Pop wrote:

Well, it's not really a "real" CAD(D) program, either. It's a
pretty good conept, and though it can do a lot, Pro and freebie
both, it is not a full blown CAD application for where those
strengths would be required.

Such as...?

Maybe someday it WILL be, but ... you can pretty much bet that
the price will more than double if/when it gets to that point,
and it will begin to stumble all over itself as any complex
application does.

It is a complex application - it just has a simple interface. I
believe it started life as a Mac program. It has a similarly simple
interface and is surprisingly stable.

From what I read that you get with the "Pro" $495 version, you
aren't gaining much except the ability to actually use some real
world (as in compatability with) importing/exporting and a few
esoteric functions that may or may not be of value. The freebie,
good as it is, is actually IMO nothing more than a good morphing
engine with a couple of decent libraries tagged onto it.

Morphing engine? I don't follow - what does that mean?

As far as the Pro version having only a limited number of additional
features, I'd think that would you make you more impressed with the
free version. As far as the Pro version being worth the five bills,
visit the Sketchup forums and see what people have to say. The only
people that seem to have issues with it are people who are used to
kludgy, grown-from-DOS CAD programs - and that because they don't
understand some areas where Sketchup varies from most CAD program
interfaces.

Those few additional esoteric functions provide export/import features,
landscape tools, and the ability to create video. The first video I
did for a client paid for the program and shut up the neighbor (who was
talking to her lawyer about how the planned project would decrease her
property value). I emailed the video to the client, she burned a CD,
handed it to the neighbor who then promptly decided that the
improvement was an improvement and stopped talking to the lawyer.
What's that worth?

I AM surprised at the omission of real bugs in it though! If
they continued with THAT history, user groups aside, they would
definitely command a unique place in the market! But right now,
it's my opinion that the $500 is way too high for what it does;
they're ahead of themselves in that I see no use of the freebie
version other than as a demo, which they aren't claiming it to
be. Or even a Beta, for that matter.

It is an amazingly bug free program. I think it's crashed on me once
in a year of use, and that was because I'd seriously overextended my
system resources.

I don't know that I'd use it for ground to sky design of a
house or anything larger, but it really is a pretty good
woodworking tool and this will get them noticed. I admit that.
Add to this my previous comments and I still feel pretty sure of
my stance on it.

{snip}

No, I actually think it's a form of bait & switch. It likely is
headed for a $1200 or higher price tag, and if they can keep it
rolling for one or two years they'll be able to, as they are
presently attempting, build a fair installed base of their
software. In a couple of years, things are goign to look awfully
different, and if you are sufficiently embroiled in their app,
you'll almost have to buy their product or go through a large
investment to sidestep it. To me, that's not acceptable, and
that's also why I think it should be calling the freebie a demo
or Beta version; it is not what they want to sell, but they are
working at getting people to become vested in the software.
Today's CAD packages, and CADD packages, are all sufficiently
skilled at reading each other's works where I suspect a lot of
proprietory control is SU's future.
I also suspect that Google may well sell it off again in a few
years; they are good at the spin & collect operations there.


-- I don't see the freebie version lasting much longer. If
an
installed base can be confirmed, then the freebie will go to a
pay-for version. So if you really like the freebie version,
archive it for the future or you may be sorry.

Good advice. There probably will be a time when it's no longer
free.

Yeah, like I said, it actually is a pretty good app for personal
work, and not too hard a learning curve. They did do some
thinking outside the box, that's for certain.


-- It's only an opinion, but I think it's being used as a
puller
and if enough people can be talked into creating design works
in
a proprietary format, they will be forced to either abandon
those
designs or spend the money to upgrade to the $495 full
version.

Definatly. Several years ago, one of the major cad companies
put out a very
good, functional freeby. I messed around with it a bit but
never used it for
much as I knew that they were just trying to get you on the
hook. It had to
be registered on a regular basis or it would not run.
Registration was free
but I knew that a time would come when it quite working and
they would say
you had to buy the full version. The price was in the several
thousand
dollar range. No way.

Hmm, I missed that one. My route was Generic CAD, then AutoCad
and then for personal use TurboCad, which seems to interface
nicely with everyone else, at least in the instances where i
needed it to. I stopped at TC 7 though, finding the following
versions to be more fluff than meat, and then retired. So, 7 it
is, for me! I had a chance at Acad cheap, but passed on it, as I
did with the dBCAD for modelling when they were trying to push
it.

I agree with the sentiment on the present state of current CAD
programs' "improvements". Autodesk takes the cake. More expensive,
and more frequent, "upgrades".

If you've ever searched the internet for a CAD detail drawing, you can
obviously see the benefit of having a free, searchable online database.
It seems to me that is the real value of the whole Sketchup/Google
collaboration.

Anyway, them's my musings fer tadoy, sich 'sitis. For a $199
full blown Pro version and three free upgrades to the freebie, a
bit more internal visibility without giving away the store, I'd
be able to get a lot more behind them. From a lifetime of work,
I can say this one thing with confidence: Beware the
entrepreneur - 99% of them are a flash in the pan and missing a
grounding in reality. The real trick's to support them to the
hilt, and then bail just before they do and you'll make a buck;
but don't follow them too far! Of course, I missed out once, big
time, and tried to get back in too late! Ouch! G But the
other times worked out well enough.

I suppose you could classify Google as a flash in the pan - but it's an
awfully big flash in a stunningly large pan. Sketchup has also been
around for a number of years and is on its fifth version. In that time
they've attracted a loyal following and garnered enough attention of
one of the 900 pound gorillas of the computer world to be bought out.
Google isn't Microsoft who buys competitors to reduce competition (can
anyone say Stanley Tools?). I don't know that Google is so
short-sighted as to feel that they'd need to resort to what you call
bait and switch. More likely they'd have a business model like Google
Earth. A free version and a more powerful version available for sale
or, more likely, subscription.

But be that as it may, I for one am not against someone making a profit
as long as they provide value or a service. Sketchup is a valuable
tool and tied into Google Earth is an incredible service. You are
free, or course, to be skeptical of Google's motives and the value of
the software. In the same way that I will let people know if I like or
dislike a tool or technique, I'm just pointing out that there's a lot
of value and power behind the tool in question - whether it's free or
purchased.

R