Robert McNeel and Associates, the Seattle-based firm that went from being a small accounting office to a world-class AutoCAD reseller and then on to become a renowned CAD developer, has announced that Autodesk has decided to not renew its reseller contract. McNeel will stop selling AutoCAD as of February 1, 2006.
McNeel is best known today for Rhino 3D, a next-generation 3D CAD program that has become popular with designers in all professions including AEC. “Since our Rhino-related business has grown to be more than ten times larger than our AutoCAD-related business,” company CEO Robert McNeel writes in a letter to customers, “the AutoCAD business will be missed but [we won’t be] uncomfortable.” McNeel and Associates may not be uncomfortable, but I'm sure their customers will be furious. When McNeel was allowed to sell outside the Seattle area, it was one of the most popular AutoCAD resellers in the world. For the last few years, as Autodesk has changed its reseller program, McNeel has only been allowed to be a regional dealer.
McNeel has sold more than 150,000 copies of Rhino. It has established a worldwide dealer network of more than 3,000 resellers, and has 750 registered third-party developers. Rhino is in use in major Hollywood studios, at world-class shoe companies, and at many progressive architecture firms.
McNeel will provide AutoCAD support to its customers through the end of 2006. It will continue to develop and sell AccuRender, a popular rendering application for AutoCAD, as well as other applications based on Rhino. In an interesting twist, AccuRender technology ships inside Autodesk Revit.
--RSN