Slashdot Mirror

I've worked in the IT industry for 20 years, 7 of which were in telecom.

I find it so damn amusing that all the computer geeks still struggle with basic things the telecom world figured out 30 - 50 years ago. There's a lot to be learned from the old school carriers, and this is one of them.

Most of the bigger carriers have their own stuff that'll track everything from pairs/strands to binding posts, etc. You need to know sizes of entrance protectors and all kinds of other things. Sizes of splice cases and the number of trays are nice to know. Everything needs to go into GIS, and that used to mean a second system that references locations. These days there are integrated packages. The exact system we used was purchased by NEC and no longer exists. And actually, I wouldn't recommend it, we used it primarily because the work order system was quite robust and we were willing to sacrifice some of the documentation features for that.

Would something like this work?
http://www.bentley.com/en-US/Products/Bentley+Fiber

The GIMP is almost as good as Photoshop now.

GIMP isn't even close to Photoshop, not for a pro photographer. CinePaint, aka FilmGIMP, bridges the gap quite a bit though.

But I've never seen anything that compete with Autocad that is remotely as good.

There's CATIA, MicroStation, and Pro/ENGINEER. And if you don't need all that they offer, there's TurboCAD, as well as others.

Correction: All the non-Autodesk products mentioned above are produced by Bentley Systems, not Intergraph. http://www.bentley.com/

Everybody ask Autodesk for open formats, port AutoCAD to Linux... but it's a technical mistake!
We must ask Bentley for freeing Microstation for Linux. Bentley has opened its .dgn format (and it's technically better than Autodesk's .dwg): http://www.bentley.com/en-us/corporate/opendgn/. Microstation was programmed first for Unix, but the last release to Linux was Microstation 95. Bentley only supports the Windows version today, it would be a very good present they free the Linux version code.

I don't really know much about CAD in industry but can someone explain where Bentley'ssoftware fits in with other CAD programs. The first time I heard of this company was when my brother, a draftsman for the state electricity company told me he uses Microstation. Any insight?

I don't really know much about CAD in industry but can someone explain where Bentley'ssoftware fits in with other CAD programs. The first time I heard of this company was when my brother, a draftsman for the state electricity company told me he uses Microstation. Any insight?

And here is what EDS executives got for your 200,000,000

Pro/Engineer would be the one to learn, followed by Bentley Microstation, followed by Dassault CATIA (catia should be before microstation but for political idiocies). No one competent in one of those three and without ethical problems with military work will be unemployed.

Learn AutoCAD too, but don't waste too much time on it unless you want to work in the SME space - it's the Microsoft Word of CAD. Pro/Engineer would be the Adobe or Quark. Plus, almost every Pro/Engineer-using company I've seen has been a Linux shop!

OpenCASCADE is the TeX :-)

The company Bentley who make Microstation (AutoCad for grown ups!) was a spin-off from Intergraph (I think they are still a major shareholder). The first Intel based workstations they made (486 based) were very solid - apparently one of their contracts was making the computers used in US battle tanks.

The company Bentley who make Microstation (AutoCad for grown ups!) was a spin-off from Intergraph (I think they are still a major shareholder). The first Intel based workstations they made (486 based) were very solid - apparently one of their contracts was making the computers used in US battle tanks.

Adobe's a member of the BSA.

The BSA has an interesting statement on the DMCA here. This is a response to a Library of Congress rule available here.

Members of the BSA include Adobe, Apple Computer, Autodesk, Bentley Systems, CNC Software/Mastercam, Compaq, Corel Corporation, IBM, Intel, Intuit, Lotus Development, Macromedia, Microsoft, Network Associates, Novell, Sybase, Symantec, and Walker Digital; i.e. most of /.'s favourite hate companies, plus some extras.

These are the guys to line up against. They've been around since the '80s. I suspect that Adobe's lawyers are all BSA stooges. Certainly Adobe's PR department doesn't seem to be toeing the BSA line.