Re: IntelliCAD -- WAS: Shop Computer

"Fitch R. Williams" wrote:

> There is a free AutoCAD clone called IntelliCAD that would probably do
> what you talk about just fine.

I just checked out Intellicad.org -- so that's where it went! Very
interesting. I heard that Visio customers were going to get the
opportunity to get access to the IntelliCAD source, but I never
imagined they'd release it to a non-profit org where you can even
get the source! They are using an OSS (open source software)
"-like" model, although the licensing seems to be very restrictive
(at least compared to general OSS, even commercially-financed
projects). But still, the source is available!

This gets very interesting. For those that don't know, IntelliCAD
was a big-time competitor to Autodesk's staple for awhile, and cost
a lot less. It could read old formats and deal with a lot of issues
that Audodesk usually forced you to upgrade to. God knows Autodesk
is the Microsoft of the CAD world where upgrades are numerous and
file compatibility more than one version back is a one-way street
(and _never_ perfect in the conversion).

Politics came into play when Visio bought IntelliCAD and Microsoft
bought Visio. Microsoft then used IntelliCAD as a leverage to force
Autodesk to drop all non-Windows versions of AutoCAD and drop
AutoLISP completely in favor of VB. A give/take deal where
Microsoft was able to kill the last remaining, "mainstream" CAD
package available for UNIX **.

Again, IntelliCAD development is now under the direction of a
non-profit org. I hope they released all the file/import filters.
At first glance, it seems to be DirectX/VB-dependent, so that tells
me a direct UNIX port is not going to be easy.

While OpenGL can do anything DirectX can (long story which I'm not
going to go into), and gaming companies like Loki Entertainment are
released toolkits for porting games from DirectX to OpenGL (which
usually look better on OpenGL, because of the increased T&L
capabilities), supplanting VB is a little more difficult. Although
there are several clones in the UNIX OSS world, most are not going
to be as featured -- let alone Basic has always been considered a
poor language in the UNIX space, even as a scripting language or
compile (which is still really "interpreted" and slower than most
UNIX scripting languages).

Plus there are the legal issues. I, for one, am afraid to sign up
as a "free/non-commercial" developer to gain access to the source
code because the agreement may (again, I need to read further) take
issue with my employment, as I am a developer myself. I know a
_lot_ of former IntelliCAD fans and/or Linux users who would like to
take a crack at developing an OpenGL/Linux port. But the fact that
Microsoft/Visio still owns the copyright is a little scary --
especially if they see a Linux port being developed and possibly
cutting into marketshare. God knows that with their lawyers, they
can do anything they please (just ask Micrografx, MIT and Sun ;-).

-- TheBS

P.S. The free/non-commercial agreement can be found here:
http://www.intellicad.org/join_itc/disclaimer.cfm

** Note: Intergraph/Bentley Systems moved away from UNIX to NT very
early. In fact, Microstation was the first native NT app. I know,
my boss was the IGUG (international InterGraph User Group) President
at the time. Intergraph dropped most of its UNIX ports years ago
and, like Autodesk, produced an "evulation/student-only" version of
their entry products for Linux in the mid-'90s before being "urged"
to not repeat it with commercial follow-ups.

There is still a number of more "CAM" CAD product for UNIX. Much of
this steams from the fact that most of the engineering analysis
source code available is based on DoD research done on
UNIX/X-Windows systems in the '70s and '80s. But the market for
these tools (usually electrical/mechanical/aerospace) still dwarfs
the general usage of Autodesk's product for everything from basic
drafting to anything related to civil and environmental engineering
(where engineers and technicians are a "dime-a-dozen" in many
regards, at least that's why father, a land surveyor, used to say
;-).

--
Bryan "TheBS" Smith mailto:b.j.smith@... chat:thebs413
Engineer AbsoluteValue Systems, Inc. http://www.linux-wlan.org
President SmithConcepts, Inc. http://www.SmithConcepts.com