Google SketchUp will change the game

Google SketchUp is a free 3D content creation tool that has been available since April 1996. It was originally developed by @ Last Software and released in August 2000. Google acquired @ Last Software in 2006.

Implications:

The Tool:

Google SketchUp has the potential to radically alter the design playing field. While there will be many people who just download and use the tool for fun, it puts commercial quality design tools in the hands of anyone with a computer and access to the web.

One of the major changes of the past 10 years is that smart people living in the developing world are able to buy a computer and get web access at a reasonable cost and with that start to compete with North American based workers in fields like software coding, web coding and graphic design. They earn substantially more than their peers even when they charge rates that represent massive cost savings for North American companies.

With Google SketchUp these changes are coming to the commercial design industry.

The Community:

Google is great at creating communities and there is already a community developing around SketchUp. That community will only grow and it provides companies that currently design in North America and Europe an opportunity to access design talent from anywhere in the world and substantially increase the rate of new product innovation while lowering their costs.

Links:

http://sketchup.google.com/

http://sketchup.google.com/community/

http://picasaweb.google.com/gallery.sketchup

http://groups.google.com/group/sketchup-Pro-Groups/

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