Looking at the cost benifit of changing out to SW.

Thanks,

Mike

PM for phone number....thanks

I might be able to "borrow" a pretty recent version for you from a friend. Just reply or PM with exactly what you are looking for. I have been buried at work and have been overdue to contact this guy, my girlfriend's dad, about a project we started on his solidworks

Not a rep but I can tell you that you won't regret the swap.

We just upgraded and purchased an addtional seat to move from Pro E to Wildfire.

I don't know how much better it is but I can tell you it was FREAKIN expensive.

I have used both extensively over the past 10 years. I even tried to get my group to switch over to Solid Works several years ago but we are so in bed with Pro-E that I can't see it ever happening. Still I keep a seat of both on my computer. Solidworks for me is much more intuitive and has a quicker learning curve. Not to mention its packed with features that Pro-E charges extra for. Everything is a freaking add-on for Pro-E and you can sink a fortune in a hurry.

I've been working with WildFire (Latest Pro-E version) for the past year or two. The first time we made the switch I noticed that Pro-E had taken several cues from Solidworks and is actually starting to resemble the lesser priced software in some respects. I have yet to find any situation in Pro-E that Solidworks cannot handle equally well and sometimes easier.

I have WildFire up on my other monitor right now desiging new Sonar products. I don't personally foot the bill for this stuff so the price does not hit home as hard as it might an independant designer, but if I were you I would look seriously at Solidworks, its powerful, capable, and cheap.

this is for my "real" job

need a legit license of whatever we use...current maintance fee is $2000 per year, trying to cut down on costs....I doubt the ROI would be worth buying a new software package and still have to deal with license fees from that company....

Mike,
We are currently migrating from Autocad Mech desktop/inventor to solidworks. I don't feel like bucking the trend anymore. As far as I can see, PROE has clearly lost the war.

Mike

We pay about $1500 per year per seat for maintenance for SolidWorks Office Pro. I think the basic maintenance cost is around $1300. So you aren't looking at saving much in maintenance over ProE. It would take many years to offset the cost of new seat licenses.

If you need a contact for a Solidworks reseller, let me know.

Demick

We have been using Solidworks since 1999. We dropped our maintenance for several years when we did not use it much. We just renewed and are sort of up-to-speed again. Sometimes they have specials to get you back on the plan, and we took advantage of this. See what deals they may offer to get you to switch.

The Solidworks and our Dimension solid modeller are a great combo for development work. Indispensible comes to mind.

Call solidworks directly.
Tell them your situation.

You would be amazed at the deals that will be put together to steal a customer from the competition...

Ask for a deal...dont be shy...

Rich