AutoCAD is one of the top used software packages for architects and engineers in the industry and to prove it, Autodesk, the maker of AutoCAD charges whatever the hell price they want. One “seat” or license for standard AutoCAD (not the souped up versions) is, and I quote: “without Subscription, Electronic Download $3,975.00″. If you choose to get a subscription, which allows you to download new versions each time they are released, that’s another $500 or more a year! Per person!
With such a death grip on the market, you’d think Autodesk would use its vast fortunes to keep their product up to date and available to as many people as possible. This would certainly stave off competition, right? Half right. They are now, but there has been a wide gap in coverage.
For years (18 years to be exact!), Autodesk has not released a Mac version of the software, and since architects like to do a lot of graphic intensive work, we tend to like Macs. So as architects we were forced to either work on a PC, dual-boot or run a PC emulator on a Mac, or get the Mac we wanted and scrap AutoCAD for a competitor. This opened up a window for a slew of competitors to grow their market share little by little – everyone from TurboCad to MicroStation to MacCad to more.
Autodesk must have felt the pinch, because after a huge delay, AutoCAD for the Mac is back! But Autodesk took it even further – they released AutoCAD WS for mobile use (read iPad and iPhone)! So not only can you get back to your Mac, you can go to job sites with your iPad and pull up drawings on the touch screen – how freaking awesome is that?
Now the debate… since I will be upgrading my computer system again this coming summer, do I make the switch to a Mac w/ and iPad, which means paying an upgrade fee for CAD and buying new software for all the rest of my junk, or do I say screw it and switch to a Mac/iPad right now? Decisions, decisions….
While I decide, here’s something to make you smile (courtesy of my friend Rocio)
A tourist walked into a pet shop and was looking at the animals on display. While he was there, another customer walked in and said to the shopkeeper, “I’ll have an AutoCAD monkey please.” The shopkeeper nodded, went over to a cage at the side of the shop and took out a monkey. He fitted a collar and leash, handed it to the customer, saying, “That’ll be $5000.” The customer paid and walked out with his monkey.
Startled, the tourist went over to the shopkeeper and said, “That was a very expensive monkey. Most of them are only few hundred dollars. Why did that one cost so much?”
The Shopkeeper answered, “Ah, that monkey can draw in AutoCAD – very fast, clear layouts, no mistakes, well worth the money.”
The tourist looked at a monkey in another cage. “That one’s even more expensive! $10,000! What does it do?”
“Oh, that one’s a Design monkey; it can design systems, layout projects, mark-up drawings, write specifications, some even calculate. All the really useful stuff,” said the shopkeeper.
The tourist looked around for a little longer and saw a third monkey in its own cage. The price tag around its neck read $50,000. He gasped to the shopkeeper, “That one costs more than all the others put together! What on earth does it do?”
The shopkeeper replied, “Well, I haven’t actually seen it do anything, but it says it’s an Engineer.”