[rescue] ECC [was: Re: WOT: Ebay changes to IBM from Sun

[Mike F]

> I'd suspect that the bulk of the work AutoCAD does has nothing to do
> with OpenGL.  Everything I've seen of AutoCAD makes me think it's
> primarily a list/data manager that happens to be able to draw pictures.

I don't know jack squat about 3D programming, but I do know that anything
3D in AutoCAD (and other Autodesk products) uses OpenGL.
 
> I suppose that's why its extension language is LISP.  In fact, Scheme
> probably wouldn't be a bad language to write the whole thing in, since
> Scheme supports arbitrarily-precise numbers.
> 
> Seriously, though, AutoCAD's power isn't in its slick GUI or heads-up
> display, its in the precision with which it does geometry and trig and
> that it maintains diffs of the file all the way back to its creation, so
> that -anything- can be undone/redone.

I don't know about the slick GUI - I use strictly the keyboard for commands
and the mouse for selection. Most people I know have literally hundreds of
confusingly similar-looking icons plastered in toolbars all over their
screens, but mine is nice and clean, and nobody else can use my machine,
since it's missing all the graphical crud they depend on :)
 
> Every time I've mentioned that, someone's shoved Dia in my face, to
> which I can only reply "Ewwwww".

Agreed
 
> And Autodesk is worse than Microsoft in terms of file formats.  Just
> -try- importing drawings from two or three releases back into a current
> version of AutoCAD.

Actually, from time to time, I import AutoCAD r11 or 12 DWGs (c. 1993-1995)
with no problems. Rather, it's the lack of forward compatibility that is
really aggravating. It's their way of forcing many of their customers to
upgrade.