[cad-linux] Apologies to Art Haas re: PythonCAD

Thanks to Eric Wilhelm for the somewhat embarrassing correction re: Art Haas & 
PythonCAD.  My humble apologies to Art, wherever he may be...  ;-)

 John Kosty
828 Ralph McGill Boulevard
Atlanta, Georgia 30306
404.447.3608
john_kosty@xxxxxxxxx




________________________________
From: Andrei Smirnov <andrei.v.smirnov@xxxxxxxxx>
To: cad-linux@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2009 9:29:54 PM
Subject: [cad-linux] Re: cad-linux still alive [if only on life-support...]

Hi everyone,
I just can't help letting some steam out on the issue. I've been using Linux
for most of my professional life. And now I work at a company where I am
developing software on Linux. However, when it comes to CAD, 100% of people
in my company use Windows versions. And this seems the case elsewhere. CAD
is a specific software controlled by a few vendors, which is sufficiently
complex to write and brings a lot of revenue. I guess they reckoned that
porting it to Linux will not pay off, since this is such a small market
share, and the maintenance and support are costly. Nothing to say about the
Microsoft policies.

I remember several years ago, when I worked at the University, I installed
Linux version of Pro-E at the computer lab with some 40 workstations, which
I also converted all to Linux. It worked for a while, but the Linux version
had glitches, and then Linux support for Pro-E was discontinued.  The whole
lab was turned back to Windows.

There is simply no enough demand for CAD on Linux, and for Linux in general.
And that is in part because there is not enough exposure to Linux by
vendors. Practically all new computers are sold with Windows pre-installed.
A vast majority of people will not think of buying a computer and
reinstalling the operating system. Once a status-quo has been established it
almost takes a miracle to break it. Do you think that the dinosaurs would
have died naturally in the course of evolution? I think that if it was not
for that asteroid that killed them, we would have never had a chance.

Cheers,

Andrei

On Tue, Feb 24, 2009 at 9:00 PM, john kosty <john_kosty@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> From: Moises CastrOporto <moises.castroporto@xxxxxxxxx>
> /snip/
> It´s a live out there??
> Nice regards
> mOe:)
> Still live [and -- sort of -- alive...] lo' these many moons...  But I've
> attached a screendump of the list's archive page:  a little depressing to
> see just how inactive this one's been for the past couple o' years.  I'm
> wondering how to breathe some life into this subject.  I attend my local LUG
> maybe two times per year -- meetings are monthly.  Everytime I stand up
> during the Q&A/other segment toward the end and ask my usual questions:  Who
> here deals with CAD on *ANY* basis; regular or otherwise?  Who here is
> interested in helping to further the cause?  Usually generates maybe five
> minutes of conversation and then nothing until I go again six months later.
>  Sigh...
>
> I agree w/ Phrostie:  PythonCAD & BRL-CAD appear to have the most ongoing
> activity and most promising futures in this arena.  Eric Willhelm [Wilhelm?]
> of PythonCAD has been, by and large, a one-man show and has soldiered on for
> some time now.  If I were a "coder" -- rather than a "script-kiddie" -- I'd
> love to contribute.  Then again, since Python *is*, after all, a "scripting"
> language, I guess I'm just making excuses...  :-)  Please drop by his site
> and give him some feedback.  I'm sure he could use the encouragement.
>
> Best,
>
> jk
>
> PS:  Also attached a screengrab of the archive page for
> cad-linux-dev@freelists.  I wasn't even aware of that sub-group until
> today -- or, at least, I'd forgotten about it.
>
> PPS:  Anyone here installed [and play-tested] Varkon in, oh, the last five
> years?  I believe that was my last install and try-out.  Would be nice if
> some add'l academics would sign on.  Seems like it would be a useful
> addition to universities and researchers world-wide but then I'm continually
> surprised at just how LITTLE interest there is for FOSS-CAD in academia.
>  WTF?  I just don't get it.  Too many commercial vendors continually
> flooding them with freebies?
>
> John Kosty
> 828 Ralph McGill Boulevard
> Atlanta, Georgia 30306
> 404.447.3608
> john_kosty@xxxxxxxxx
>
>
>
>
>
>
-- 
Andrei V. Smirnov, PhD.

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