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Onshape has been acquired by PTC

245

Comments

  • Michael_CoffeeMichael_Coffee Member Posts: 91 ✭✭✭
    Anyway, I'm glad to hear everyone is on board =)
  • haran_anjioni029haran_anjioni029 Member Posts: 1 PRO

    Congratulations!

    You created a great product!
    I hope that this will get you even better and won't hold you back or change your approach to cad modeling and interface, and I hope you made LOADS of cash and that all of  you are extremely happy!

    You deserve it.


  • NeilCookeNeilCooke Moderator, Onshape Employees Posts: 5,686
    @Michael_Coffee yes, we’re all still here! I think @philip_thomas spoke for us all - there are exciting opportunities ahead for everybody. 

    My career path has now come full circle - I left PTC 18 years ago to join SolidWorks. The last 24 hours have been crazy with dozens of messages of congratulations from former PTC colleagues and ones that still work there. This is a great move for Onshape. Can’t wait to get started!
    Senior Director, Technical Services, EMEAI
  • philip_thomasphilip_thomas Member, Moderator, Onshape Employees, Developers Posts: 1,381
    @haran_anjioni029 - Thank you. The future bodes very well for Onshape and it's customers. As for the 'cash' - I drive (and will likely continue driving) an 11 year old Jeep. Hmm, maybe it's time for a visit to HR! :)

    Philip Thomas - Onshape
  • philip_thomasphilip_thomas Member, Moderator, Onshape Employees, Developers Posts: 1,381
    @steve_shubin - The free plan stays :)
    Philip Thomas - Onshape
  • adrian_vlzkzadrian_vlzkz Member Posts: 266 PRO
    edited October 2019
    Congrats to the team!

    I honestly think PTC got an amazing deal on the acquisition:

    https://www.economist.com/leaders/2017/05/06/the-worlds-most-valuable-resource-is-no-longer-oil-but-data

    Just hope they let the OG team continue to run things with a development and innovation focus
    Adrian V. | Onshape Ambassador
    CAD Engineering Manager
  • StephenGStephenG Member Posts: 370 ✭✭✭
    As much as I hoped that Onshape would remain free of "foreign entanglements" indefinitely, I am not at least surprised it is being assimilated by a BORG. Onshape was a "David" in a land of "Goliaths" and I prophesied that sooner or later one of the big MCAD players (Siemens, Desault, PTC, Autodesk) would initiate a preemptive strike to preserve their cash cow product line. I seriously doubt the principles really wanted this to happen, but they were probably not in a position to stop, or even delay it. It was only a matter of time before the venture capitalists that funded Onshape's development would want to cash in. 

    I want to extend a personal thank you to those that believed in Jon Hirschtick's (et al) vision and risked the millions of dollars it took to make it a reality. Your faith in Jon has made a mark in the MCAD product world; now we will have to wait and see how much of the mark PTC's eraser business practices leave.  
  • cody_armstrongcody_armstrong Moderator, Onshape Employees, Developers, csevp Posts: 215
    Congratulations to Onshape. This new venture will lead to changes down the road, so in hindsight, I'm on the fence about the acquisition because I am ignorant of PTC's history.

    With Pro/Engineer, I knew of it by name only. I didn't really bother keeping track of the company's development into releasing Creo and Windchill either until now. I have used AutoCAD, Inventor, SolidWorks and DraftSight for the vast majority of my career, but going to Onshape filled the void of what I felt all of them lacked: a CAD program you can use from just about any computer and not inherently expensive. Yes, it doesn't have all of the features of everyone else, but it doesn't need to right now. With the acquisition, I am hopeful in that the CEO of PTC will keep to what he says: keep Onshape as Onshape. Improve it, yes, when and where it needs to, because change is a requirement to being better than before.

    At the same time, I am noticing horror stories of PTC acquisitions. We would be fools to ignore them. However, it does not mean it will happen again. History is cyclical in nature, not repeating, so I am optimistic up until we see the changes that PTC will bring, because there will be changes. We won't know what they will be until they're already here. For example, the price. Onshape's price scheme is geared toward both big and small corporations, and I am very glad it's a reasonable figure for any CAD business. With PTC, I can see the price scheme changing, but I personally don't want to see a change in the base price. As more features are added to Onshape, I can expect there will be different "bundles", whether it's a simulation feature or factory layout app, whatever it is for that particular niche in the CAD industry. For the regular drafter/engineer, we don't need a price hike because of something we will never use in our company.

    That being said, I am also concerned about the opinions of Onshape employees or rather lack there of. We've heard @philip_thomas & @lougallo, but we haven't heard a peep yet from @NeilCooke, @cody_armstrong, or @Jake_Rosenfeld. Is everyone on the same page? Are there concerns? Has anyone quit because of it? I don't know how far ahead of time people knew about the deal or that there was a discussion. I ask because we, all of us here, are investing our livelihoods into the idea, the platform, and the creation that is Onshape. I believe it to be the direction CAD will go, totally and completely, one day, and it helps, I think, if we know the attitude and thoughts of the very people who are making the product we are using.

    Onshape has been making history since day one. I want it to keep doing just that, with or without PTC.

    In my experience, every employee at Onshape is here because they genuinely believe Onshape is the best platform for product design. We are all still here and have the same focus.

    I am very excited to see what the future holds.
  • thong_van_nguyenthong_van_nguyen Member Posts: 17 ✭✭
    edited October 2019
    The first thing I want to Congrats to the Onshape team .In here I want to say to everyone that when you are parent , then you will understand  what you need to do for giving the best thing to your children. Someone in Onshape's community will have a the story in your life :  you birthed your son/daughter and you try to  feed food to them in some years( 5 years), then you will find a rich family to delivery them and you hope your children will have a better life. This thing is also normal in M&A business that founders want to sell  their startup company/product to bigger company , it happened at SolidWork that John sold SW to DS and now it will be happen at Onshape will be acquired by PTC, i think it is normal. As everyone knew SW will be moved soon into 3D experience soon. From my point , both PTC and Onshape had correct strategic to how to open portfolio, customer , achieve technology..etc. But I wish PTC and Onshape will keep what they promised to CAD user. I think almost Onshape user in here , they left SW to go with John's son ( Onshape) due to they believed him . Someone will feel sad when they heard this news as well. 
  • cjdubeacjdubea Member Posts: 3
    And the circle is completed..... 

    You WILL be assimilated.
  • bradley_saulnbradley_sauln Moderator, Onshape Employees, Developers Posts: 373
    I always love to rewatch this video from time to time as it still speaks true to how we operate. Now more than ever: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw_bXaiQztI
    Engineer | Adventurer | Tinkerer
    Twitter: @bradleysauln


  • Jake_RosenfeldJake_Rosenfeld Moderator, Onshape Employees, Developers Posts: 1,646
    @Michael_Coffee and others,

    The thing I'm most excited about is having more resources and support!  We have so many great ideas and project in the pipeline, and I think this will really let us push new functionality out the door faster.

    Sorry it took me a while to catch up with this thread, I've had my head down working on some //top-secret hole feature performance improvements//.  The work never stops here!
    Jake Rosenfeld - Modeling Team
  • philip_thomasphilip_thomas Member, Moderator, Onshape Employees, Developers Posts: 1,381
    @Jake_Rosenfeld - Do you know how 'secret' works? :)
    Philip Thomas - Onshape
  • 3dcad3dcad Member, OS Professional, Mentor Posts: 2,475 PRO
    @Jake_Rosenfeld - Do you know how 'secret' works? :)
    So that it's told ONLY to members of this forum?
    //rami
  • john_mcclaryjohn_mcclary Member, Developers Posts: 3,936 PRO
    Feel free to email me too  <3
  • kuonkuon Member Posts: 2 PRO
    I am myself very concerned about the acquisition. I've seen many startup and technologies being assimilated. I usually prefer open source solutions, because of this very risk (acquisition, policy change...), but even the most advanced solution, FreeCAD, is far from "being there" in term of features and stability (mostly because of the OpenCascade foundations).

    I really hope things will stay as they are with on shape.
  • Tony_C_Tony_C_ Member Posts: 273 PRO
    I'm optimistic about this from reading a lot of the comments from the OnShape crew here, but one of my big fears is the price point of OnShape.

    The company I work for isn't that large and OS's subscription price right now is just about right.  My hope is OS keeps its price competitive and as its features expand, as being hinted at, and doesn't balloon in cost. We have years of files and parts libraries in OS and I'd hate to, because of subscription costs, have my employer weigh going to another platform. 

    I say this as a daily OS user that's seen its growth and really like this program and would hate to see it change for the worse.

    I'm also another cad user that came over from Alibre after it was acquired by 3ds. What a change that was. It was like going from driving a Chevett to a Lexus. 


  • philip_thomasphilip_thomas Member, Moderator, Onshape Employees, Developers Posts: 1,381
    @Tony_C_ No plans to change the price and the free plan stays :)
    Philip Thomas - Onshape
  • john_mcclaryjohn_mcclary Member, Developers Posts: 3,936 PRO
    Honestly, Onshape is very equal to a solidworks subscription.  You just have the extra one time fees for SW, that are stupid expensive. Less for SW if you skip very couple years (basically less upgrades in 3 years of SW than you get in OS every week!)  so I find the Onshape price to be at it peak efficiency. Anything more would not be competitive. but you do get more upgrades and fast bug fixes from Onshape for basically the same price.  The value is way more bang for the buck in services like that with Onshape. But upgrades will eventually Plato as they get closer to matching other CAD, and closer yet to feature creep. I just fear this sale wasn't Onshape selling out a "failed" product.  By failed I mean, it didn't take over the CAD market like SW did back in the day. Or fusion is still dominating in it's market. Onshape may be better at some things, but not all. They sure did get a bad rap from their early days that are still holding people back from jumping in. I know because I argue with die hard SW users every day at work. Even my tail went between my legs in our discussions now that news of a sellout came so early. 

    But I can only hope OS stays true to their values like they say. I don't really feel like eating crow right now.
  • kevin_quigleykevin_quigley Member Posts: 306 ✭✭✭
    Not posted here for a while but having known Onshape since the very early days I have to say congratulations to all who were there at the start. Onshape has come a long way since that 2 or 3 feature test build I tried all those years ago. I don’t think Joe ever forgave me for turning down the $50 a month for life offer for the first 25 users (if my memory serves me right). Maybe I’ll come to regret that 😁

    As to the future we do have a vested interest as we bought into Creo a couple of years back. We continue to run SolidWorks as well (all on maintenance). Comparing Creo to SolidWorks is like comparing an apple to an orange. Creo is much faster, much more stable and for surfacing much more capable. SolidWorks is much more usable, easier to learn and (I think) a much more flexible modelling platform. 

    I would love to see Onshape browser technology for Creo. But I also want the desktop versions as well. 

    I have opinions about why PTC bought Onshape and what is likely to happen over time. But they are just opinions. 

    Switching the kernel from Parasolid to Granite would be an obvious start, albeit potentially painful for Onshape. But now is the time to do it whilst you still have relatively few paying users. SolidEdge moves from ACIS to Parasolid in the early days. As have others. 

    File format (full file format) compatibility with Creo would be a big win. The ability to save a file that can be opened in Creo with full feature tree would be a huge win. 

    Will be interesting to see how the partners take this as PTC are not as open as other vendors  You essentially add PTC modules or none. The recent Discovery Live FEA features show this. The PTC module is more costly and less functional than the native ANSYS version. You pay for the integration. Which to be fair, PTC do very well. 

    At nearly a half billion valuation PTC obviously have serious plans. I think a lot of that valuation probably is due to the data management innovations Onshape has developed. I can see PTC looking at this as a Windchill for SMEs (windchill itself being somewhat clunky and costly to configure so very few non enterprise businesses use it). I can see them thinking of Onshape and data as the Salesforce of product development and manufacturing. 

    In terms of pricing, that will definitely rise over time. Standard PTC subscription services have an incremental 5% per annum rise built into the contracts (it’s in the small print). Onshape is not a cheap solution anyway. It is a value added solution. 

    My biggest hope is that Onshape can persuade PTC to bring the Creo licensing procedures into the 21st century. Honestly, Creo has terrible licensing! Fingers crossed 😁

    Ultimately this sale is a vindication of the vision that led to Onshape starting up. PTC sees a value where Dassault continue to push totally silly messages and cloud software that offers very little to their customer base. Well done and look Ford to seeing you at Develop3D Live in April. PRC are going to need a bigger stand 😁
  • larry_haweslarry_hawes Member Posts: 478 PRO
    The END of Onshape? Does he have any good points?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v0USh10jmg
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