From Machine Design:
Those of us old enough to remember computer punch cards often have an image of engineering simulation as a topic for grad students.
That mind set was evident when software vendors first began to float the idea of design simulation on a PC in the 1980s.
Pioneers in this field were sometimes ridiculed and vilified. Algor Inc.'s Mike Bussler, for example, can recall competitors accusing him of "handing a loaded gun to children" because he had created the first full-featured FEA code that ran on 8088-based machines. "We couldn't go anywhere without people condemning us as the moral equivalent of baby killers," he says.