An open letter to SolidWorks users

The last few weeks have seen some interesting program decisions coming from Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks. 

We recognize that many of you may feel frustrated, confused and/or trapped without any credible alternatives for technology tools and purchasing options.

It’s easy to see why. The 3D CAD landscape is changing and SolidWorks hasn’t seemed to notice. Fusion 360 sees things a little differently and we’d like to take this opportunity to formally invite you to try something new. 

Fusion 360 is the world’s first and only cloud-based 3D CAD/CAM tool for product development that combines industrial and mechanical design, collaboration, and machining in a single package. The tools in Fusion 360 enable fast and easy exploration of design ideas – by individuals or among teams – with an integrated concept-to-production toolset. Note that CAM and full cloud-based collaboration are included. Not something you’ll find in SolidWorks, without adding a 3^rd party CAM solution at many multiples the price of Fusion 360.

We want to ensure your success, risk-free.  For all SolidWorks users in North America, we are:

• Extending our typical 30-day free trial period to 3 months*
• Providing 2 hours of free “Fast Track” consulting to get you up to speed (for individuals).
• Offering 60 days of free “Fast Track” consulting for teams (two or more people).  We’ll help you through a smooth migration of data and get you up and running on any project. 

Interested? Get started here: http://assets.autodesk.com/Fusion-360-Fast-Track.html.  

Fusion 360 is natively written for both Mac and PC, allowing you to use your preferred OS or both at no additional cost.  It’s available on a subscription basis, starting at just $25/month, and is always free for students and startups* making less than $100,000 per year.  No applications, no hidden fees, no waiting period.  Just click the link and you’re done. 

So what’s a better deal?  Depending on the size of your company, Fusion 360 is either free or costs just $300/year after 90 days risk-free, and you get all the design functionality of 3D CAD, plus CAM, plus collaboration. And we are continually adding updates, upgrades and new innovations to Fusion 360, at what you might call a break-neck pace.  To upgrade and become current on SolidWorks®, it will cost you… thousands and you won’t see anything like Fusion 360’s pace of innovation.

Throw in the free consulting and there’s zero risk for you, and we’ll do everything possible to guarantee success.

Lots of companies have switched from SolidWorks already, including Ecotech Enterprises and Swissomation. They seem pleased with their decision:

• “With Fusion 360, I feel that I can do more than I ever could with SolidWorks. The platform is incredibly feature-rich, and I have just dipped my toes into it,” said Jan Stasiek of Ecotech Enterprises.
• “Switching from SolidWorks to Fusion 360 has allowed me to design anywhere and on any platform, most importantly Mac.  Another thing that is important to me is that people do what they say they are going to do.  The Fusion 360 team has done just that by being accessible and supportive.   Also, they have followed through on new functionality that we have requested.  Fusion 360 is a very important part of my business,” said Christian Welch, CEO of Swissomation.

Ecotech and Swissomation are two members of the hundreds-of-thousands-strong Fusion 360 community, which shares designs, tips and tricks, even ideas for future development of the software itself. We not only incorporate those ideas into Fusion 360, we publish our product roadmap so the community knows what’s coming in advance.

Enticed?  We hope so.  To join the community and get started with Fusion 360, go to the Fast Track page now.

And please don’t hesitate to let me and my team know if you have any questions we can answer first.

Kind regards,

Stephen Hooper

Fusion 360 Business Development Director

Autodesk

Stephen.hooper@autodesk.com

* For full details on free trial, and free Fusion 360 access for start-ups, see here and here.