On Sun, 27 Feb 2011 23:49:08 -0800, mike wrote:

Ned Simmons wrote:
I got an email from Dassault announcing a free 2D CAD program. The
only potential downside I see is that you have to re-activate
periodically, which means Dassault could at some point stop offering
the free version, and any installed free software would probably time
out. On the other hand, it reads and writes both dwg and dxf files, so
any files you create would not be orphaned if the software disappears.

CAD software represents a significant investment in learning how to use it.
Would you put your money in a bank that required you to re-qualify
periodically with no guarantee that you could ever get your money back?

I agree with your point about the investment in time and effort to
learn a software package -- I've become proficient with autocad plus 3
solid modelers over the last 25 years. In fact, I've used the same
argument when urging folks to try Alibre instead of a cheap/free 2D
package. But for some things, 2D is all one needs.

The bank analogy is flawed, unless the bank also matched your deposit
when you open the account; in other words, they're putting up
something of value as well. A gambling analogy would be more on point.


Being able to export to another commercial program that you can't afford
is small consolation.

DXF is a de facto standard format. It'd be difficult to find a program
(cheap, free, or expensive) that doesn't read dxfs.


If it times out, it ain't free.

I haven't tried it, have no opinion, and my only connection with
Dassault is as a Solidworks customer.

http://www.3ds.com/products/draftsig...-cad-software/


--
Ned Simmons