RIP SurfCAM?

What's the deal with Surfcam?

A little birdie told me they were in serious financial trouble and may actually fold. The CAM market is clearly shrinking so some will fail but I didn't think it would be them.

I hope this is just a BS rumor.

Il mittente di questo messaggio|The sender address of this non corrisponde ad un utente |message is not related to a real reale ma all'indirizzo fittizio|person but to a fake address of an di un sistema anonimizzatore |anonymous system Per maggiori informazioni |For more info

formatting link

Reply to
George Orwell
Loading thread data ...

would be them.

If the rumor is true I would hope for a buyout by someone who will do a major upgrade to the product.

Reply to
Garlicdude

well, even tho its a decent product, they really can't move forward like the other cam systems.. for them to move any further, they would have to start over from scratch.. the basis of the system as it stands now is still from the old dos system, they just can't add anything more to it.

look how teksoft did it.. they started with procam, and decided to move away from the standalone system, and go with camworks..

where I would love to see surfcam survive, I just don't see it happening unless they start over..

Reply to
tnik

would be them.

I made a comment to a post about this a month ago. One of the better cad/cam salesmen they had left a while back, he was one of the few really good ones. C'ya Surfcam.

Reply to
Michael

Fanuc getting into CADCAM ?? That will set the user interfce back more than 50 years...

Can you imagine going into a screen to set one bit of a binary word to allow you get into another screen, look up the magic word and bit in the top secret decoder booklet, find the right bit, change it, go back three screens, change the first bit you set, clear the blinking alarm you now have flashing.... Oops, forcing you to hit reset to clear the blinking alarm clears out some other thing you wanted... Go back through six more screens.... WTF was I doing ????? Oh, yeah, I needed to rotate the veiw on the screen.. To do that you have to set/clear half a dozen bits somewhere in the parameters.

Now to turn it off, you need to go through all of that all over again...

Versus clicking a menu with a mouse on a PC based system.

I can hardly wait to see how user HOSTILE Fanuc could make it. They will win the User Hostility award though...

Reply to
Half-nutz

Good riddance! I haven't forgot that "free Surfcam 2-D" scam they pulled on naive folks, such as myself, years ago.

Reply to
J. Nielsen

The real problem is American products have simplified. Cam is needed less in America than abroad. The only way cam can survive in America is to sell in Asia. We still design the complicated stuff, so cad will be here a while, but the manufacturing of complex geometry"ied" products has left the building.

All we can do now is make simple geometric products +- a nats ass in America.

Reply to
vinny

We can do the complex geometry. Our downfall is finding any fellow countrymen to pay more than five cents for a mold.

Later,

Charlie

Reply to
Charlie Gary

would be them.

It's the same "Diehl" its always been. The problem starts at the top with how this family company is run. The Diehl's have hired and fired so many people that I've lost count. Wayne Holler, the people who invented Surfware's Truemill technology (who have now gone out on their own (good luck with that!)), etc.

I don't see how Surfware can go out of business... just become more and more of a non-factor. I do agree that Surfcam needs to be completely rewritten from the ground up. In my opinion it needs to run inside a CAD system that is based on what is now going to be labeled as "Feature Inference Modeling", the most advanced form of which is currently Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology.

My blog will have much more on "Feature Inference Modeling" soon:

formatting link
Jon Banquer San Diego, CA

Reply to
jon_banquer

Good thing your opinion is completely meaningless, because you've never laid hands on a legal seat of the software, or had any actual training.

You DO have a cracked copy though, don't you? That's why you were over at CNCZone, under an alias, posting Surfcam files and begging for help?

Reply to
Joe788

It's the same "Diehl" its always been. The problem starts at the top with how this family company is run. The Diehl's have hired and fired so many people that I've lost count. Wayne Holler, the people who invented Surfware's Truemill technology (who have now gone out on their own (good luck with that!)), etc.

I don't see how Surfware can go out of business... just become more and more of a non-factor. I do agree that Surfcam needs to be completely rewritten from the ground up. In my opinion it needs to run inside a CAD system that is based on what is now going to be labeled as "Feature Inference Modeling", the most advanced form of which is currently Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology.

My blog will have much more on "Feature Inference Modeling" soon:

formatting link
Jon Banquer San Diego, CA

Reply to
jon_banquer

But they have to pay you to fix them when the bean counters find out they don't work.

Reply to
Why

Why, Very true, and it generally cost them plenty, but who wants to work on someone else's piece of crap!

Best, Steve

Reply to
Garlicdude

When I was involved with surfcam it was known as the "moldmakers" cam package, designed by the two sons of a very successful mold shop owner. That bothered me because I seen this old moldmaker who slaved his ass off to build a big mold shop and send his 2 kids to college, then they get out of college and want to make cam software?

Truth is Surfcam had Nothing to offer moldmakers that all the other systems did. It bragged about nurbs before the other pc based stuff, but who cares in the end? it could use blurbs or turds, who the frig cares, as long as it makes good g code and has a friendly interface. AND THEY ALL GOT THAT?

Cam tech isn't dead, it's just in a coma. Waiting for someone to think in another direction. problem is we abort so many fetus's these days from well bred family lines.. the kind of breeding that makes winning race horses, extra smart show dogs, and real human thinkers. NO I am not a NAZI! lol

Reply to
vinny

No hard feelings, Jon, but I'm not quite sure you're the man to see when it comes to "reality".

Reply to
J. Nielsen

I'm quite sure you lost touch with reality a long time ago. Suggest reading my blog and trying to get your head out of your ass as it's been there for quite a few years now.

formatting link
Jon Banquer San Diego, CA

Reply to
jon_banquer

why not create some new usenet group? Who knows, with the right name it might take off.?? alt.machinist alt.cad.cam

My group sure did, I think I got 3 visits this year alone!! alt.friggenbozo.rules

laugh if you want, but I bet everyones server carries it! Imagine if it had a good theme?

Reply to
vinny

Because the web attracts more new faces and new faces are what keeps a group alive and not stagnant. This group is dying a slow death because it doesn't attract new users and because it suffers from not being moderated in the proper way. Is there ever a reason to not moderated stalking? I'd answer no. You can say the guy is full of shit and you can say it several times but when you follow their every post like Cliff Huprich pioneered and Tom Brewer, Joe788, Half Nutz Putz then imitated you kill a newsgroup or a forum. This is what has killed this newsgroup despite the utter bullshit Bottlebob has posted to the contrary.

Perhaps a web site to attract users to a moderated newsgroup is the answer?

For sure Practically Worthless Machinist and CNC Advertising Zone aren't he answer. SVL and BD also have a legit point about the crappy software that is used on these boards.

In the mean time I'm doing something about the problem with my blog(s). Is it ideal...nope but it's got some advantages. ;>)

I'd suggest a bunch of regulars doing something about the problem and moderating it. SVL, Dan Murphy, BD, yourself. Garlicdude and others who don't come to mind at the moment are all capable of working together to solve this problem and to build the best place to discuss machining, cadcam, computers, etc. I've tried in the past and no one was interested. When people have had enough and want the exchange that use to happen here before Cliff Huprich showed up then it will happen. Would I ban a scumbag piece of shit like Huprich from this type of group...not unless he violated a no stalking rule repeatedly in which case I would ban him. Not sure what else I'd ban.... I'm not a big fan of anonymous posters who attack others like Joe788 does with me. I have no problem with attacks if they aren't stalking and are done in your own name. To hide behind an anonymous alias and do it shows what a chicken shit pussy that person really is.

Moderation is not bad if it's done right but it's very clear to me that most can't do it. It's also very clear that most can't run a web board. Practically Worthless Machinist and CNC Advertising Zone are perfect examples of how not to run a Web Board. Unfortunately so is E- Mastecam and I've said as much to the person who runs E-Mastercam on the phone a few weeks ago. He use to post here and I'm glad I picked up the phone to try and straighten out what is probably 12 years worth of not getting along. I like the guy and feel I can trust him. Too bad so many years had to get wasted but that's not all my fault and I think he knows that as well.

Find a few people who want to do something about the problem and the problem will get solved.

Jon Banquer San Diego, CA

formatting link

Reply to
jon_banquer

[ Franco Folini

UPDATE -- July 8, 2007 -- I had to close this blog post to further comments and to remove the personal attacks between Jon and some other newsgroups readers. Before the interview, I made an agreement with Jon about the style of the interview and the way to handle it. Jon didn't respect our agreement, posting comments under fake names. Jon's authentic and fake comments are all posted from the same IP address,

72.199.251.224. I can now see that my trust in Jon was misplaced. ]
Reply to
brewertr

Great gag site...funny stuff.....you have gone Jonnie-Bonkers again for a program you have never seen or used but viewed a few canned demos and sales advertisements.

Tom

Reply to
brewertr

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.