Pretty Cool Software Product Comparison

Just today, Thomas Publishers, owners of Managing Automation Magazine, started promoting its Product Comparison tool.

Being a cynic, I immediately visited to check out if they had fouled up the CAD and PLM products. And it would appear not - well not much anyway! The system, available from the home page, provides multiple listings for enterprise software, RFID software, networking, computers and platforms and more.

I clicked on 'enterprise software' and it drives down through CRM, enterprise asset management, ERP, Finance, HR and PLM - among others. Click on PLM and there are multiple categories for specialist and general CAD design tools, design data management, CAM, configuration and the like.

For each sub-category, it gives a listing and you can click on two products and the system will bring up a comparison chart, as per below. Registration, which is free, is needed to access this data.

Now this is pretty cool. It gives a fast comparison of features side-by-side for the products selected. And there are a lot of products.

The only problem i see is that whoever filled out the forms for the data, which I assume, perhaps incorrectly, is done by the vendors, that you have some anomalous entries: an example being Proficy by GE Fanuc listed under the Sheetmetal manufacture Functions under CAM. This product, although it looks pretty good for keeping equipment backed up and running, is clearly not a CAM product!

However, correct software products seem to be well represented in there and give a nice, easy-understood comparison sheet. Go check it out!

Rach

Comments

[ralphg]

> "Being a cynic, I
> immediately visited
> to check out..."

You're a skeptic, not a cynic. A cynic wouldn't check it out.