Sorry about the double post. I just got though with their Introduction siminar that was on the internet. I registered my name to get a trial of it and they signed me up for the siminar. They guy had about 6 slides about Alibre and then showed some things you can do in it. These are my thoughts:
A lot like Inventor.
It had the parametric stuff and dimentions like Inventor. It could do assemblies and constraints just about he same. Can do drawings like Inventor, too.
Pros:
It is cheeper than Inventor (550 education licence for Inventor and at most 300 for Alibre). They have lots of internet support, with pros and people just using it. They update quickly (Version 9 this summer) and your get all updates free for a year. They guy said that you can renew this for "two ninty five" (2.95, 295.00?). They have a standard parts library with "about 8 million parts". The better versions have force simulation (don't know exactly what that means). Can do mass and weight, but only a few materials. Great rendering software with the better versions, too.
Cons:
Doesn't use any Inventor formats (.ipt, ect), so no VKoP for you. No real materials yet, but maybe latter. Threads are retained in the program so the drawing or the machine makes the threads, but no actual thread or bitmap of them, but if you want to be complicated, you can cut out thread using a tool they have.
I still want to try the software, but it looks mideocore. Good for the price (150 for the cheep educational version), but I think Inventor seems to be the better deal if you are going to stay in FIRST and they give you Inventor.