SolidWorks Crashes & Slowdowns – A clarification

Perhaps having “it’s your fault” in the title of the series wasn’t the way to go. I’ve, apparently, rubbed some people the wrong way. The point I was trying to make was that every crash or slowdown isn’t SolidWorks’ fault. There are numerous system or environmental variables that can also cause problems. Throughout the years, I’ve heard people piss and moan about their install not working properly only to find out it was a wrong driver, or a hardware conflict, or they were using a Commodore 64. People are quick to blame, less quick to take ownership of said blame.

I am not trying to say that SolidWorks is perfect; it’s not. And they (SolidWorks Corp) know it. By pure chance and luck, I have friends on the “inside” and talk to them about various issues whether they be mine or ones I come across in the various fora out there. These friends know that I prefer straight talk to bs and, I believe, tell it to me like it is. They are working on stability issues, but they can’t just focus on them. Like it or not, they need to stay ahead of, or at least even with, their competition when it comes to functionality. What I believe SolidWorks is trying to do is balance stability of existing functionality while adding additional functionality. Yes, they’ve dropped the ball in some areas, letting known bugs persist version after version. I know, I know, stability is key for many out there. I get it. I’ve had my share of stability issues. Look through my older posts and you’ll see I was having all sorts of problems with PDMWorks killing SolidWorks last year. Believe me, after 11 years as a user, I’ve seen my share of problems.

Look, all I’m trying to say is this: If you’re having problems with your install, don’t immediately assume that SolidWorks has a bug or glitch. A Windows automatic update, or some software that IT pushed out, could be the culprit. If you end up calling your VAR, don’t jump all over the AE. S/he just, in most cases, wants to help you out. To do so effectively, they’ll need as much info as possible. If you took your car to get repaired, telling your mechanic it goes “clunka-clunka-clunka” isn’t going to cut it; he’s going to need more info. The same holds true for the AE.

Once again I find myself ready to take off on a full-speed rant, but I’m going to rein it in. I’ll leave you with this last thought: People are imperfect and so is what they create.

Share and Enjoy:

May 28, 2009 · Posted in Rant, SolidWorks Community

Comments

MadHatter

Hi Jeff,

I know this is a bit late to your postings, especially seeing I'd been following your posts, among others, with some interest. I'm not going to beat dead horses about the imperfections of CAD software and the like but reading your postings all over again made me feel like commenting on two things I've faced on SolidWorks since I started using a while back, things which continue to make me wonder why they are happening in the first place.

First - FORWARD compatibility. Personally, with all the talk about backward compatibility, I was somehow reminded to look the other way. In the direction of moving forward. Everytime a new version comes out, a bunch of my older models seems to get screwed - of late, moving from 07 to 08 is was crazy as perfectly assembled models were popping up with mate errors like leprosy. Even using the conversion wizard doesn't really help in many cases. A "new generation" problem? I don't think so. I've used SolidWorks since their versions came with "Plus" suffixes in their names and have, on and off, had that problem. And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one out there facing this. And yes, as much as I'd love a new release as the next person, I am almost totally put off the thought of such things these days.

Second - mega-drawings. No one I've spoken to, VAR or SolidWorks, has been able to give me a decent answer to why, despite taking advantage of every enhancement up till 09 the VAR's have been able to throw at me, drawings of relatively small assemblies with 5-10 sheets can end up being 80+ MB in size, take aeons to open and require tonnes of RAM to work on despite having splurged on a workstation on steroids. Of course, someone of late had the cheek to suggest, in the name of environmental-friendliness and cost saving, that I should scrap drawings altogether and go paperless. To that, all I can say is "try telling the arc welder team to handle a laptop under the hot sun with a welding rod in one hand and tool in the other, buddy".

jon

Jeff, Quit blaming "IT" in your articles. often times i find that people like your self (power users/or people that wish they were) screw things up worse than anybody.

JeffMirisola

Jon,
I'm speaking from experience, both as a user and as an AE. While not all IT departments cause problems, there are those that do and refuse to accept responsibility. When there is someone in charge of the software who has no knowledge of it, then make assumptions on how to deploy it, problems occur.
Sorry if I hit a nerve.

Jeff

Steve

Hi Jeff,
You seem to be a bit defensive about Solidworks crashes and your main objective is to
dismiss them as some compatability problem. Sure there are those problems, but having used SolidWorks since 97 there is no question that 2009 is the most troublesome release
of them all. I applaud Solidworks for the great new features, but in my buisness, time is
money and the number of crashes I am experiencing is disturbing.
Regards,
Steve

JeffMirisola

Steve,
My main objective, in this series, is to point out other factors that can contribute to crashes. I just want people to be sure that they've ruled out other factors before jumping on the "SolidWorks sucks" bandwagon.
I've been using SolidWorks since 98 and know all to well that it can be crash-prone, too. I've had my share of issues over the years but, with that experience comes knowledge. It's that knowledge that I'm trying to pass on.
As for '09, I disagree. I'd say '08 was more troublesome than '09. As usual, individual results may vary.

Gary Hall

I got a call today from a few users complaining about SW crashing. I asked them what platform they were running on and they said it was an MPC. I wanted to ask, "Have you thought about upgrading to an eMachine?" :-)

Some people just don't understand system requirements do they?

JeffMirisola

No, no they don't. Such is life...

btitus

AMEN Brutha! Everyone seems to want to bash SolidWorks inability to produce a stable product. People do have to understand that it's a tough balancing act SW has to play between adding new functionality and maintaining stability and all the while trying to gain market share. As far as they are concerned there is still plenty of market share out there. SolidWorks only has 370K seats..uh I mean 1 Million seats...There's still plenty more there...

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While most of what I write will be about SolidWorks, or partner products, from time to time I've been known to go off on random rants about whatever crosses my mind.

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