I expect that cloud applications will focus network traffic on inputs and outputs and leave the rest of the application and information on the servers. As I heard a long time ago when client-server started being replaced by web-based applications – “I want my mainframe back.” IT liked the control of the mainframe. Nobody loaded a random program that crashed the operating system on the client because it was a dumb green screen. All of the important configuration and maintenance work was controlled “in the shop” by IT. So the more the data and the software are away from the user, the easier it is to control. I suspect it is probably safer on a hosted server than on hundreds of local users’ hard drives.
Anyway, back to the apps. What we need on the client side is the ability to sense and respond what the user is communicating (mouse, touch, mind-control helmet, etc.) and provide feedback to the them. That seems like a dream to most people that have to support the infrastructure. Just make sure the users have a network connection and a browser, and the rest is handled in a controlled environment. How the technology will shift to make sure the inputs/output feedback loop is efficient and responsive I don’t know. But that (to me) is a big key to making this work. But my coding days are a few years behind me at this point, I am sure there are others far more qualified to figure it out.
All the best,
Jim

My experience with cloud games still requires me to load the game on my local PC and then just the instructions get passed through to my netbuddies of where “I” am in the environment and what I am doing. Similarly I see the first gen “CAD in the cloud” keeping the instructions of how the model is made and passing that to my computer to replicate. And vice versa. Instead of the entire CAD model.

Second gen will require changes in the coding, maybe not in how the CAD part is created but in how it is put together. For example I may use parametric operations to author a part but it is stored as boolean primitives (like virtual legos). Our maybe the cloud keeps multiple tessalated surface models of each step in the CAD history and sends me the appropriate level based on what I am doing to the model.

As for multi-touch, come by my cube and see the fingerprints on my non-touch monitor I can’t wait for a virtual chainsaw to make cuts to a stubborn part.

- Tord

Always a pleasure to hear from you!

Jim

Jim

Great post! There is much buzz about ‘cloud’ which sometimes is disconnected from the reality. Please don’t get me wrong. I am great believer in ‘cloud’…someday everything will be on ‘cloud’, including CAD. But not yet., certainly not CAD. And yes I want that sexy iPad. Where can I sign up?

The most successful enterprise software on “cloud” today is saleforce.com. It is what I call a transactional application. CAD is not a transactional application. It is very interactive. It requires to down load large amount CAD data instantly. So there are two key issues we need to overcome for CAD system to be practical on cloud – first one is the perfomrmance of down loading CAD data and the second issue is real-time interaction with CAD models – the problem you have so nicely articulated. And then there is the perennial problem of network bandwidth and uptime. There is very nice and timely article with very appropriate headline – “As Devices Pull More Data, Patience May Be Required” in NY Time about mobile network bandwidth issue. (this may not apply to cable/dsl connections?).
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/28/technology/28overload.html?scp=1&sq=network%20bandwidth&st=cse

Regards

Nik