Thursday, March 15, 2012

We've Always Done It This Way!

AutoCAD Version 1.0 was released in 1982. It was one of several desktop 'CADD' applications to evolve from the earlier mainframe and minicomputer CAD systems. See Marian Bozdoc's detailed history of CAD.

In the days of the IBM PC-AT, it was a very common practice to purchase a single copy of the software, to be installed on several computers. AutoCAD became the "defacto standard" by virtue of its availability.
  
Now it's thirty years later and we're approaching the time when the majority of CAD practitioners have never put together a set of documents "by hand". We've always done it this way!

That's not a bad thing. It simply shows how much progress has been made. Over time, the 'best practices' for using CAD evolved into an industry standard and were proliferated throughout the profession.

Many current CAD practitioners may not be aware of how and why these methods evolved, which knowledge is essential when evaluating the need for change. I intend to bring these situations to Light here.

So far I am categorizing these anecdotes as "Strange But True".





1 comment:

  1. yes, that's why I like learning how to do certain thing by hand or the history things. Even reading some old computer program books for older program versions because it gives a person more understanding of the "character" behind a program's methods and thus a key to the best workflow.

    -evan

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