Cadalyst turns 20: our challenge is to remain relevant to readers immersed in rapidly changing technology

CADalyst, April, 2004 by Sara Ferris

This month marks the official 20th birthday of Cadalyst. Our challenge, as it's been throughout the past 20 years, is to remain relevant to readers immersed in rapidly changing technology.

Think back to what you were doing 20 years ago. How does your job then compare with what you're doing now? I was working for a company that made 3D graphics display processors for mainframe and minicomputers. The high-end models required six big IC boards, and the big engineering challenge was fitting all that onto a single half-sized card to suit some crazy customer. As for those new PCs, well, they had hardly enough power to display text, let alone rotate 3D spheres in real time.

Fortunately, plenty of other companies saw potential in the PC, and Cadalyst began as a forum for AutoCAD users to swap notes and tips on the best ways to use this new product. With its powerful avenues for customization, AutoCAD found use in a variety of different realms--product design, architecture, mapping, facilities management, and more.

The Cadalyst archives chart the evolution of the PC CAD world, first as a publication dedicated to AutoCAD, then branching out to cover additional AutoCAD products, and in 1999 broadening focus to embrace all PC CAD programs. And late last year we merged with Cadence magazine and took the opportunity to spruce up our look in print and online.

Though I don't necessarily agree with a reader who wrote that with 20 years of CAD under our belts, no one needs to know how to draw lines and circles anymore, your information needs today are significantly more sophisticated. You have more choices about what software to use. Not only are a number of CAD applications available, a single application may well come in several discipline-specific versions. Transferring data from one program to another remains a challenge, especially as more data is incorporated into the drawing or model. And sharing that data, whether with suppliers and subcontractors or other departments within your company, raises its own set of issues. If you've got a particular pet issue you'd like us to cover, please let us know at editors@cadalyst.com.

We face our own set of challenges in bringing you timely, reliable information. Our plan is to focus the magazine on in-depth product reviews and technology trends. Our Web site, www.cadalyst.com, is the best home for timely materials such as news and product announcements as well as application-specific tutorials and the ever-popular Learning Curve and Bug Watch columns.

To celebrate our anniversary, we're eliminating the password needed to download code. You'll just enter the e-mail address you signed up with. We'll also provide a cookie that will retain your information so you only need to provide that information once (unless, of course, you lose your cookie). We expect to have these changes in place by the time you read this.

Thank you for helping to make Cadalyst's first twenty years such a success. We are fortunate to serve an enthusiastic community of CAD users and look forward to doing so for many more years.

SARA FERRIS

Editor-In-Chief

sara.ferris@cadalyst.com