Dassault Systemes Launches new 2D CAD free!

Dassault Systemes has announced that they are going to shake up the industry by public beta releasing a free community driven 2D CAD application called DraftSight.  Those of us who use AutoCAD or DWGEditor will find the interface familiar enough to use it without much trouble.  Future development will be driven by the community via the new DraftSight community at draftsight.com.  Dassualt Systemes plans to “leverage the community to build a better product”, according to Aaron Kelly.

As I used a private beta version last week, I did discover a number of bugs, so I will reserve my full review until I have a chance to try out the latest officially released version of DraftSight.  I will also talk about DraftSight’s place in the Dassault Systemes’ family of products and how this affects SolidWorks users.  Additionally, I will talk about how Dassualt Systemes plans to fund future development of DraftSight offered as free product.

Author: fcsuper

As a drafter, mechanical designer and CAD engineer, I've been in the mechanical design field since 1991. For the first 8 years of my career, I was an AutoCAD professional. I utilized AutoLISP and many other AutoCAD customization features to streamline drafting activities for 6+ drafters and designers. I authored several custom functions, one of which was published in the March 1997 issue of Cadalyst Magazine. Since 1998, I've been used SolidWorks non-stop. I've worked to utilize the SolidWorks' user environment to simplify drafting and design activities for 20+ engineers. I've created this website to provide current information about SolidWorks from a variety of contributors. More recently, I am now employed by Dassault Systemes as SOLIDWORKS Sr. Product Definition Manager to improve drawing, annotation and MBD related areas. View all posts by fcsuper