AutoCAD 2008 Does Not Suck

Software quality standards are on the decline but one product stands out...

The last couple of weeks has given me increased empathy for CAD users. Setting up the Innovate3D service, I've had reason to test out a few CAD programs, viewers, publishing programs, etc. Almost every software has given me some grief. Not only have they proven hard to use but all have suffered from one problem. The problems range from difficulty of use, glitches and lack of support to crashes and loss of data. The one notable exception was AutoCAD 2008. It took everything I threw at it and performed flawlessly. Solid, dependable AutoCAD.

Amazingly, AutoCAD 2008 is still in a pre-release state. I would have expected some glitches, but there were none. In contrast, all other software tested were shipping versions.

My problems started with CAD viewers. All I wanted was one CAD viewer that would let me look at several different MCAD formats. Simple, right? I don't think I'm the only one with that need. I downloaded one well-known viewer for a 30 day trial. It worked okay but showed a rather obnoxious "for trial only" in big bold letters on prints.

Another well known viewer product loaded a tremendous number of CAD viewers each with its own monstrously big file. But when I tried to view a SolidWorks part, it would try to download the needed viewer repeatedly without success. After watching the program thrash around for half an hour, I gave up. Life is short. I tried to uninstall it but it would not go peacefully. I had to uninstall each of its CAD viewers individually. I uninstalled about a dozen -- but a couple of big viewers are still stuck to my system like barnacles.

I needed to look at Pro/E *.prt files so I downloaded eDrawings from the PTC site as it promised I could use it for Pro/E files. But after installing, I realized it only lets you look at Pro/E drawings that have been saved in a special eDrawings format. All the Pro/E users out there raise your hand if you routinely save to eDrawings format. I thought so. So I would have to go to each sender of Pro/E files and ask them to resubmit the part in a different format? I don't think so.

Again to Autodesk's credit, you can download a free viewer to look at Inventor files, juts like you can download their free viewer for the DWG files. Aah, relief.

I had tried an AutoCAD "clone." Sure, it reads and creates DWG files. It's way cheaper than AutoCAD. On paper, it looks like the clone would be the way to go. But it crashed. And crashed. And crashed again. In less than one half day, it had crashed 4 times. I was getting so used to it crashing I was saving the file after every operation.

Several programs were picky about what version they could read, often not ready to read the latest CAD format. But worse of all were the freezes and the crashes. Crashes were not confined to the AutoCAD clone. I was getting more crashes than a demolition derby. Even one venerable and respected MCAD product was experiencing crashes. I started to think there was something wrong with my computer...

Then, in desperation I downloaded the pre-release version of AutoCAD 2008. I had heard it was a bear of a program (the download was almost 800MB!) and I really didn't want to download yet another big, heavy CAD program on my laptop. It took a long time to load and it's registration process stripped me every personal detail like the names of every ancestor living and dead (just kidding). But all sins were forgotten as it read every DWG and politely fielded every old command I could remember from the last millennium when I last used AutoCAD. Heck, it would even throw in some delights from the modern era -- like the heads up display.

So if you are wondering how Autodesk rolls up one impressive quarter after another peddling software that costs way more than other, far less expensive software, I have a clue. AutoCAD gets the job done. You can count on it.

Welcome back, AutoCAD.

Comments

[paul]

i have used CAD for a very long time now and followed all the upgrades to date. but honestly, WTF! is going on with this one, a new more complex version forced upon us and productivity drops... thanks AUTOCAD 08 for making it ...easier..? NOT

[CAD monkey]

Did someone pay you to write this? ACAD 2008 is the worst version yet....layers get STUCK on certain colors for one example. wtf?

[Michael]

I disagree, it crashes a lot in our design office.

[nobody]

i can only agree... i tried bunch of different packages only to return to AutoCad...

[Michael Campbell]

Hello Roopinder -

ProductView Express is a completely free, easy to install viewer for Pro/ENGINEER parts, assemblies and drawings. It's on www.ptc.com under the Resource Center, but (until a few minutes ago) was listed at the bottom of the list. Now, you'll see it at the top of the Pro/E list.

CLick on my name below to see it. I hope you'll give it a try.

Regards,

~ Mike

[Roopinder Tara]

Yes, Jeff, PTC does offer eDrawings for Pro/ENGINEER. It is in their resource center under free downloads.

[Jeff Cope]

I would be surprised if you could download eDrawings from the Pro/E website as it is software that is developed by the SolidWorks Corporation. Since your benchmark is an Autodesk-designed viewer opening an Autodesk file format (dwg), you should in fairness compare that to other viewer/file format combinations that are also single vendor and not cross vendor (e.g. Pro/E to SolidWorks). It is okay for you to be an Autocad biggot (as misguided as that is) but please don't try to convince the rest of us that it with good reason unless you have a more objective comparison test.