hn-classics/_stories/1994/9466621.md

Source

The Autodesk File

** Next:** Introduction

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The Autodesk File

Bits of History, Words of Experience

Edited by
John Walker

Frames edition of this document.
Other editions, some suitable for reading offline.

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• Introduction
• Working Paper
  • Introduction
  • Background
  • Which brings me to...
  • General development strategy
  • Form of organization
  • Mode of operation
  • Product development cycle
  • Money and management
  • Commitments of time
  • The nature of potential products
  • Hardware and system strategy
  • Why get involved?
  • Nitty-gritty
  • What do we do next
  • Agenda
• Information Letter 1
  • Structure of the business
  • The issue of liability
  • Changes after the business is running
  • Terminating products
  • What to call the company
  • How much of a share to buy
  • Order of magnitude financial figures
  • The role of MSL principals
  • The promise of this venture
  • Responsiveness
  • Philosophy
  • Potential Products for MSP
• Information Letter 2
  • Alternate forms of organisation
  • New participants
  • Resumes
  • ``Edges''
  • Nightmare
  • What's going on
• What to Name the Company
• Information Letter 3
  • The business entity
  • Issuance of shares
  • Buying equipment
  • Working capital
  • Stock options
  • Personal holding companies
  • Conflicts of interest
  • New people
  • Names, names, names
  • Paperwork
  • Next meeting
  • Proposed Organization Plan for MSP
• Information Letter 4
  • New organization plan
  • General meeting
  • Plans: Incorporation
  • Technical progress
  • Technical plans
• Initial Stock Distribution
• Information Letter 5
  • Progress Organising the Company
  • Changes from Original Organisation Plan
  • What Happens Next
  • Just a Few More Little Things
  • Regular Meetings
  • Purchasing
  • Micro-CAD Progress
  • Autodesk Progress
  • Other Product Progress
  • Product Polish and Packaging
  • Subchapter S Election Alternative
  • Autodesk Products
  • Autodesk Work Distribution
• Information Letter 6
  • Marketing Progress
  • IBM PC
  • File Transfer
  • Offsite Backup
  • Floppy Discs
  • 68000 System Prospects
  • Medical Software Deal
  • Coming to Terms with the 8086
  • Black Hole Alert
  • Monthly Meeting-Subchapter S Form
  • Autodesk Status
  • Communicator Status
  • Random Bits
• Information Letter 7
  • Where We Are and Where We Are Going
  • Autodesk Status
  • QBASIC86 Progress
  • MicroCAD Status
  • Window Progress
  • Task Lists
  • Conference System Notes
  • Organization Details
  • C
  • Random Bits
  • July General Meeting Minutes
  • Future agendas
  • Auto Book Notes
• Information Letter 8
  • Other Items
• August 1982 Meeting
  • Changes in Participation
  • Minutes and Financial Report
  • Progress Reports
  • Random Business
  • Project Discussions
  • Appendix
• AutoCAD-80 Development Log
• 1982 Annual Meeting
• Quality Department Priorities
  • Development of Specifications
  • Qualification Testing
  • Test Management
  • Discrepancy Logging
  • Release Certification
  • Regression Testing
  • Cost of Quality
• Meetings: December '82, January '83
  • December Meeting
  • January Meeting
  • Summary of Decisions Taken
• February 1983 Meeting
  • Minutes and Financial Report
  • Board of Directors
  • Project Reports
  • Trade Shows
  • Manpower
  • Summary of Decisions
• March 1983 Meeting
  • Odd Jobs
  • Software Control Policies
• June 1983 Meeting
• AutoCAD Wish List
  • Introduction
  • High priority ``quick kills''
  • High priority larger items
  • Lower priority items
  • Questionable items
• Crisis Letter
• John Walker's Business Plan
  • Organisation
  • Budgeting
  • Priorities-Marketing Division
  • Priorities-Operations Division
  • Priorities-Technical Division
  • Technical Project Management
  • Salary Scales
• Proposed Autodesk Organization
  • Problems
  • Solutions
  • Proposed Structure
  • Recommendations
  • Job Descriptions
• July 1983 Meeting
  • Attendees
  • Summary of Management Meeting: Dan Drake
  • Financial Report: John Walker
  • Marketing Report: Mike Ford
  • More Marketing: John Walker
  • International Sales
  • Corporate Status Report
  • Operational Report: John Kern
  • AutoCAD-86 Report: Keith
  • AutoCAD-80 Report: John
  • Miscellaneous
  • Personnel
  • Equipment List
• Low Rent 3D
• Electric Malcolm
• October 1983 Meeting
• Piece of Cake
• Information Letter 10
• Information Letter 11
  • Party Time
  • What's Going On Here
  • The Slingshot and Success
• The Deal on the Table
• AutoCAD Lite
• Taxes and Such
  • Warrants
  • Stock Options
  • Alternative Minimum Tax
  • Publicly Traded Stock
  • Insiders and Rule 16(b)
• Why Lisp?
• Number One
• Prime Time
  • Reply Time
• Initial Public Offering
  • General Background
  • Product Strategy
  • Products
  • The Toilet Announcement
  • Marketing Strategy
  • The Entire Prospectus
  • Sleazy Motel Roach Hammer Awards
• Surplus Value
  • Taxes
  • Investments
  • Greed and Fear
  • Beyond the Lock-up Period
• Information Letter 12
  • Mid-Game
  • Burning Questions Of Our Movement
  • What Business Is the Company In?
  • Product Style
  • What do we do next?
  • The Next AutoCAD
  • The American Dream
• Time of Turbulence
  • Memo to everybody
  • Remarks at the company meeting
• Speech at Silverado
• Super Programmers
• CAD: the Heart of Computer Science
  • What is Computer Aided Design?
  • What Should a CAD System Be?
  • What Does Simulation Have To Do With It?
  • What Do You Do To Get There?
  • The Heart of Computer Science
• The Computer Revolution
  • Abstract
  • Background
  • The Evolution Of Computer Interfaces
  • Attempts To Extend the Interface
  • ``Go Do'' Considered Shameful
  • Son Of Batch
  • Building Subservient Systems
  • Summary
• AutoBits
  • Job Titles
  • AutoSketch: Not Insane
  • Autodesk Technical Seminars
  • CAD: The Final Frontier
  • Marinchip Defeats IBM
  • Dear Jim Meadlock...
  • Yet Wah 3D
  • Spine Police
  • VHSIC-Based Product Stuns Industry
  • What Is 3D What
  • AutoShield
  • The Guts of a New Machine
  • The Bozo Filter
  • High Performance Bicycles
  • A Journey Not to Forget
  • AutoThing
• Flat-out Programming
• Hardware Lock Debater's Guide
• Information Letter 13
  • Ground rules
  • The management switch
• Cadetron and Solid Modeling
  • How Do We Do It?
  • Product Positioning
  • How Does All This Really Work?
• Removing the Hardware Lock
• Urgent Fury
  • The Menu Bar
  • Extended Object Selection
  • Menu Item Repetition
  • Multiple Command Modifier
  • Command Redefinition
  • Dialogue-Oriented Commands
• The Portable Data Base
  • Background
  • The Binary I/O Package
  • Modifying AutoCAD
  • Compatibility status summary
  • Upper and lower case
• Breaking the 3D Logjam
• Jeremiad
• Urgent Worry
• The Golden Age of Engineering
• Cosmic Perspective
• External Tanks
• Source Distribution
• The Morning After
• Glasnost
• Where's It All Going?
• Xanadu
  • Ted Nelson Joins Autodesk
• Bored of Directors
• Valedictory
• L'Envoi: the First Six Years
• Technological Leadership
  • AutoCAD Release 10
  • AutoCAD For The Macintosh
  • AutoCAD Release 11
  • AutoCAD AEC
  • AutoSketch
  • AutoShade
  • User Interfaces
  • Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendations
• Through the Looking Glass
  • User interaction generations
  • What next?
  • Through the screen to cyberspace
  • Building cyberspace
  • Should Autodesk lead?
• AutoCAD Expo Moscow
• Golden Hammer
• One Hundred Million Dollars
• The New Technological Corporation
  • Theme 1: The time value of money
  • Theme 2: Leverage vs. debt
  • Theme 3: The talent-constrained enterprise
  • Theme 4: Quantum economics
  • Theme 5: Equilibrium and efficient markets
  • Variation 1: The New Technological Corporation
  • Variation 2: What to do with the money?
  • Variation 3: Competitive strategies
  • Conclusions and recommendations
• Generic Software Acquisition
• Why Cellular Automata?
  • Rudy's Answer
  • John's Answer
• Understanding AMIX
  • The Information Age
  • Markets
  • Information Markets
  • Obvious Markets
  • Non-critical Issues
  • Why AMIX?
• Batting .300
• We'll Return, After This Message
• Caustic Moment
  • A Brief History Of IGES
  • Goals and Strategy
  • Implementation Notes
  • Additional ADS Requirements
  • User Notes
  • Summary and Future Directions
  • Conclusion
• The Hardware Lock Strikes Back
• ``Autodesk Arrogance''
• Why Molecular Modeling?
  • Filter 1: It stands to benefit from increasing compute power
  • Filter 2: It is central to emerging technologies
  • Conclusion
• Whither AutoCAD?
  • Introduction
  • Autodesk as High-End Vendor
  • The Business of Autodesk
  • An Opportunity
  • The High End: What is it?
  • Traditional CAD/CAM
  • The View from the Top
  • Real Users buy Desktop CAD
  • Drafting vs the Total Solution
  • The Autodesk Customer
  • The Turnkey Customer
  • Integration as the Key
  • Design/Manufacturing Process
  • The Total Solution
  • The Reality
  • The Market
  • Mechanical Design Automation
  • AutoCAD Designer
  • Technical Content
  • AutoCAD
  • Conclusions
  • Final Words
• Nanotechnology in Manufacturing
  • What's Been Happening
  • CPU Performance
  • Oh Wow
  • Oh Well
  • Oh Shit
  • Oh Yeah!
  • Technological Transitions
  • Five Industrial Revolutions
  • Metre Scale
  • Metres To Millimetres
  • Millimetres To Micrometres
  • Micrometres To Nanometres
  • Plenty Of Room
  • Writing With Atoms
  • Molecular Engineering
  • Many Challenges-But Many Paths To Follow
  • Steps Along the Way: Molecular Electronics
  • Bacteriorhodopsin Optical Memory
  • Sixth Industrial Revolution: Molecular Engineering
  • Seventh Industrial Revolution: Replicating Machines
  • The Argument For Design
• Max Q
  • Management by lack of alternatives
  • A very different world
  • Max Q
  • Modern Problems
  • Autodesk confronts an uncertain future
  • Summary of recommendations
  • Conclusion
• Information Letter 14
  • Prologue: The Quaint Eighties
  • Introduction
  • Background
  • ``The Game Has Changed''
  • The Game Has Changed Again
  • Modern Times
  • Modern Problems
  • The Risks Of Caution
  • The Nightmare Scenario
  • Marginalia
  • Business Development
  • Winning
  • A Bodyguard Of Fears
  • Conclusion
  • Epilogue: The Final Days
• View from the Ridge
• Valuing Corporate Image
• Simulation Isn't Reality
• The New Autodesk
  • Goals of the Restructuring
  • Types of organizations
  • Product Lines
  • Responsibilities of VPs of Marketing and Technology
  • Review of Employees in a Matrix Organization
  • Questions and Answers
  • Items to watch for future modification
  • The New Autodesk: June 28, 1991 Change Pages
• Choose Wisely
  • Whose hand on the tiller?
  • How much, and when?
  • Possible and impossible.
• Added Value
• Stating the Problem
• Al Green Retires
• Incentives, Deterrence, and Defence
  • The CD-ROM
  • AutoCAD Global Village
  • Your Suggestion Here
• Searching for a New CEO
  • Assumptions
  • Requirements
  • Process
  • Conclusion
• European Software Centre
• The Dark Night of the Soul
• Reporter at Work
  • Title
  • Introduction
  • Interview transcript
  • Anatomy of a smear
• AutoCAD for Windows
• MicroTimes
• New Leadership for Autodesk
• Farewell, Xanadu
  • Autodesk Press Release
  • AMIX Press Release
  • Message from Carol Bartz
• Micro Engineering Solutions Acquisition
  • Len Rand on the MES Acquisition
  • Press Release
  • Q&A; On MES Acquisition
• Patent Nonsense
• Programs Are Programs
  • World War Four
  • Background-Is Software a Business?
  • It's a Program, Stupid
  • Let's Crunch Some Numbers
  • Does This Sound Familiar? 1
  • Does This Sound Familiar? 2
  • Does This Sound Familiar? 3
  • Does This Sound Familiar? 4
  • Does This Sound Familiar? 5
  • Does This Sound Familiar? 6
  • Getting There
  • The Enabling Prerequisite
  • Summary and Conclusion
• AutoCAD LT
  • Press Release
  • Midcourse Corrections
  • AutoCAD LT Questions and Answers
• Creation/Evolution
• Ten Years After
• Before Autodesk
  • Basic Development Strategy
  • Details-The 68000 Node Board
  • Details-Software Conversion Plans
  • Background-Why not the 9995/99000?
  • Background-Why not the Z8001?
  • Details-What about the Z8000 software?
  • Details-What does this do to other projects?
  • Details-Whither the 9900 and its customer base?
  • Details-Marketing strategy
  • Details-Who pays and who gets what?
  • Details-Things to be resolved
• The View from Sweden
• Autodesk Trivia Quiz
• Financial Results
• Autodesk Stock Price History
• Product Release History
  • Autodesk Product Initial Shipment Dates
  • AutoCAD Version Release Dates
  • Kelvin's Holiday Hacks
  • AutoCAD Major Feature Release History
• About this Edition
• Contents
• Index

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Editor: John Walker