MrMetric
Well-Known Member
AutoDesk rocks, IMHO, with its support of the hobbyist and small business community. This does *not* mean that I am comfortable with the product though. I've been around long enough to know that the DRaftSight/Alibre model of "hook 'em and then X%@#$ them" can happen anywhere, even AutoDesk. My hope is that they are big enough that they can see the value of the noise (us) and realize that hooking them may mean sales in the future. Let's face it, sales through conversation of goodwill (such as here) are also directly related to their current practices.
However, not all big companies think that way. DraftSight is developed by Solidworks, which was bought by Dassault Systemes. Their yearly revenue is 3.2 billion dollars which is effectively the same as AutoDesk's 3.3 billion dollars. There is a very real possibility that AutoDesk may pull the plug at any time, which is why I've continually looked for products I can buy, not rent, or which are freeware. QCAD is definitely an interesting play. I suspect it will do 95% of what most people want to do here, but it is not 3D. I've not had great luck with FreeCAD or other parametric solid applications.
I generally try not to fall in love with things like Fusion 360 for the above reasons. Usually this is a "must..... resist...." thing though because I think F360 is very very very cool. And it beats the socks off Solidworks because I can use all of those cool features for free. I have a yearly license for SW (through a membership to an organization), but a fairly limited set of modules, so I don't really use it much. A lot of that has to do with my distrust of Dassault after the DraftSight debacle. So far, AutoDesk has been far more friendly to hobbyists.
However, not all big companies think that way. DraftSight is developed by Solidworks, which was bought by Dassault Systemes. Their yearly revenue is 3.2 billion dollars which is effectively the same as AutoDesk's 3.3 billion dollars. There is a very real possibility that AutoDesk may pull the plug at any time, which is why I've continually looked for products I can buy, not rent, or which are freeware. QCAD is definitely an interesting play. I suspect it will do 95% of what most people want to do here, but it is not 3D. I've not had great luck with FreeCAD or other parametric solid applications.
I generally try not to fall in love with things like Fusion 360 for the above reasons. Usually this is a "must..... resist...." thing though because I think F360 is very very very cool. And it beats the socks off Solidworks because I can use all of those cool features for free. I have a yearly license for SW (through a membership to an organization), but a fairly limited set of modules, so I don't really use it much. A lot of that has to do with my distrust of Dassault after the DraftSight debacle. So far, AutoDesk has been far more friendly to hobbyists.