Latest Array of Public Comments and Customer Sentiments Suggest Where Tech Giants Will Duke it Out in Design Markets

The tone of competition between major players in the tech industry serving the design markets is heating up. Microsoft finally got Vista out the door, an OS it has been toiling on for over five years, while Apple arguably made the announcement of the year (for 2007) with its January introduction of the iPhone. And while Mac OS X Leopard is just around the corner the battlefront in 2007 isn't soley focused on the two new operating systems for desktop computers.

One could also argue that "virtualization" is going to end these silly debates about desktop operating systems altogether. Users -- at least users of new Macs with Intel Core Duo-based chips inside -- will be able to run both Leopard and Vista at the same time. Or they could run XP and Linux -- it doesn't matter. The point is our computers are not going to be bound to running a single OS in the future. And there is a lot of good in that.

The real battle front lines are shaping up in different ways around the familiar file format wars and the unfamilar and transformative way in which devices evolve and new uses are defined. With the former we have several pairs of companies squaring off with each. With the latter we have Apple and Google's undeniable transformative power at creating new markets and more importantly twisting existing ones.

File Format Battles and Design Markets

File formats and compatibility issues are the very ugly side of the design and manufacturing markets. In the MCAD/CAID/CAD/AEC/PLM worlds this is a bitter truth. Sharing data with others is the core challenge.

We have our Adobe PDF versus Autodesk DWF boxing match in ring number one. In ring number two we have our Adobe PDF versus Microsoft XPS boxing match, a related but no less important and impactive new contest. Lastly, we have our OpenGL (Industry) versus DirectX 10 (Microsoft) boxing match. By the way, the metaphor is not mine, as any acute reader will know. But it serves the purpose of illuminating the "winner-takes-all" outlook framed by the contest itself. A brief examination of these contests will help the user to understand the players and what is at stake.

Design Information Exchange Format

Adobe's fully disclosed PDF format has become a de facto standard for disseminating information around the world. It didn't happen over night but part of the reason why Adobe PDF has become so successful is because it was platform agnostic and truly universally usable. Adobe Reader is today available for not just Windows and Macintosh but for several versions for Unix, Linux, Symbian OS, Pocket PC, and Palm OS. The spec is open so that third-party developers can create tools that make and read PDF documents on various platforms. This contrast sharply with Autodesk's DWF format, designed to replace PDF in the CAD markets.

In the case of DWF, Autodesk has a very long way to go to open up a proprietary format in DWF. And it has over a decade dissadvantage in developing the same level of ecology built around Adobe's PDF. But perhaps most unfavorable to Autodesk's goals with DWF is the obvious business logic of not supporting it robustly if you are an Autodesk competitor in the CAD and engineering markets.

The "ugly side" talk mentioned earlier has many dimensions. One dimension not written about candidly enough is that past file formats that have become de facto standards have had the ugly effect of holding customers and their data and technology hostage. One could easily make a very impassioned argument that the entire BIM (building information modeling) transformation in AEC is being held up because of inertia issues associated with the predominate DWG file format.

In light of this, an Autodesk competitor with superior technology -- who believes they have a stronger product -- would be foolish and illresponsible to shareholders to aid in the creation of Autodesk DWF as a new de facto standard. All that's going to do is give Autodesk a key advantage over you.

Thus it should come as no surprise to see annoucements of strategic alliances and collaboration between Adobe and Autodesk competitors such as Germany's Nemetschek. And with with Acrobat 3D Adobe has gained the support and cooperation of major MCAD players such as Solidworks, PTC, Dassault and others.