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Fuck AutoCAD Buy IntelliCAD
.dwg file specifications: http://opendesign.com/
AutoCAD compatible software consortium: http://www.intellicad.org/
AutoCAD compatible CAD for MS Windows and Linux: http://www.bricsys.com/download/downloadForm.jsp?product=BCAD

Just out of interest, what are some alternatives? I really don't know.

I looked around the Web a couple years ago for just that, and found Intellicad http://www.intellicad.org/, more specifically, Cadopia's version http://www.cadopia.com/. After a 30-day trial version, they extorted $150 from me for the basic version 4.0 (much cheaper than the "Autocad Lite" or whatever it's called). I've used earlier versions of Autocad, and found Intellicad to be very compatible and easier to use. OTOH I don't do a whole lot of cad, so if you do, take this micro-review with a grain of salt.

No matter what .dwg/Autocad compatible software you get, it will be perhaps a year or two behind Autocad's latest features and .dwg formats. If you're sure you don't have to read others' .dwg files from the latest versions of Autocad, you're in a much better position to use 'something else', but I suspect a whole lot of people have to read others' files which could include the latest formats.

Here, you can make your own: http://www.intellicad.org/

There is a special consortium that enables various software vendors to use intelicad sources - IntelliCAD Technology Consortium ITC (http://www.intellicad.org/). Cadopia is only one of MANY (I mean more than 50) See http://www.intellicad.org/members/productlist.asp

There is a special consortium that enables various software vendors to use intelicad sources - IntelliCAD Technology Consortium ITC (http://www.intellicad.org/). Cadopia is only one of MANY (I mean more than 50) See http://www.intellicad.org/members/productlist.asp

A little history: before Microsoft bought Visio Visio sold besides it drawing package also a cheap Autocad clone: Intellicad. At some point they decided to concentrate on the big market of the drawing package and they handed Intellicad to the Intellicad Technology Consortium (ITC). This consortium has developed the product further in a kind of opensource way (although I am not sure whether RMS would agree).

When Microsoft bought Visio Visio had yet another CAD package: ArchT. This is an architectural add-on for Autocad and Intellicad. Microsoft decided to license this to the ITC too and in this way.

However, support for ArchT never came from the ground. The ITC had only a license for Intellicad 2000 while ArchT only worked with Intellicad 98. Nowadays ArchT is nearly invisible on ITC's site. The latest news I could find was that Eagle Point will further develop ArchT.

So to summerize:
- Microsoft only used "opensource" here as a decent way to stop with the support of some software.
- As far as I can see Microsoft didn't make any money from it.

Being a longtime AutoCAD user (since rel 9), I've tried just about every open source CAD program I could find. Unfortunately, none of them measure up to AutoCAD in terms of usability, features, and extensibility.

There is a CAD program called IntelliCAD that Visio developed before being bought by Microsoft. It's basically an AutoCAD clone, minus some of the 3D features (it even runs AutoLISP routines). Now its source code is available, albeit not under an open source or free software license.

On its online forum, several people expressed interest in porting it to Linux. One of its former developers from Visio said it should be possible, as the core code is pretty much ISO C++. The part that wouold take the most effort to port would be the GUI, as it's all MFC presently.

Some people have had success running it under WINE.

• Command line - a command shell with a history and built in AutoLisp (AutoCAD's Lisp) interpreter.
• Screen menu - a sidebar of commands, accessable using key combinations or the pointer.
• Tablet menu - areas on a digitizer table with associated commands.
• Pull-down menus - including a floating menu using the middle mouse button.
• Modal dialog boxes.
• Toolbars - including fly-out toolbars like wharf.
• Non-modal dialog boxes - in the latest version.

I've used AutoCAD for over the 10 years, starting with R9. Personally, I cut the screen and tablet parts out of the menu, modify the pull-downs to my liking, and make 1-3 letter aliases for the commands I use frequently. My left hand doesn't leave the keyboard and right doesn't leave the mouse.

It's also highly programmable. There are multiple languages available for development:

• Scripts - very simple shell scripting.
• AutoLisp - their version of Lisp with added AutoCAD expressions.
• DIESEL - a simple macro language used in menus.
• ADS - a C API.
• DCL - basically a GUI toolkit for AutoLisp.
• Object ArX - a C++ API that lets developers create their own entity types.
• VBA - the MS macro language.
• Visual Lisp - compiled AutoLisp and an IDE.

As they've added options, they left the old ones there for backward compatibility. (Though I can't say that about the dwg file format.) I have a collection of AutoLisp routines I've coded over the years that I still use almost every day.

<SLIGHTLY OFF-TOPIC>
It does have its drawbacks though. It's prohibitively expensive for average users and it only runs on Windoze. That's why I use it at work, but not at home. I was hoping Visio's IntelliCAD would put some pressure on them (before MS bought them), but even at 1/10 the price and most of the functionality (even AutoLisp, AutoCAD LT can't even do that!) it basically flopped. OTOH, the IntelliCAD source code is available for free (beer, not speech; non-open source license), and there's been talk on the IntelliCAD Forum of porting it to Linux.

• Command line - a command shell with a history and built in AutoLisp (AutoCAD's Lisp) interpreter.
• Screen menu - a sidebar of commands, accessable using key combinations or the pointer.
• Tablet menu - areas on a digitizer table with associated commands.
• Pull-down menus - including a floating menu using the middle mouse button.
• Modal dialog boxes.
• Toolbars - including fly-out toolbars like wharf.
• Non-modal dialog boxes - in the latest version.

I've used AutoCAD for over the 10 years, starting with R9. Personally, I cut the screen and tablet parts out of the menu, modify the pull-downs to my liking, and make 1-3 letter aliases for the commands I use frequently. My left hand doesn't leave the keyboard and right doesn't leave the mouse.

It's also highly programmable. There are multiple languages available for development:

• Scripts - very simple shell scripting.
• AutoLisp - their version of Lisp with added AutoCAD expressions.
• DIESEL - a simple macro language used in menus.
• ADS - a C API.
• DCL - basically a GUI toolkit for AutoLisp.
• Object ArX - a C++ API that lets developers create their own entity types.
• VBA - the MS macro language.
• Visual Lisp - compiled AutoLisp and an IDE.

As they've added options, they left the old ones there for backward compatibility. (Though I can't say that about the dwg file format.) I have a collection of AutoLisp routines I've coded over the years that I still use almost every day.

<SLIGHTLY OFF-TOPIC>
It does have its drawbacks though. It's prohibitively expensive for average users and it only runs on Windoze. That's why I use it at work, but not at home. I was hoping Visio's IntelliCAD would put some pressure on them (before MS bought them), but even at 1/10 the price and most of the functionality (even AutoLisp, AutoCAD LT can't even do that!) it basically flopped. OTOH, the IntelliCAD source code is available for free (beer, not speech; non-open source license), and there's been talk on the IntelliCAD Forum of porting it to Linux.