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Vapor-Ware Press Release for
TanCADEM Corporation

or, Can We Resurrect the Generic CADD
Philosophy and Traditions?

Generic CADD is dead. For many of us, this statement defines THE great horror of the 1990's. Visual CADD, a program that we had high hopes for, is in a position where it can NOT carry the traditions and philosophy of Generic CADD to its logical ending because of the financial manipulations that marred its life. I know of nobody who wanted to be able to say that, but it is the truth of the situation today.

There are many who are attempting to keep a dead horse (Visual CADD) alive today. I suggest that such efforts are doomed to failure. I believe that there are too many intrinsic errors in the way in which Visual CADD was deployed to allow hope on this front. It is my belief that it would be better for us to build an entirely new system to carry the traditions and philosophy we love into the future.

To this end, I have founded TanCADEM Corporation. In support of this, I have written a VERY detailed definition of a full CAD/CAE/CAM system that will, I believe, carry the traditions and philosophy we have come to love into a viable, productive, and profitable future. This is the core of my proposal.

The day of CAD as CAD (or CADD, if you prefer) is over. This is not to say that there are not many users for whom CAD as CAD represents the acme of their needs, only that CAD as CAD is no longer viable in a business sense. CAD must extend throughout the design, engineering, and manufacturing/fabrication phases of utility while supporting project management functions to be viable as a product on today's and tomorrow's market. This is the core of my proposal.

TanCADEM Corporation has put together a team to build for this market based on the traditions and philosophy we learned to love in Generic CADD. We have defined the goal we are reaching for clearly and in great detail. This is why we chose the name "TanCADEM" (Tan from the "Tangent" name _I_ have used in all my business enterprises and CADEM to represent "CAD/caE/caM"). We want this to tell everyone where we are going.

The plan we have developed is fully modular in nature. We DO intend to build a system that is capable of going head-to-head with systems such as Catia and ProEngineer. Alternatively, we understand that many people need little more than they have in Generic CADD6 today. The modular approach we are taking allows YOU to pick the pieces that support YOUR needs and ignore those that do NOT support YOUR needs. This is the path we intend to follow.

This "plan" is not merely the work of Lew Merrick, loose cannon extrodinaire. It has a well rounded foundation. Many of the people whom we have lined up to create TanCADEM Corporation are well-known to long-time Generic CADD users. Much of our "plan" is grounded in the long discussions we (Generic CADD and Visual CADD users) have had in various forums. It has been carefully reviewed by many people -- Generic/Visual CADD users and other industry experts. It may have been WRITTEN by Lew Merrick, but it is based on "inputs" from HUNDREDS of people.

TanCADEM Corporation needs funding to be more than a license on my wall. This is why this monograph is titled "Vapor-Ware Press Release for TanCADEM Corporation". Until we can gain the funding we need, we are nothing more than a "plan". We require financial backing on the order of $6-$8 million (US) to turn our "plan" into reality. (Our "best guess" is that we actually need about $6.5 million in total funding.)  The difference in amounts will be determined in operation by the level of sales we achieve. Higher funding represents larger sales which will force us to increase the development/deployment efforts going into our products.

We have a formal business plan that we believe is well founded in the realities of today's CAD/CAE/CAM marketplace. We are looking for investors who are willing to take a very long-term view by today's standards: five to seven years. We believe that we can generate annual rates of return in excess of 35% on dividends alone over this period. We believe this represents a very good opportunity for someone with the understanding of the possibilities that Generic CADD represented.

We are asking YOU if you know anyone who has the wherewithal to bring our "plan" to reality. It will take 12-15 months to start deploying our CAD products. It will take four years to bring the core CAD/CAE/CAM product line to full functionality. However, we firmly believe that a suite of CAD/CAE/CAM products based on the traditions and philosophy that Generic CADD taught us to love is bound to be a success. The sanity you save may be your own.

Lew Merrick, P.E.
Tangent Engineering
PO Box 5000377 Monte Cristo Lane
Quilcene, WA 98376
(360) 765-4933 (v)
(360) 765-4929 (f)
E-mail: 75156.2630@compuserve.com

Webmasters Note:
This news from Lew Merrick is very exciting to all of use who love Generic Cadd and we wish him the best with this new venture.  But "Generic Cadd is dead" sounds so, well final.  Being one who is about to hit the big five zero,  I  like to think of the aging process more in the terms of  maturing gracefully.  We here at GenericCADD.com think  the program we love still has some useful life left in it. (i.e.using it under Win95 etc.) and we will continue to help those who are still using it as well as encourage those like Lew to create the successors to this great program.