Free 2D CAD from Dassault

It looks a bit like Ashlar's old DrawingBoard, which wouldn't be surprising, because Dassault and Ashlar worked together on CATIA/Vellum file exchange and coordination.

DrawingBoard was one of the slickest and easiest-to-use 2D programs of its time.

CAD software represents a significant investment in learning how to use it. Would you put your money in a bank that required you to re-qualify periodically with no guarantee that you could ever get your money back?

Being able to export to another commercial program that you can't afford is small consolation.

If it times out, it ain't free.

I agree with your point about the investment in time and effort to learn a software package -- I've become proficient with autocad plus 3 solid modelers over the last 25 years. In fact, I've used the same argument when urging folks to try Alibre instead of a cheap/free 2D package. But for some things, 2D is all one needs.

The bank analogy is flawed, unless the bank also matched your deposit when you open the account; in other words, they're putting up something of value as well. A gambling analogy would be more on point.

DXF is a de facto standard format. It'd be difficult to find a program (cheap, free, or expensive) that doesn't read dxfs.

The banking analogy is right on. They put up the "Bank" which is their free program trap, and you deposit all of your IP into the trap. At any time they can hold all of your IP hostage.

You keep making IP deposits into their "bank" and at any time they can fold the bank and destroy your IP unless you re-qualify.

I think the bank is more representative than the gambler.

They may hold you hostage for the time and effort you've put into learning the software, but your IP (the drawing files you've created) are portable, and can be be opened and edited on numerous other systems.

Have you considered a Autocad clone? I use the CMS version at

there are several flavors of intellicad at very good prices

-- Unka George (George McDuffee) .............................. The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. L. P. Hartley (1895-1972), British author. The Go-Between, Prologue (1953).

Probably the main risk is having to learn another program, which with

2D isn't all that big an effort. I might give it a try, and I'll make sure that my licensed copy of Solidworks can open the files properly.