As a major disappointment to the open-source community, Siemens has decided to end – and close-up access – to the OpenRadioss project as the open-source version opened up by Altair Engineering under the GNU AGPL License back in 2022. This was an open-source version of the industry-leading finite element solver that Altair developed. Siemens acquired Altair Engineering last year and have now completely shut the door on OpenRadioss.
Originally from Altair, Radioss has been an industry-leading solver for analyzing crashes, blasts, and other purposes. Altair creating OpenRadioss was a huge milestone for the technical computing industry. It also had other effects like for myself in finally being able to benchmark with this (Open)Radioss code for CPU performance testing compared to the expensive licensing on Radioss itself.
To much disappointment, I find out today they have completely closed down OpenRadioss. The Siemens.com page now explains of OpenRadioss:
"OpenRadioss is transitioning to a new phase. Visitors looking for crash and impact simulation solutions can now explore Simcenter Radioss and the Radioss R&D program through Siemens. These offerings provide pathways for both production engineering and advanced research activities.
...
The OpenRadioss website is being retired and visitors are being redirected to this transition page. If you are looking for simulation software, technical information or opportunities to engage with future development activities, Siemens provides resources and programs to support those needs."
Even worse, it’s just not the OpenRadioss website being “retired” a.k.a. shutdown but they closed up their GitHub repository too. OpenRadioss on GitHub is now a 404. It would be one thing just to archive it and at least keep the open-source code readily available, but instead it’s been removed.
OpenRadioss 404
Siemens argues the OpenRadioss closure as for consolidating efforts:
"After four years of successful community-driven research, Siemens is entering a new chapter for the Radioss solver. To accelerate innovation and provide the robust support our global users require for production-grade simulation, we are consolidating our efforts."
Very disappointing to see from such a very promising technical computing project these past few years that was also very useful for real-world performance benchmarking purposes as my main interest in the project. At least for now I’ll continue with OpenRadioss benchmarking using archived local binaries for there not being any other superior free or open-source solution available. A major disappointment out of Siemens.
Siemens is a dogshit company. I work with LOADS of their industrial automation equipment, from 1989 S5 PLCs up to brand new 2026 hardware. The newer it gets the more it feels like it is directed by an MBA and designed by an intern, impossibly thin plastic connectors, 24v input cards that over heat, entire product lines that are obsoleted with no direct replacement.
Fuck’em. They are doing the same enshitification dance as the rest of the world.
My dad used to build a lot of PLCs for them. They wanted the cheapest shit they could get in the fastest time possible while bitching more than and of their other customers. I don’t wanna doxx myself or my father but, he was GOOD. He HATED Siemens. They also decided he was too expensive in the 90s and that went for a company that was OK compromising on a lot of things.
isn’t that true for any “multinational conglomerate”?
i would never trust any of them to do the right thing.