Is stand alone preprocessor worth investing while it comes with postprocessor for most of the commercial packages we are buying. Is good for complex geometries which are the cases of industrial applications. Selina

(1). Commercial codes are intermediate solutions to company's CFD problems. (2). Since the company does not have its own CFD department to solve the problem, my suggestion is: use whatever is available on the market so that there is a chance to solve the problem. (3). But if the company does not even want to use the available codes, then the problem can be sent to a consulting company. In this way, the company does not have to worry about the need to learn the code, or any code. (4). So, there are three levels of operation available: (a). create a CFD department and solve the problem in-house. This is the ideal environment, secure, reliable and efficient. (b). send some engineers to learn how to use commercial codes, and solve it in-house with commercial codes. The disadvantage is that it requires the service or support from the vendor, in most cases. But at least, it is secure. (c). subcontract out the problem to be solved. This approach is not secure. But if the consulting firm has the right experience, it is one workable approach. (5). So, if you are a consulting firm, it is a good idea to have all the commercial codes on your systems, so that it will have a higher probability to solve a customer's problem. (6). For the situations of (a) and (b), there is no need to invest in commercial codes, as it will defeat the purpose of (a), and the efficiency of (b). (7). So, the suggestion is: if you are in the case of (b) and do not know whether to use other codes, then it is a good idea to subcontract out the problem to a consulting firm..