"Autodesk shifts design apps to the cloud"

[ActionArt]

I'd have to disagree with that. What's the need? It doesn't provide any real protection for the software. Just a ping is absolutely not fine but me There are some programs just like that right now and I REALLY hate it. Why do I have to check in just to use my software. Makes no sense.

But that's just me...

[Rez007]

Like I was mentioning before about your situtation of dead-spots, is definitely not beneficial in your case. However, I do agree that it seems like all of the honest people have to take the brunt for advances in software security - just the nature of the beast, which is unfortunate. For me, I would gladly trade-off having to be required to be logged-in IF that was a major combatant in piracy. The benefits to myself and the industry as a whole, greatly outweighs the hardship for me having to be "connected."

[ActionArt]

The thing is that it doesn't do anything for security. If someone wants to be dishonest, they could crack that faster than we could log in. That's a fact so why inconvenience legitimate users with useless systems.

Anyway, that's a bit off topic. On the upside I sure would like some compute power I could use as needed which seems to part of this whole cloud initiative.

[Rez007]

I don't understand how that would happen if it is being hosted on AD's end...I guess my assumption is based on how console gaming and Steam works, where you need a valid license, which is checked, to be able to play/do anything online. I was assuming that if someone had a vaild login and password to AD's servers in order to access the software while being logged in - great, and if someone doesn't, then they can't access their servers nor the software...If you know for a fact that it wont do anything security wise, then I'd kind of have to agree that it would be an inconvenience...

As for the computing power, that would be great and is a big plus. No matter how fast a computer one builds, it still seems like renders take just as long as they did years ago - goes hand in hand with the tech I guess.

[Hirazi Blue]

Problem is, I'm afraid, that any online network can in theory be hacked and Autodesk would potentially make itself into an attractive target, thus attracting the "best of the best" when illegal hacking is concerned. One shudders to think of a situation like the Playstation Network a while back, but with whole businesses depending on the network, not just "mere" individual gamers.
I still find the "battling piracy" argument unconvincing. This is a major concern for Autodesk, I'm sure, but it shouldn't be the main selling point to its clients, as I still do not completely understand (in principle) why I as a paying customer would have to "bend over backwards" (so to speak) to get through so many layers of protection to be able to use software I paid for. Don't get me wrong, to a certain extent I understand the necessity of protection and I am willing to accept the current situation, but if they were to move to the cloud mainly to prevent piracy, this would constitute me having to "bend over backwards" for software I paid good money for...
I hope this makes some some sense...

[ActionArt]

Exactly.

I think we're a very long way from having the entire software package sit on the server. Performance would be dreadful. You'd have to have one blazing fast connection for that which currently doesn't exist anywhere.

If the main software is on the PC any online "protection" can and will be cracked before it's even released. Pirates are never going to pay for software no matter what so my point would be why make it difficult for real users who do pay. I think making it a penalty to have a legitimate license would be a mistake.

Online games are able to use this scheme because they rely on people wanting to play online which is not true for production software.

Anyway...back to work for me (offline while I still can!!!)

[McNistor]

Com'on guys, it's not about the fight against piracy, but about control.
Autodesk, like almost all other big corporations, wants to know what you do so that they'll be able to give you "what you need".
It's a very popular trend - look at Google how they manage the search, different user/pc give different results even if they are in the same country/region - because unfortunately this is where the increasing competition between companies to have and keep more and more consumers has got us to.
I'm not saying that this is inherently wrong nor that I have a better way of keeping us, as a society, on a constant positive slope, but some adjustment is overdue I think.

[luceric]

just a note; the two motivators for Autodesk and the cloud are Mobile and selling Cloud Services (like storage, processing, etc)
it doesn't have much to do with fighting piracy. And it doesn't have much to do with wanting to do run high performance M&E OpenGL apps through remote desktop on the web. Although they did have that strange "project Twitch" demo with Maya, but that's long forgotten internally.

Edit: Project Twitch not probject Offset

[Hirazi Blue]

Although they did have that strange "project offset" demo with Maya, but that's long forgotten internally.

Just to be on the safe side: I assume you're talking about "Project Twitch"?
If so, does this mean "Project Twitch" was a "failure" (where Maya was concerned)?

[AlanMc]

All,

I've been following the cloud computing debate on this and other forums. One thing that hasn't been discussed much so far is the subject of data security. Its all well and good companies offering cloud computing for productivity enhancements or whatever but placing client data on a server that is controlled by a third-party opens a company or individual to the risk of data loss. This exposes a company or individual to legal action.

My organization is absolutely paranoid about client data loss. There are major IT protocols in place to secure client data behind our firewall which to some extent is business limiting but the powers-at-be have considered the loss of data a major risk to the business. Hence, the precautions. Also, all laptops and USB keys are encrypted so that if the hardware is lost in transit then the data cannot be accessed. So, how does an organization guarantee data security on a third-party network - simple, they can't. Thus, I cannot see major take-up of cloud computing in the corporate arena.

From a business operations perspective if you are working on a cloud service that goes down at the 11th hour what then? I'm sure there would be some level redundancies built into a service, however, if the company had its own LAN, then all would be under their control and within their control to respond to an emergency situation. So again I don't see the benefits to the corporate arena.

What do you think?

Regards,

Alan

[ActionArt]

Valid points. I'm no expert but couldn't the data be encrypted to and from the cloud and protected by the same systems while on the cloud, kind of like online banking?

I suppose the cloud service could go down but in a way, I suppose that could be less likely than a local company network going down, depending on the company and their expertise of course.

Just thoughts. I just hope they always leave it as a choice to use it or not.

[Hirazi Blue]

Some "external" confirmation for what, admittedly, Bellsey & Luc-Eric have been pointing out here as well:
Autodesk’s Cloud Computing Strategy: The Update (from "talkincloud.com", dated the 26th of April 2011),
quoting Scott Sheppard, program manager for Autodesk Labs:

"We’re never going to go cloud exclusively.
Instead we want to augment the desktop with the cloud,” said Sheppard, who has been part of the Autodesk team for the past 19 years. The augmentation will be centered around two aspects:

• Collaboration – allowing designers to share ideas over the cloud.
  Infinite Computing — using many computers for a short period of time rather than a single computer
  for a longer period of time.

(my highlights)

and

Autodesk desktop solutions are not going away.

But I would still like to know, why Maya's outing into the world of Project Twitch didn't live up to its expectation, or what other reason there might have been for Autodesk to seemingly abandon the "software as a service" approach.
;)

[luceric]

All,

I've been following the cloud computing debate on this and other forums. One thing that hasn't been discussed much so far is the subject of data security. Its all well and good companies offering cloud computing for productivity enhancements or whatever but placing client data on a server that is controlled by a third-party opens a company or individual to the risk of data loss. This exposes a company or individual to legal action.

autodesk is planning things in a way that would allow their thing to work on the Autodesk cloud, and also on private clouds.

[ActionArt]

Infinite Computing — using many computers for a short period of time rather than a single computer for a longer period of time.
and Autodesk desktop solutions are not going away.

Sounds pretty good to me, I'm all for this approach.

[luceric]

But I would still like to know, why Maya's outing into the world of Project Twitch didn't live up to its expectation, or what other reason there might have been for Autodesk to seemingly abandon the "software as a service" approach.
;)

Project Twitch is at Autodesk Labs, a place by the cad groups for experimental things. The experiment was to put apps up there so you could try the new version without having to install a demo. I do not know if it was successful or not (see the link that follows), but posting demo for downloads is still going on. Autocad LT is still available up there on the cloud http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/trials/. M&E in Canada often participates in Autodesk US things. There are two companies here, Autodesk san raffael, which does all the CAD stuff and services those clients, and Autodesk Canada, which does the M&E stuff. M&E apps are high performance desktop applications and have their business needs. One should not read Autodesk press release about Autocad and extrapolate that this has an immediate implication to M&E applications. There are two different companies doing two different things, occasionally doing things together when it makes sense.

[AlanMc]

autodesk is planning things in a way that would allow their thing to work on the Autodesk cloud, and also on private clouds.

Luceric,
Excuse my ignorance here but are you suggesting for client senstive activites that Autodesk would offer private cloud solutions?

If so, would this be on Autodesk hardware or on a client's own hardware? If its the former, I don't see this changing anything in the way of companies exposure to securing client data on third-party systems. If its the latter, then what is the difference between a private cloud and the old "thin client" approach that was employed and discarded years ago?

Regards,

Alan