
Instructables is joining Autodesk  - jamesbritt
http://blog.instructables.com/2011/08/instructables-is-joining-autodesk/
======
thesystemis
I hope this leads to some positive changes at instructables.

I've found it a harder and harder to navigate the site, with advertisements
and "sign up for premium" type messages everywhere. The amount of advertising,
when you are not logged in as a pro member, is insane. Also, the interfaces
for posting content feel quite old school, and the last time I posted an
instructables I was so frustrated I swore it would be my last. I love the goal
and mission of the site but for the last few years it's almost unusable. I
wonder if this purchase will breath new life to the site.

~~~
_mattb
I agree completely -- are there any other platforms out there similar in
function to instructables?

------
blacksmith_tb
Good news for the Instructables team (I hope), but an odd choice for Autodesk
- maybe they're trying to get a little hip and edgy?

~~~
Adaptive
CAD today is like video editing 10 years ago: lots of legacy high-end pro
level tools, faced with increasing consumer-friendly competition.

I used to cut on Avid, for instance. They made a push into consumer tools too-
little, too-late.

I'm sure Autocad wants to put together an end-to-end toolchain for making
things. Design, instruct, print, assemble. The HP of things.

~~~
brudgers
There has always been consumer level competition for Autodesk products. The
reasons they have not been successful are:

1\. When you are designing things like bridges, little software bugs have big
consequences and among the things Autodesk does well is software testing.

2\. Autodesk started out with really stinking good software engineers and they
have always kept up that tradition. It's no accident that they chose LISP as
their first programming interface - the founders knew how to code and how to
architect a piece of software.

3\. They made an incredibly bold move almost twenty years ago when they
rewrote the entire AutoCAD code base to be object oriented - and they took the
heat then never looked back. It's what has allowed them to extend their
flagship product to stay cutting edge.

I'll point out that CAD is significantly more mature than video editing was 10
years ago - actually it was more mature ten years ago than video editing is
today. It's a market with no real consumer space - people will make and edit
many videos, they will only draw up their dream house once or maybe twice -
and if they are serious about it they will be using a bootleg version of
AutoCad any way.

~~~
Adaptive
The difference now is that we are entering a period where it's not just
houses. 3d printing is suddenly a real thing. That's the play here.

~~~
brudgers
Most people who are interested in making objects as a hobby have machine tools
so that they can be hands on - the idea of sitting in front of the computer
rather than a table saw just isn't attractive. It's analogous to artists not
running out to purchase HP Designjets and other large format printers - it's
the craft which brings most people joy. Abstracting the process onto the
computer only attracts a certain segment of the population as a hobby - work
of course is another matter.

