Cheap Tricks Editorial Column Excerpt, Dec '94 Issue

[Evan H Shu <eshu (Evan H Shu)>]

EXCERPT OF EDITORIAL COMMENTS, CHEAP TRICKS NEWSLETTER, DECEMBER '94 ISSUE 
                           
                            
                            From the Editor
                           Here We Go Again: 
                       Another Shakeup at Cadkey

Just when we were starting to feel comfortable with the new Cadkey 
masterplan strategy, we were rocked with the news of the resignation of 
Malcolm Davies as President & CEO, to be re-replaced by Livingston Davies 
(who also preceded Malcolm Davies in that role.)  (See Cadkey Press Release 
next page.)  Immediate speculation as to the reasons for this precipitous 
move abounded with unsubstantiated theories ranging from the Board of 
Directors lack of support for the low DataCAD pricing structure, or the 
slow sales of Cadkey 7, or the lack of (or alternatively, rejection of) 
venture capital, or finally to the supposed desire of Malcolm Davies to 
move the company to California.  

Charley Ferrucci, VP of Marketing and Sales, (writing on the DataCAD forum 
on the Internet) quickly assured everyone that this resignation was not a 
repudiation by the Board of Directors of the low price, mass market 
approach to selling DataCAD,  "The DataCAD strategy (low price, heavy 
direct mail) has been an incredible success for us.  In one year, we have 
sold more than 30,000 units worldwide.  The departure of Malcolm Davies was 
not in any way related to the DataCAD strategy. As the architect (forgive 
me) of the plan, he deserves a great deal of credit for the success."

With some uncertainty then about the future course of Cadkey and DataCAD, 
the good news is that the future is now.  The price is still a steal 
($69.95 for upgrades until January 15) and we have the new release of 
DataCAD 6 now shipping.  Cadkey beat by a month our pessimistic guess that 
DataCAD 6 might not be out until Christmas -- we are happy to eat crow over 
that one.  Charley Ferrucci gives an early report on sales, "We are very 
pleased with the early results from the DataCAD 6 campaign.  Upgrades and 
new unit sales look very strong. We are also pleased with the early market 
reaction to the DataCAD Estimator. Unfortunately, the link between the 
Estimator and DataCAD has not yet been completed.  We will probably ship 
the stand alone Estimator now and follow with the link after the first of 
the year."  He also told us that while DataCAD 6 is definitely shipping in 
floppy disk format, unfortunately the CD-ROM version has been delayed due 
to the fact that Cadkey had to stand in line behind all the games 
manufacturers who had to get their products out for the Christmas rush. If 
you did order your upgrade in CD-ROM format, you will be given the choice 
instead to get it right away on floppy disks.

So we will adopt a wait and see attitude as to whether there will be any 
significant change in company strategy as it relates to DataCAD. We would 
recommend however that you hedge your bets by ordering the upgrade at this 
low price by the current deadline, as January 15 may very well be a real 
deadline this time. In any case, it is well to remember that with 30,000 
plus current users of DataCAD, we now represent a market share that would 
be very foolish to ignore.

On other fronts, we continue to be suckers for great deals, and the latest 
one that has caught our eye is an offer by Seattle Film Works (the folks 
who often have mailers in your Sunday paper) to develop your 35mm pictures 
& put them on a floppy disk for only an additional $3.95  after developing 
your prints.  Software to view the files  and translate them to other 
common formats comes free with the disk. They will even send you two rolls 
of film free to check it out.  You can send your request for the free film 
offer to Seattle Filmworks, Elliott Bay at Pier 89, PO Box 34056, Seattle, 
WA  98124-9771 or call (206)283-9074.

And another reminder to send in your own best Cheap Tricks for our reader's 
contest by Christmas Eve (see insert.)  We already have some doozies, so 
January's issue as usual will be a don't-miss-special. And once again this 
month, we have another fabulous new collection of Cheapware disks for your 
perusal.

We are happy to say that we are celebrating our 4th anniversary with this 
month's issue.  Even though we are the longest running DataCAD publication 
in all of recorded time, we are happy to report that we still feel young, 
chipper, and full of lots of new, great stuff that we want to explore with 
you heading into our 5th year of publication. We'll continue to do our best 
for you no matter what the future might bring.

Finally, it is with a very heavy heart, that we note the presumed passing 
of architect, Bill Riseman.  Bill disappeared in Buzios, Brazil in a 
probable drowning accident on October 31, 1994,  the day after presenting 
in a Virtual Reality Conference at the Candido Mendez Cultural Center in 
Rio de Janerio. To many of us in the CAD world, Bill was the ultimate 
pioneer. Many of the ideas and concepts, such as the multiple drawing file, 
interactive drawings, & hatch linetypes that have been written about in 
this newsletter were first pioneered by Bill. He most recently was working 
in the virtual reality mode to recreate and reconstruct a living testament 
to lost Egyptian monuments. He even took us flying around these amazing 
monuments in his virtual airplane. Bill will always live on in both our 
hearts and minds and his work will itself be a living monument to his 
enormous contributions to our world.  We dedicate this anniversary issue to 
Bill and his memory and know that wherever his spirit is right now, he is 
pushing the envelope [


                   EXCERPT OF CADKEY PRESS RELEASE


Windsor, CT--November 11, 1994-- The Board of Directors of Cadkey, Inc. 
announced the appointment of Chairman, co-founder and former President 
Livingston Davies as the Company's President and CEO effectively 
immediately. Livingston Davies replaces Malcolm Davies (no relation) who 
resigned to pursue other interests and to be with his family on the West 
Coast.

"I am very pleased to assume the role of President/CEO," said Livingston. 
"I am taking the helm of a company that is in a strong position with an 
installed base of 182,000 users and the best revenue per employee ratio in 
the CAD industry." With reference to his predecessor, he noted: "While 
Malcolm and the Board disagreed on some issues, we appreciate the 
contribution that he made during his two years at Cadkey. With his 
experience as a practicing architect, Malcolm was especially integral to 
the development and implementation of the strategy that led to dramatic 
growth in sales of DataCAD, the company's market leading architectural 
software product. We thank Malcolm for his efforts and wish him well." 
Announcing his resignation Malcolm Davies stated, "I have really enjoyed 
working at Cadkey. The company has great people and excellent technology."

"The company's next generation object oriented user interface technology is 
particularly exciting!" said Livingston. Cadkey is in the process of 
releasing new versions of its architectural and building design software 
(DataCAD) and its mechanical design and drafting software (CADKEY) as well 
as CODe, a new object-oriented database software tool which has outstanding 
compatibility with Microsoft Windows tool sets.  Livingston stated, "I 
expect Cadkey next generation object-oriented technology to catapult the 
company into rapid growth."