A new home for SketchUp
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Well, I have made a decision where I stand on this and decided that my parents would do well to invest in Trimble ( I have no money).
They are now proud owners of Trimble stock. -
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With a pe of 45 and already at all time highs, I dunno Susan
Name recognition or branding mean everthing. Google brought a lot of eyeballs to sketchup, perhaps not enough because why would you sell the golden egg 
Its fun to speculate Time will tell. -
I've come late to this...it's been a busy day. I'm pretty excited about this. We saw the same kind of Chicken Licken reaction from a lot of users when Google bought @Last. I'm hoping that John B and the old team will be given the freedom to really let rip on the kind of development most of us wish to see. All the best, guys.
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I'm kind of worried. Still.
I very much appreciate the time that John and Mark have taken to post here to allay concerns. Unfortunately it's not worked too well.
The really nice thing about @Last and Google, is that they were (are) very much forward facing companies who fully engage with customers and are dedicated to understanding their requirements. You could tell just by looking at the Google and @Last websites that the companies were dedicated to making things simple, transparent, easy and user-focussed. That's the way SketchUp started, and that's the way it stayed.
We've had no-one from Trimble here to say anything about the application they have just spent a lot on, with millions of users. Why?
Their corporate announcements are all full of commercial jargon which makes no sense to me at all. The fact that I haven't heard of them makes no difference. The fact that there isn't much in the way of understandable useful information about their products does.
What can we learn about Trimble from their website? That communication with end users in a clear and friendly way isn't something they seem to think is important.
SketchUp is based around a huge community of active and passionate users, who work tirelessly and freely to add value to the product for the benefit of the community.
Does anyone here remember what happened to Ecotect when AutoDesk bought it? The team was really happy at the time and thought that it represented a new start with lots of new resources dedicated to continued development. To me it seems a completely different application, subsumed into the corporate AutoDesk product range. Everyone I have spoken to about the application tells me it has lost its soul and hasn't improved. Ecotect had a community and a development team that really engaged with its customers. Now it's just standard Autodesk fare.
So - Trimble, if you are reading, talk to us. Convince us that you really do understand and care how SketchUp works, and why everyone loves it. Tell us that you'll give the team their heads to push development faster than it did before and that we'll all really, genuinely love it even more. We know the SU team gets it, but they aren't paying the bills and running the show.
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Seems like Google doesn't have much use of SketchUp anymore. Maybe they will develop their own basic app for creating models for Google Earth, or maybe they even decided not to invest in that department anymore since Street View can probably offer more realistic results and fits their needs better.
Personally I don't see SU being further developed with the average user in mind. Maybe we will see SU9, and after that SU will be adapted to fit the industries that Trimble cares about.
No for-profit company is "philanthropic". In the case of Google the average internet user is part of their client base, since it is the average internet users who generate most profits for Google by clicking on Goolge ads. So Google can indirectly profit by being seen as "philanthropic" by the average internet user. On the other hand Trimble has nothing to gain from being "philanthropic" in this way, so I don't expect them to be.
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If you want to see what Trimble is up to you could take a look at the Tekla Bimsight application. It is quite a capable viewing tool for IFC files, and it's free. And the interface is badly in need of a liberal application of Sketchup to make it more palatable.
Anssi
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Hahaha, I'm laughing at Trimble thinking about the passionate user base they just inadvertantly bought. Good luck to you guys!
I'm excited. I love Google for a lot of reasons. But I'm excited thinking about GIS and SketchUp and real world terrain and surveying, etc. I have a lot of respect for Trimble products, let's hope they continue to deliver.
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Time to lose those eyes Chris
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"Trimble has been the North American entity that has been gobbling up a huge string of geospatial companies, alongside Sweden-based Hexagon. The fact that SketchUp is in Boulder, and that Trimble is close by in Westminster, Colo., likely had something to do with the deal. The proximity, certainly has meant a series of existing partnerships between the companies, although according to a recent conversation, Google uses Topcon technology for StreetView data collection."
from this link: http://www.vector1media.com/spatialsustain/why-did-trimble-buy-sketchup-and-why-did-google-sell.html
the author describes SketchUp modelling and learning curve in a way that makes it clear that he has never really attempted to use SketchUp. However, he does seem to have a lot of inside industry info. -
I've spent a little more time looking at Trimble. You can't get any information on their software. You can't even find out whether the software runs on Mac. Tekla doesn't, and it doesn't look like any of their software does. How is this going to work with integration with other Trimble apps? Quite simply if they don't have any Mac apps, what is the point in spending money on upgrading the app to have the same features as the Windows versions, if there is no Mac version of their other software to integrate with?
And try finding Tekla BIMsight on the Trimble website!
One could reasonably infer that Trimble would seek to implement BIM features into SU. I don't have a problem with this per se, because BIM is complex and cumbersome, and SU is the opposite. If SU could remain substantially as it is but implement BIM functions in a simple and straightforward way, it doesn't seem so bad. In fact if it means we can all still use SU and not have to pour thousands into AutoDesk and Bentley's coffers, that's not so bad either!
However it would most likely need a faster 3d engine. We all know that SU performs poorly with complex high polygon models. I would also hope that they don't screw around with the interface.
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Maybe Trimble simply had a look under the hood of V9 and just HAD TO HAVE IT!
Charlie
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@bigstick said:
We've had no-one from Trimble here to say anything about the application they have just spent a lot on, with millions of users. Why?
Since this deal hasn't yet closed, there are specific legal restrictions that control what Trimble can say. That's why you don't see them here. Until then, you'll have to be satisfied with what's said on this site. You should expect to see more information added there as things progress.
john
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@arv0d0g said:
Get your wallets out....whenever this sort of thing happens, the losers are the users.
hmm, shades of chaosgroup swallowing asgvis? I don't see how free will continue, I see it as something only Google could do. Glad I've gotten a start in learning Blender.
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Well only time will tell whether this is good for us SU Users.
I just don't know if I'll like the "ring" to it if Google also chooses to sell off Google Earth. I mean really "Trimble Earth" ? Sounds like feminine earthquake.Like many others, I am skeptical about Change until I have a chance to see it in action. However, my experience is usually that of Disappointment. Hopefully, this will prove to be otherwise. But I will give Trimble a fair shot before making final judgement. I'm sure there will be a few humps and hurdles before it's all honky-dory.
PS> I guess I better update to v8 Pro Now while I still might get a discount (currently using v7 Pro).
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I thought this was an interesting headline that provides a clue into why Trimble wants Sketchup. I'm not familiar with their "Office-to-Field Platform" to know what it means though. (From http://ww2.trimble.com/3d/)
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I will wait things out and I hope this transition to Trimble is positive for everyone involved. I still have SU8 and that will suffice for a long time. OTOH, I'm rounding up my Blender tutorials and learning materials, etc.
Fortune favors the prepared.
Cheers.
BTW, Trimble also acquired PeopleNET last July as well: http://www.trimble.com/news/release.aspx?id=072011a
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awesome
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@fossa said:
I too question Trimbles commitment to communities like ArchVis and woodworking. I hope I'm proven wrong.
as opposed to, say, google
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@lapx said:
It would have felt better if they said Apple was buying Sketchup. Trimble is a foreign company to most of us. Oh, well like someone said if there is a silver lining they didnt get bought buy autocad. I guess change is inevitable but whether its good or bad time will tell.
ha.. i don't know about that.. OS X has some awesome features in place for developers to tap into and i don't feel any cad/modeling app has fully exploited these features but as far as apple themselves handling the development… hmmm..
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