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What to do if your computer starts randomly playing Fur Elise

Seriously?

It's a Microsoft Support Knowledgebase article. Wow.

AU: Collaborative Project Management Usability Study

Senior Usability Engineer, Pam Polizzi wants to know if you would help make our Collaborative Project Management products even better. You can participate in a usability study at Autodesk University and provide feedback on new design concepts.

Stop by the Autodesk Collaborative Project Management Usability booth (#400) in the Exhibit Hall to participate in a study.

Booth hours:
Tuesday, November 27
7:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Wednesday, November 28
11:00 am - 2:00 pm; 6:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Thursday, November 29
11:00 am - 2:00 pm

You can also join the CPM User Experience Program. This program enables you and your company to influence the direction of Autodesk Collaborative Management solutions and guide the development of new features and functionality. Based on your industry, role, and product usage, we may contact you to participate in such important activities as requirements gathering and usability testing for relevant features and product enhancements.

To participate, follow the link below and enter your information; you can also extend the invitation to others in your company by sending them this link.

Sing Up Here

We hope to see you at AU!

Project Chicago : Greene Research

Ever wonder what 'Green Design' really means?  Check out Project Chicago to get an idea of what it means on one project located in Missouri.

Our first video blog post!

The last time that Jason and I were together in Las Vegas we took a moment to create our first VLOG or Video Blog Post.  Let us know if you like this format and we'll try to do more when we are together.  Any suggestions on topics are greatly appreciated.

Download Video Here

SaaS growing faster than you think

Jason's post below reminded me of the latest example of SaaS that is available on Autodesk Labs.  This new technology called Project Draw is a zero-download drawing program.  While it's far from AutoCAD or Revit it's a big step towards major desktop applications being available via the web.  If you were questioning Jason's prediction that Windows will lose market share, you might rethink your opinion after you play with this. 

Will SaaS cause the decline of Microsoft Windows?

TechRepublic's Sanity Check blog has a piece today on the possibility that SaaS (software-as-a-service for those of you who are still using the acronyms from last year) and smartphones (!?) will cause Windows' market share to decline.

I have nothing against Windows, but I see this happening for sure. Vista is an expensive garbled mess, and the complexity of each Windows release continues to grow. Meanwhile, simple smart BlackBerrys, iPhones, and web applications are causing folks to rethink the idea of heavy Windows development.

For a while, though, Windows will continue to dominate, and that's for the reason that TechRepublic identifies: applications. There are so many critical applications written to run on Windows that, like the AS400s of yesteryear, the platform will just refuse to die.

It's pretty fair to say though that much of the innovation in the world of software from here on out won't come from desktop, PC-oriented Windows applications though. Mobility + network makes a whole new ballgame.

It's a Green Week

I recently spent some time traveling in Europe and was surprised by how much attention the Green Initiative was getting in the press.  It seemed like every third story in the news was talking about an organization trying to reduce their carbon load.  While Green is getting more and more coverage here in the states, it still seemed a stark contrast to the occasional story here in the states. 

Lately, that seems to be changing.  First, Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Price for his work spreading the word about Global Climate Change, and now NBC has decided to hold Green Week.  While I admire their initiative, it seems a bit contrived.  For example their half-time and post game shows were broadcast with the studio lights turned off.  While the intentions were meant to be good, I couldn't help but think that it was merely a cute stunt to gain publicity and ratings. 

On a note closer to home, at the Greenbuild Expo, Autodesk and the Green Building Council presented an update update on their ongoing collaboration to expand the use of technology to facilitate adoption of sustainable design and green building.  You can read the press release here.

I think that the fact that the move towards green buildings is gaining momentum is fantastic.  At the same time, I'm often surprised by the fact that people who are building these buildings spend so much time making the building green, but don't think about how to make the process of building it green.  The amount of paper and energy that is wasted on a typical design and construction project is staggering.  And by implementing collaboration solutions and more efficient processes, the majority of this waste can be eliminated.  For those people who recognize this fact, I raise my glass and commend you.  For the rest of you, I say "Let's talk about how we can reduce the carbon load of your projects!"

This reminds me of a meeting I had a few years ago with a very progressive developer in the North East.  He said to me "Alex, I want my project to be completely paperless, and that means I don't even want toilet paper on the job site!".  You have to commend his enthusiasm!

NY Collaboration User Group Is a Success!

We received this great report from Steve Williams about the first NY User Group meeting.

Last Friday over a dozen New Yorkers gathered over lunch to meet and discuss collaborative project management.  Attendees from architecture, engineering, and construction firms, as well as owners, attended our first New York City Collaborative Project Management User Group. 

Most of the audience that attended is currently using Constructware on projects in NYC, although we also had several Buzzsaw users attend as well.

There were some great suggestions and discussions, such as tracking email communications, managing permissions in Constructware, and providing the best possible support for users to ensure buy-in and use of a collaborative system.  Future topics will include presentations by members on how they are using Buzzsaw and/or Constructware, and how people manage the design coordination when they are using Revit.

Several people mentioned how they wanted to take the flat screen plasma TV home with them (Martin and I are pictured here with some of the representatives from the NY Metropolitan Transportation Authority)…since it’s primarily an Autodesk Media & Entertainment office we do happen to have an Xbox 360 hooked up to it. 

The next meeting will be held on Friday, December 14^th at 12pm back at the Autodesk office in New York City.  Lunch will be provided again by Autodesk.  To be included on the email distribution list, please contact me at steve.williams@autodesk.com.

Economic results for Q3

Nicholas Johnson sent us this economic report from Q3 - looks like design and construction spending is up in the gov't sector.  Yippee - let's go get some of this!! 

"All-time high spending in both commercial construction by private builders and government projects more than offset weakness in home building."

Economy Logs Brisk 3.9 Percent Growth