I have a few things to talk about today, so I figured I'd put it all into a single update than three separate ones. So here goes:
1. I got to hang out with the guys at 3DVIA last week while they shot a video with Jon Hirschtick talking about how he uses 3DVIA Mobile, and how useful it can be for other SolidWorks users. It was a lot of fun, and you can see the final video now on YouTube. Have a look.
2. The events team is giving away a Dell M6400 mobile workstation to one lucky person who registers for SolidWorks World by November 30. You can go here to read all the terms and conditions. And here's something cool--you're eligible to win even if you've already registered. So bully for you if you planned ahead.
3. Yesterday we announced a new program. We're donating $1 to Formula Hybrid for every download of SolidWorks SustainabilityXpress, up to $10,000. If you haven't downloaded SustainabilityXpress, go do it now. It's a great product, and you'll be supporting the next generation of innovators.
This is part one of a mini series on how Windows manages system memory
and how it is relevant to users of memory intensive applications like
SolidWorks.
The most common utility used to monitor process and system memory is Task Manager. There are two problems with that:
a. In the default view that comes up, we see just one memory metric;
that metric does not fully reflect how a process is using memory and b. In the Windows XP version of Task Manager, the default column is "Mem Usage". In Vista, it is "Memory (Private Working Set)".
What is the "Working Set?" Simply put, Working Set is the amount of memory a process is using that is backed by actual physical RAM.
Let me try and explain these terms with an analogy:
Four people [processes] - Andy, Bob, Colin and Dave - are writing books (independently, no collaboration). They are sitting at the same table [physical RAM].
Each of them need to lay out papers (let's call them papers to avoid
confusion with memory pages) that they write on the table [Working Set]
to refer to them. Each person's need of number of papers - total and on
the table at one time - is different depending on the complexity of the
book [memory requirement]. Andy, for example is working on a
detective story so he needs to keep track of more characters and put
more papers on the table than Dave who is writing a children's story.
The space on the table is limited (just like RAM), so a common filing cabinet [Paging System]
is provided where each person can store his papers temporarily if the
space on the table runs out. But that cabinet is away from the table, so each person has to get up from the table and walk over to use it
[Page Fault]. This slows the person down, so each person is
going to want to have as many of his papers on the table as possible.
There can fit only so many papers on the table at once, so there
is a supervisor [Windows Memory Manager or WMM] - let's
call him Steve - who is watching over the table to make sure nobody
gets into a fight and starts putting his papers on top of each other's [memory overwrites across processes].
Now let's say there are some common things on some papers that each
person is handling, e.g. some Andy's and Bob's papers have the same
header, and Bob's and Colin's papers have the same address label. The
supervisor sees this and says instead of Andy and Bob each having a
paper having partly identical data and wasting space on the table, I'm
going to tear out the header from Bob's paper and tell him to use the
header on Andy's paper for reference; same thing for Bob and Colin [Shared Working Set].
This will save some space on the table depending on how many duplicate
headers / address labels there are at any given time. The unique
contents on each person's paper are left alone [Private Working Set].
Colin gets up and says he's going on a coffee break [application is minimized].
The supervisor, Steve, looks at what Colin was working on. He sees
Colin had 10 papers on the table, but was working actively on only 2 of
them. So he gathers up the remaining 8 and puts them in the cabinet [trims Colin's Working Set]. This gives the other people more room at the table to put their own papers there.
Next Edwin [sldworks.exe] walks in the door with a huge pile of
papers - he is writing a serious novel with a lot of multiple
characters and parallel story lines. Steve sees this and says - okay
everyone, I'm going to clear as much space on the table for Edwin now.
Steve puts away a lot of papers from the table into the cabinet and
Edwin sits down and starts working. Dave doesn't mind having just one
paper on the table, his children's story is simple. But Andy is
stressed out - he has 8 papers on the table for his detective story but
still finds himself running back and forth to the cabinet to refer to
his earlier papers [Page Faulting], so he gets really slowed
down. Edwin is not doing so well either - he would rather have everyone
else go away, so he can use the full table. Steve has no control over
that; he's doing the best he can. But Steve's manager [you, the user] hears this stress going on with everyone in the room running back and forth [the hard disk thrashing with page faults] so you order everyone but Edwin out of the room [kill all other processes].
Edwin now has almost the entire table to himself. Almost. Steve also uses space on the table for his own bookkeeping [OS processes]. In addition, Steve uses up half of everyone's paper for his own bookkeeping [kernel address space] ! Edwin soon starts running out of paper as his novel gets larger and larger. Steve's manager [you] tells Steve - can you please give Edwin more space from your bookkeeping papers? He needs more paper [/3GB switch]. Steve does so and Edwin starts working again.
If Steve's manager still hears the noise of footsteps coming from the
room, he can guess who the cause is and how he can fix it - by getting
a bigger table [adding more RAM], so Edwin doesn't have to go
the cabinet so often. But there is a limit - Steve's manager now wants
Edwin to write a trilogy of novels [load massive assemblies], he needs to get a bigger room which can fit a much bigger table so Edwin can work more efficiently [move to x64].
I've stretched the analogy long enough. How is all this
relevant to a SolidWorks user? To go back to our original Task Manager
snapshots - "Mem Usage" in XP is the Total Working Set
(sum of Private WS and Shared WS) of the process. That's why it looks
like explorer.exe is taking less memory in Vista than XP. It's not true - you're actually looking at two different metrics! To compare apples
to apples, go to View->Select Columns...->Check "Memory - Working Set" and then compare Vista with XP.
If you are interested in getting more information about your system and processes, Process Explorer
is a much better utility than Task Manager to get the data with the correct
terminology. It can also show other metrics and resources such as Page
Faults per second, disk I/O activity, network activity, etc. in
addition to all the memory metrics explained above.
Next: Some common perceptions about SolidWorks and memory usage.
It's summer*, which means there's a gang of interns roaming the halls here. It's nice to have some young people around, which makes me feel increasingly old at the ripe age of 33. One of the great things about college students is that they think of stuff that you never would.
So when I was asking my intern to come up with some interesting things for our Facebook page a little while ago, he mentioned something about SolidWorks graffiti. To be honest, I didn't really understand what he meant. So imagine my surprise when, three minutes after leaving my office, I get this in my inbox:
Copyright Josh Harris
So that's what he meant. Never in a hundred years would I have though that someone would do something like this, but I think it's pretty cool nonetheless.
What other unorthodox usages of SolidWorks (or any other CAD software for that matter) have you seen?
* Here in Massachusetts, it'e summer in name only. I don't think the mercury has risen above 80 degrees fahrenheit the entire month.
There are days when I pinch myself for the fun I get to
have. That happened again last Friday, when I got to spend the day at
SolidWorks' millionth-seat customer OGIO
International. Despite serious jet lag from an international flight,
CEO Mike Pratt gave up a part of his busy day to host a few of us so we could
get to know OGIO better.
If you’re into golfing, motocross, BMX or snowboarding, then
you’ve seen their products. If you’ve bought any, chances are you’re a happy
customer. This is a team that just gets it right when it comes to innovative
products that solve problems customers don’t even know they have. And that’s
the trick.
I asked Mike how he’s managed to stay on top of his game
(and the competition) for the last twenty plus years in such a brutally
competitive market. I expected him to say that “we give the customers what they
ask for.” But, surprisingly, he doesn’t rely on his customers for new ideas.
What his team does is tantamount to an exhaustive analytical analysis of WHAT
people do when they work and play hard. This method of really, really studying
things, coupled with a relentless dissatisfaction with the status quo, helps
OGIO find solutions that customers would never have figured on their own.
Look at
this. It looks like an ordinary bike stand–until you watch the video. No
customer told OGIO how to create this, but the problem was very well known. And
the golf bags–study the features and you’ll see
solutions to problems golfers had, but didn’t know how to fix on their own.
What’s remarkable about the OGIO culture is that by not *just*
listening to their customers, but really paying attention to what their
customers are doing, they actually show more RESPECT for those customers than
anyone around. That’s the trick!
Henry Ford was once asked about the importance of the “voice
of the customer” when he created the mass market for automobiles. His reply was
surprising, yet respectful: “If I’d asked people what they wanted, they’d have
said ‘faster horses’.“ Kudos to Mike and everyone at OGIO for reminding us
of what really matters–becoming an intimate part of your customer’s life.
SolidWorks is proud to present 3 Dudes Gone 3D, a new series featuring three engineers who suddenly find themselves working together in an overflow trailer. After you watch the trailers below, click here to visit the 3 Dudes Gone 3D website, where you'll find complete episodes.
A friend of mine recently sent me a video of a fascinating study that looked at the limits of perception, attention and awareness.
The study was on inattentional (or perceptual) blindness. It was done by Daniel Simons, University of Indiana and Christopher Chabris, Harvard University.
The study produced a series of videos that test awareness. While I cannot provide a link to the original videos, several have been remade as public service announcements.
Watch this video and count the number of passes the team in white makes.
If you enjoyed that video, this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAnKvo-fPs0 expands on the topic and features an interview Daniel Simons (sorry - embedding disabled on this one).
Watching these videos made me wonder how much we overlook in the course of doing our jobs. As an educator, what can I be looking at differently while trying to help people learn? As engineers, can we 'relax' our brains to see a bigger problem that needs to be solved?
In closing, these videos may also help explain how illusionists operate or why I don’t notice the dirty dishes in the sink
Wow, no caffeine-induced euphoria in that hyped message, is
there?
As a matter of fact, I’ve been living with an Amazon Kindle
now for the past few months and the romance just continues to bloom. There are
so many things here to like, and so many messages for those of us who are
entrusted to deliver technology to professionals to help them get their jobs
done better in less time and with less pain.
First: The medium, known as an “electrophoretic” screen, is
provided by a company called E Ink. It was spun out of MIT, and drew its
inspiration from groundbreaking technology created by HP Labs and driven by the
Flexible Display Center at Arizona State University. Unlike an LCD, it uses a tiny amount of power, only to “clean” and “paint” the image, which then
remains visible without any additional power. It needs no backlighting, so the
power use extends into days and weeks instead of minutes and hours. It’s much
easier on the eyes, too. It’s only available in black and white, but for
readers that’s all you need.
Second: This is, at least for right now, the “iPod of
books.” Just as Apple was able to broker a standard among competing download
technologies, providing an intuitive, user-driven search site, and simple
pricing, so has Amazon applied similar principles. The Kindle site respects the
interests of the reader, and prices are typically a flat USD $9.99 per title. It
will store up to 250 books, enough for even the longest trip to Asia. Like
iTunes, the Kindle does not compete against content providers (in this case,
book publishers). An added benefit is the availability of dozens of newspapers
and magazines, which could provide a shot in the arm to an ailing industry.
Third: The pricing model bundles the cost of the cell
connection. The Kindle accesses its website via the CDMA network, but you don’t
have to sign up for a monthly calling plan with a cell carrier. The fee is
built into the $9.99 price of the book, encouraging more time on the website.
Too bad it’s not GSM, so I could use it outside the US.
Fourth: Unlike iTunes’ App Store, Amazon has (so far), taken
a rather laissez-faire attitude towards the hacker community, encouraging a
potentially valuable secondary market for add-ins and enhancements. It’s too
early to see what happens, but the hack sites are busy.
Finally, this is a great use of the philosophy championed in
the Open Source community – that giving a user a lean product with a few
features that really works well is, for many, good enough. There’s no
“technology overhead” on this device.
Getting Oprah’s endorsement didn’t hurt sales, either (glad
I already had mine; I could have sold it at a premium on eBay before
Christmas).
It remains to be seen who the winning provider will be –
there are competing and great technologies from iTunes for its iPhone, Sony and
its Reader, a Dutch company with its iRex, and a new company, Plastic Logic,
which will soon launch a larger format device. And, of course, Amazon just
launched a new Kindle, and Google will make 1.5m free e-books available in a
format viewable on smart phones. So, the real winner here is you, the user.
That’s the beauty of competition.
For me, the takeaways are: keep it simple, eliminate
technology overhead, respect the user and the way they work, provide a
highly-purposed UI, and encourage a community of content providers. Will some
of this go into future SolidWorks technology? Is some of it already there?
There once was a massive, monolithic company called “C” that
had repeatedly clobbered its competition. It had turned customer loyalty and
revenue generation into a mighty machine that no one could beat. They became a
global brand unto themselves. They were clued into the power on the East and
West Coasts. Then an unknown company called “O” popped up from one of those
nondescript “flyover” states in the Midwest.
They had no money, no experience of real success, and their
name just didn’t roll off the tongues of their customers. But they did have a
dream, and were driven by a strong passion to listen to what their customers
wanted, and actually try to give it to them. They tapped into social networks.
In no time they were outflanking “C” in every corner of the country, and
overnight started generating amazing amounts of revenue, all from little
customers. And they put “C” in the rear view mirror, never to be seen again.
Of course you know what I’m talking about–the Obama social
community of over a million members, donating less than $60 each and driving
the greatest voter engagement in a generation. All the while the Clinton
machine relied on its legacy model of the 90’s–tap into the rich and powerful
on the coasts, each of which quickly maxed out their donations at the $2,300
limit, but whose numbers were only in the thousands. As “C” ran out of money,
the money from the “O” social community members just kept rolling in as the
numbers of volunteers skyrocketed.
So, the legacy monolith lost to the agile netroots. And the social networking has only begun–check out
this site http://change.gov/.
Does this have any applicability in our business world?
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