  a little longer before the end of the year?
 

SolidWorks, the popular CAD software maker, recently announced two new product lines that concern  users. The two new product lines, SolidWorks Plastic for plastic flow analysis and SolidWorks Electrical for planning electrical power and control, should enrich the software users in new technology and new capabilities that the competition already have. But, the way it done by SolidWorks, raises questions about the ability of the company, which once enjoyed independence, to continue to develop or acquire new technologies now that  Dassault Systemes  sets the tone.
SolidWorks, which announced a transition to new technology in 2013 based on  Dassault Catia V6, chose to take two existing products from  two 3th party partners , and pack them again under the SolidWorks name. Simpoe and Elecworks, the names behind the two new products, offer complementary products for SolidWorks as well as other software for years now. The SolidWorks announcement is particularly disturbing given the fact that next year they will have a new CAD software based on Catia CGM kernel.
Ppoints to consider :  

•  - Simpoe and Elecworks software are integrated within SolidWorks but, are not suitable for Catia and therefore will not be able to run under the V6, the two programs are not particularly cheap and it's unclear how customers are supposed to maintain the investment with a software that probably will not run with the new SolidWorks V6.

•      While Siemens, Autodesk or PTC have the knowledge to develop complementary software alone or the budget to purchase successful technology and to implement it, Dassault SolidWorks shown it does not have the tools and resources to develop or acquire new technology.  In the past, been given more independence, SolidWorks purchase partners and integrate technologies.  ToolBox  (Simlogic acquisition) , PdmWorks and the Epdm (Conisio acquisition in 2004) and the simulation software SRAC Cosmos are few examples . Seems that SolidWorks didn't learned a lesson from those times when the choice to rely on external technology caused damage. The old Routing environment based on a company that later on acquired by Autodesk, left SolidWorks with out a solution so they rushes to develop an alternative product that never reached the level of the old one. When Autodesk acquired MoldFlow, the MoldFlow Express software that was part of SW, disappeared. Flow analysis is based on a software from NIKA, a company that later acquired by Mentor Graphics, that lacked the interest in continuing to develop it for SolidWorks.

•     What happens if tomorrow Siemens or PTC will decide to purchase Simpoe  ?

if the new SolidWorks direction is to becoming Catia Light, what about those thousands of SolidWorks users who need SolidWorks Strong and cannot be satisfied with an under powered CAD software even when the base is Catia?

Gal