On Thu, 2005-09-15 at 00:36 +0100, Paul wrote:
Whilst not an autocad clone, there is Synergy from webersys.com - A full 3D cad/cam package running on Linux. If it is just 2D work, there are alternatives, some good, some bad, and one or two barge pole grade packages that run under linux.
I have looked at Linux alternatives for other projects but at least for this particular client who is a power CAD user and has third party tools (some in house developed) as well as a GIS system that closely integrates with Autocad, the alternatives just wouldn't work in their current states. Not to mention any change in this tool would be risky as it is their primary source of revenue.
Now in an ideal world I could take their licensing costs and use that money to pay a developer to bring one of those projects up to standard. But that is something that would take a while to pay off in a usable product and it is a risk that I would probably never convince them to take because it's a risk they don't NEED to take.
Not forgetting the fact that their new staff intake (as well as their existing staff) are already very familiar with the Autodesk product and any functional differences could lead to reduced productivity initially so the end game would have to be something akin to what OpenOffice is to MS Office...not a small task.