My apologies. Earlier the link referenced a 2010 report. Not sure how I got there.
I have no great love for PTC. I feel they have sat on their core and simply squeezed the most that they could out of it. They cater to larger customers and the small user simply is not what keeps them in business. Acquisitions is keeping them more than busy with new offerings rather than refining the core.
Balance this against what Dassault has done with SolidWorks and at least make an attempt at appeasing the small user, and you get a level of brand loyalty that every other player has accomplished, not least of which keeps Autodesk on the tip of everyone's tongue.
Have you looked under the hood of SolidWorks? It is a time bom waiting to happened. Unfortunately I have never worked with Catia nor do understand the source so it is hard to comment. I have worked with Siemens Unigraphics. Cost alone will void this option for many. In this sense, Catia is more in the class of Unigraphics than Creo. PTC does offer this entry level package which is good enough for a huge business segment. When you start adding the extensions to make an enterprise solution, however, you will be out some serious money.
I suspect Dassault's SolidWorks was an answer to compete with Creo and has a lot to do with a few of the smaller wins.
After a decade of working with PTC on the low end of PTC's offering, I find that very little has been done to keep up with the meager competition. In many ways, the refinement of the product is more lacking today then ever before.
Having said that, however, Pro|E/WF/Creo is still a solid core. When things do work, or when you do need the support (which we pay for) you will have solutions, although not always what you want. It is no different with the other companies. I don't need to be spoon fed, but I do expect a certain level of completeness. I can only hope that one day PTC will have Creo up to snuff. But I am not expecting to get more than I am getting today. If you want more, you are expected to pay for it. And that is no different with any of the other challengers.
Again, it is a lot of speculation for the likes of us. There are some very clever people with solid business plans that compete at levels we cannot fathom (or we wouldn't be wasting time here). I'm just glad that I am free to use what I want, and that I don't have to make multi-million dollar decisions with regard to what software I have to use. I'm very hard pressed to pay $1500/yr for maintenance. If the software doesn't earn it, I won't stick with it. Last maintenance I paid for was back in 1999, until recently when I rejoined for a specific contract. In all honesty, I was perfectly happy with Pro|E 2000i.
