Interviews

  • Thanks to all who have provided feedback on my recent interview with John Walker. Here is a PDF of the complete series for those who would rather use that format for offline viewing (please think twice before printing all 27 pages, though). The interview proved to be a very interesting activity - even more so than I had anticipated - and so I've decided to try a few more. I'm in no danger of making a career of this (don't worry) but I'm finding it an interesting diversion to meet and talk with people who have important information to share…

  • This is the fourth and final part of the series documenting my recent interview with John Walker. Where the first three parts looked at the early history of the company, the architectural evolution of AutoCAD and its APIs and Autodesk's strategy and eco-system, this part takes a look at past and future business opportunities for the company. I have not linked to terms previously linked to in the first part of the series, which should also be referred to for typographical conventions, if they're not clear. Part 1 - Autodesk's early history Part 2 - AutoCAD's architecture & APIs Part…

  • This is the third part of the series documenting my recent interview with John Walker. Where the first part looked at the early history of the company and the second looked at the architectural evolution of AutoCAD and its APIs, this part focuses on Autodesk's business strategy and focus on its eco-system. I have not linked to terms previously linked to in the first part of the series, which should also be referred to for typographical conventions, if they're not clear. Part 1 - Autodesk's early history Part 2 - AutoCAD's architecture & APIs Part 3 - Autodesk's eco-system and…

  • This is the second part of the series documenting my recent interview with John Walker. Where the first part looked at the early history of the company, this part focuses more on the architectural evolution of AutoCAD and its APIs. I have not linked to terms previously linked to in the first part of the series, which should also be referred to for typographical conventions, if they're not clear. Part 1 - Autodesk's early history Part 2 - AutoCAD's architecture & APIs Part 3 - Autodesk's eco-system and strategy Part 4 - Past and future opportunities AutoCAD's architecture & APIs…

  • On Thursday of last week (September 4th, 2008, for those people accessing this post sometime in the distant future :-), I had the great honour of meeting with John Walker, one of Autodesk's founders and its former CEO. I've known for some time that John lives in the Neuchâtel area, and it turns out he lives just 10 minutes' drive from my home. I decided quite recently to get in touch with John and suggest I interview him for this blog, and I was delighted when he accepted. Not only was John very generous with his time - we talked…