The "Bait and Switch"

[Dan B]

For anyone that's been following the 100,000 seat giveaway, here is some news you may be interested in:

From X-CAD's initial press release:
http://x-cad.net/press-release-0601.asp

"In addition to enabling users to create precise 3D mechanical designs equal to well-known mid-range solid modeling brands. . . Not a demo or trial software, X-CAD provides fully-functional, intelligent, parametric sketching with an array of rich features such as "on-the-fly" automatic constraint capture, auto-dimensioning, various sketch tools including lines, circles, arcs, polygons, splines, etc., and a complete set of constraints such as vertical/horizontal, perpendicular, parallel, tangent and more. Rather than creating "dumb" geometry like traditional CAD systems, X-CAD enables users to capture design intent with feature-based modeling including engineering features such as bosses, cuts, holes, fillets, chamfers, lofts, sweeps, shells and helical features."

From the first review of X-CAD (now known as Alibre Xpress):
http://www.alibre.com/xpress/softwar...w-hudspeth.asp

"Alibre Design Xpress is a subset or scaled-down version of Alibre's standard software Alibre Design. As such, it has certain things turned off. This means there will be many things you cannot do. For instance, hollows or shells are disabled and you'll be limited in how many components you can have in an assembly."

This seems like a blatant lie to me. The free software was supposed to be fully functional, but now we found out that many functions are disabled.

I don't think this is going to help Alibre's reputation.

Dan

[mxtras]

They fooled me and it appears than I am not alone.

Disappointing.

Good find. Dan. Thanks. I will make sure they feel the wrath if they contact me.

Scott

[Chris D]

For anyone that's been following the 100,000 seat giveaway, here is some news you may be interested in:

From X-CAD's initial press release:
http://x-cad.net/press-release-0601.asp

"In addition to enabling users to create precise 3D mechanical designs equal to well-known mid-range solid modeling brands. . . Not a demo or trial software, X-CAD provides fully-functional, intelligent, parametric sketching with an array of rich features such as "on-the-fly" automatic constraint capture, auto-dimensioning, various sketch tools including lines, circles, arcs, polygons, splines, etc., and a complete set of constraints such as vertical/horizontal, perpendicular, parallel, tangent and more. Rather than creating "dumb" geometry like traditional CAD systems, X-CAD enables users to capture design intent with feature-based modeling including engineering features such as bosses, cuts, holes, fillets, chamfers, lofts, sweeps, shells and helical features."

From the first review of X-CAD (now known as Alibre Xpress):
http://www.alibre.com/xpress/softwar...w-hudspeth.asp

"Alibre Design Xpress is a subset or scaled-down version of Alibre's standard software Alibre Design. As such, it has certain things turned off. This means there will be many things you cannot do. For instance, hollows or shells are disabled and you'll be limited in how many components you can have in an assembly."

This seems like a blatant lie to me. The free software was supposed to be fully functional, but now we found out that many functions are disabled.

I don't think this is going to help Alibre's reputation.

Dan

Sure it is!

They now have a reputation for launching a product which has been somewhat miss-represented and they knew it from the start which explains why they tried to hide behind the "mystery" of their marketing ploy. The marketing ploy, by the way, was brilliant. In every forum around, people are talking about this free software that is full featured - blah, blah, blah. They got all this exposure for free They will get 100,000 demo copies into the the hands of people that may be interested. They will have sold some advertising (which if I read the one report correctly - the ads will display while using the software - which means you must be connected to the web to use it) to generate revenues from this "Free" product. They will also probably collect information about you, your interestest and perhaps even your buying habits and then sell that information. It's really a neat idea when you think about it.

:-)

Chris

[strat]

call them and tell em about it

[Rekd]

This is from their forum.

All,

First, we have deleted posts with offensive language or that do not contribute to a constructive dialog, and posted a set of rules for participating in the forum. This won't be tolerated and anyone who continues it will be banned. This is not a high school chat room, it is for serious people. If you can't adhere to some basic standards you need to go, period.

Now having said that, I acknowledge that we made a mistake in our FAQ by indicating that an Internet connection would not be required. This was an honest mistake, pure and simple, and I apologize to those who are upset by it. The FAQ has been updated. If having an Internet connection, or having to pay a small fee to run without one, is unacceptable to you then I ask you to accept our apology as a sincere one. All you need to do is simply not download the product and opt-out of our email communications. If this has caused you to distrust Alibre, I regret that, and it is a loss for us both. We have built our company by earning the trust of our customers, one at a time.

Regarding the product and the imbedded ads, I want to make clear that there is no aggressive or third-party adware in the product, there is simply a pane populated with Google ads. This is extremely passive, and for those who are honestly interested in the product they will find them very unobtrusive. This makes it possible to provide a tool like this for free. For those who will not try Alibre Design Xpress as a result I would ask you to reconsider, as not doing so is passing up a truly amazing opportunity.

I will also stress that we respect everyone’s email opt-out. We have no interest in communicating with those who do not want to be communicated with. I assume all those who do not want to receive email communications from us either already opted out or will do so upon receiving the email to download the application. If you opt-out, we will not email you again. It's very easy. We also will never sell, trade or give away anyone’s email address.

It obviously comes as a surprise to some that our entire product is not included in the free Alibre Design Xpress. For those that had this expectation I apologize, but if you give it a try you will find that Alibre Design Xpress is an amazing product, even when the price is not considered. If after trying the product you decide it doesn’t have everything you need you can uninstall it, or you can continue to use it for the tasks that don't require those extra features, or you can choose to upgrade to a version that has the additional features you need. If the sheer possibility that the free product may not have something you want is too much for you, I suggest you simply delete the email that comes with a link to download the application and opt-out of any future communications.

In closing, I would direct you to the reviews from those who had the opportunity to preview the product. These are based on the facts. If you truly have an interest in this type of product and you are willing to try it, you will be rewarded.

Thanks for your interest and understanding.

Sincerely,
Greg Milliken
President and CEO
Alibre, Inc.

[DieGuy]

Jeez they could even get your designs uploaded if you are internet connected. Glad I wasn't duped.

Remember if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is!

[nervis1]

They should have given the thing away, no ads, no catch. Then they would overnight have had 100,000 loyal followers, a good portion of which would have upgraded to the full version. Just think, who knows...overnight 30,000 paid seats.

Even if 10% bought it at 800 bucks thats....8 mil in the bank.


Could have been huge. Instead they burned it into the gound like a smart bomb, and left everyone feeling like theve been had.

What a wasted opportunity.

[DAB_Design]

"We have built our company by earning the trust of our customers, one at a time."

And now they possibly have 100,000 people that will not trust them. Hmmm.

The part about the "honest mistake" about the internet connection is pathetic.

[turmite]

Hmmmmm,

makes you wonder how many of those last 50,000 regristrations are real??? They sure did happen a lot quicker than the first? I for one will not be communicating with them.

Mike

[mxtras]

Lots of "I am sincerely sorrys" coming from the President of the company - a sign of being caught in the act, huh? Is to me....

Interesting demeanor.

Scott

[fz1]

Sounds like a good complaint for internet fraud complaint but I also signed up but will not be downloading it. Its free so I guess nothing can be done about it because no money had to be spent on the program so no loss but you time. I know if I took my car in for a wash and wax and they rotated my tire instead I would never trust them ever! Same goes with these world class low lifes. A liar is the lowes form of life along with the other types in this world we all don't like.

[mrservo]

Alibre must be off their rockers. I also was one that was conned into believing
their false claims. There has been a huge backlash on the xpress forums. I was watching the forum last night, where about 8 out of 10 emails were from upset folks. Many of those posts were from intelligent and articulate sounding persons.

To my dismay, Alibre has removed all those critical posts. So much for the exchange of ideas, or constructive criticism. The CEO's statement today did not address any of the issues of substance. Even if their software was the greatest gift to mankind, i would be hard pressed to reward them by purchasing any of their products, given their recent conduct and tactics.

here are two posts from today's Alibre forum, that can give you some idea...

"PostPosted: Thu Jul 21, 2005 12:48 pm Post subject: There's more to apologize for than that Reply with quote

It's not just the need to have an internet connection. It's the crippled functionality you should apologize for.

From the first review of X-CAD (now known as Alibre Xpress):
http://www.alibre.com/xpress/softwar...w-hudspeth.asp

"Alibre Design Xpress is a subset or scaled-down version of Alibre's standard software Alibre Design. As such, it has certain things turned off. This means there will be many things you cannot do. For instance, hollows or shells are disabled and you'll be limited in how many components you can have in an assembly."

From X-CAD's initial press release:
http://x-cad.net/press-release-0601.asp

"In addition to enabling users to create precise 3D mechanical designs equal to well-known mid-range solid modeling brands. . . Not a demo or trial software, X-CAD provides fully-functional, intelligent, parametric sketching. . . Rather than creating "dumb" geometry like traditional CAD systems, X-CAD enables users to capture design intent with feature-based modeling including engineering features such as bosses, cuts, holes, fillets, chamfers, lofts, sweeps, shells and helical features."

Let me highlight a couple of falsities in that press release:
"equal to well-known mid-range solid modeling brands"
"fully-functional"
"including engineering features such as. . . shells"

This is clearly not a fully-functional piece of software. If you consider Alibre Design (or Solidworks) a well-known mid-range solid modeling brand, it is not equal. And according to Hudspeth's review, even some features that X-CAD advertised that it would have are disabled.

It is not right to say, "what are you angry about -- the software is FREE!"

You took our names and email addresses. You took our time. You advertised one thing and are now delivering another. If that's not bait-and-switch, I don't know what is. You are doing a great deal of damage to any hope that Alibre will ever become a respected software vendor. But it's not too late. Fulfull your original promises with honor.

CAD users care about customer service and support. "Over-promise and under-deliver" is not a good motto to live by in the customer service world.

......"

and another poster



"PostPosted: Thu Jul 21, 2005 8:17 pm Post subject: Reply with quote

If this is truly an honest offer, how do you explain this from the Xpress FAQ

These are excerpts from »www.alibre.com/xpress/faq.asp

Quote:
How is Alibre Design Xpress able to be given away free?
Yes, we are spending inordinate amounts of money, but we think it is worth it. You get CAD that typically costs thousands of dollars and we get a relationship with you and learn how to make this the best 3D solid modeler on the market today.


How does providing adware supported demo software = spending inordinate amounts of money? What CAD that typically costs thousands of dollars is comparable with Design Express? How can you even imply that crippleware that calls home could possibly be worth thousands of dollars?

It should come as no surprise that people are expecting more than you are offering.

Quote:
What does this software typically cost?
Alibre Design Xpress is a 3D parametric solid modeler. These range from $5K - $30K on the market today. The value lies not only in the extreme technical depths of engineering knowledge required to build such a powerful program, but also in the elegance of design so the user has the best possible experience designing their 3D geometry precisely.


Again, this is very misleading. How can you compare Design Xpress to $5K and up software?

If you had said in your original offer: "Free crippled demo that calls home!" how many registrations do you think you would now have? "