SolidWorks As A Service – Part 1

Yesterday I chanced upon this post by SolidWorks blogger Devon Sowell, wherein he quotes some things that SolidWorks CEO Jeff Ray said in June about Software As A Service. These are the points that struck me.

SolidWorks & SaaS (Software as a service (SaaS, typically pronounced ‘sass’) is a model of software deployment where an application is hosted as a service provided); this is coming.

Once SolidWorks is “on the cloud” (SaaS), your designs will be “live” and “on” all the time. No need for File Open, no need for Check In and Check Out. Just like video game environments.

Service Based Charges; when SolidWorks is hosted SaaS, SolidWorks is considering working towards Service Based Charges, for example; pay a fee, based on time, to use a SolidWorks application.

I decided to get it straight from the horse’s mouth and so sent Jeff an email. I joked with him:

Are you saying that a user will be able to run SolidWorks on a remote server similar to how a user uses BluePrint Now. Just so that you know I think the idea is completely nuts ;-). Could you put me through to someone who thinks otherwise?

Jeff put me through to Laura Kozikowski, Strategic Brand Manager, who in turn put me through to Matthew West, Social Media Manager. I would have preferred to be directed to someone on the technical side of things, but I guess SolidWorks is smart not to let their technical staff too close to nosy people like me, as can be seen from Matthew’s response:

Jeff would prefer not to elaborate further, and rather note that we’re constantly looking at all available technologies, focusing on the best ones for the needs of the design community.

Of course, I did not expect SolidWorks to spell out exactly how they planned on putting SolidWorks “on the cloud”. But in time I intend to spell out on this blog why I think the idea maybe completely nuts. In the meanwhile, if you have anything to say about this, please do leave a comment.