sent this to SW on OTC pavillion:
Dear SolidWorks Corporation:
For what my opinion and a few well intentioned suggestions may be worth to you: I attended the OTC (Offshore Technology Conference) in Houston this past Wednesday, May 3th, and was particularly unimpressed with SolidWorks miserable (and seemingly miserly) presentation. The display booth was first of all located in the hot and steamy outdoors in a small, nondescript, wind-whipped, tent totally inappropriate for a supposedly 'world class', 3D parametric, CAD software instead of inside the main AIR-CONDITIONED, exhibit hall. Does SolidWorks Corporation think designers such as myself would actually be using your CAD software out of doors in a hostile climate such that of Houston Texas?! For oil derricks or mud-shaker equipment I could understand but software?....software?!! To make matters even worse: I seriously doubt that demo computers could even be relied upon to function properly in the 90-100 degree heat Houston is so famous for. If the totally inappropriate physical setting were not enough, I also observed pathetic group of Solidworks sales people, dressed in stealth-black uniforms, milling around as if they had no clue as to what they were for. Contrast this seemingly inept presentation with your chief competitor, Auto Desk, with its impressive showing which was, appropriately, inside the exhibit hall and fortified by a large, knowledgeable staff with ample presentation equipment. Though it may have in fact been there, I curiously did not notice either computers or video presentation equipment at Solidworks outdoor 'Canvas Palace'. Thankfully, I did however notice that Dassault Systemes S.A., your parent company, was not guilty of the same major mistake because it was located indoors. Would it have been a mistake to reach both potential, high-end CATIA and mid-range Solidworks users under the same Dassault parent umbrella - sharing a booth and fittingly inside?
While I fully understand that display space is expensive at the world's largest oil & gas event, OTC, I none the less feel that Solidworks forfeited an important showing opportunity in its miserly, outdoor, canvas headquarters. To give you a background: I am a senior designer working for a medium size, down-hole, tool company which uses you product exclusively. Pathfinder Engineering, for example, was not notified of the your planned presence at this major event let alone offered a few complimentary OTC passes as is the normal Supplier/Customer practice in this industry. I do indeed take pride in the fact that I have made my living with your product since I began using Solidworks in 1998 so I trust that these proceeding impressions (and suggestions) may be both timely and of some benefit to your organization. With this in mind, I would have expected more from Solidworks at OTC. And finally: I fully understand that there may have been unforeseen, mitigating circumstances involved resulting in why Solidworks was unable to obtain suitable display space for this all important event. If indeed this was the case, I sincerely apologize for my hasty opinions. If not, I believe you have a great opportunity for improving your marketing exposure in this region of the country. In either case: thank you very much for your interest and continued support.
Sincerely and Respectfully Yours:
Navy Diver