Instructables is joining Autodesk

http://blog.instructables.com/2011/08/instructables-is-joining-autodesk/

by jamesbritt • 15 years ago

29 10 15 years ago

blog.instructables.com

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.

napierzaza• 15 years ago

I was pretty interested in Instructables until they went premium. Trying to figure out what the images show and a bunch of other issues is pretty annoying. It's just not a resource I check when I'm starting projects.

_mattb• 15 years ago

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

blacksmith_tb• 15 years ago

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?

cpeterso• 15 years ago

AutoDesk has been trying to diversify their products beyond AutoCAD for hardware users. They have been acquiring a lot of game design tools. AutoDesk owns the two most popular 3D modeling tools: Maya and 3ds Max.

Adaptive2• 15 years ago

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.

brudgers2• 15 years ago

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.

finisterre• 15 years ago

It may be that Autodesk wants to be part of the personalized design/customization/fabrication movement. Earlier this year they released PhotoFly[1], a consumer-focused application that creates very impressive 3D models from photographs. They also work closely with Shapeways, which prints out 3D models at low prices.

1. http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/photo_scene_editor/

Instructables is joining Autodesk

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