DoubleCAD XT, free commercial use 2D detailing app.

wmanning

This all sounds good....but in the comparison chart the price for a seat of AutoCad LT is listed as $1200.00...while the price of DoubleCAD XT is listed at 695.00. You can purchase a seat of AutoCad lt 2009 for $559.00...check amazon.com. Bashing AutoDesk and Microsoft have become popular...They produce tools...if you don't like them.....don't buy them....use the one that produces the results you require...
I'm just saying that if you are comparing prices.....how bout a little honesty.

Cadward, please don't take this the wrong way, but I just noticed the last line of "how bout a little honesty" and I felt I had to respond. I certainly don't think it is dishonest to provide a comparison of list price to list price. With promotions, incentives, rebates, and bundles, prices for their product can be lower for a period, or in some markets higher still. You mentioned an Amazon.com price which is a new promotion level as LT 2009 is now technically downrev. You couldn't get that price two weeks ago.

The US $1,200 is the list for AutoCAD LT in the US. In other countries it can often be much more expensive. Notice that the this blogger points out that LT is 1,700 Euros in Guinea (http://lac-conakry.blogspot.com/2009/02/doublecad-xt-un-logiciel-de-cao-gratuit.html) which is MUCH more than US$1,200. Prices vary...

The AutoCAD LT upgrade price is $575. Today on Amazon.com I did see LT 2009 on sale for $679. For us to track each promotion in each market is just too difficult. We quote our own price at $695 list, but that doesn't count our promotions either.

Today, on the Autodesk.com web site the price of AutoCAD LT 2010 is listed at $1,200. We're not trying to mislead anybody.

No hard feelings, I just wanted to clear the air on that one. I hope you enjoy the software and profit from it!

William

Gaieus

I have never been a CAD user - more exactly until recently - though I have used vector graphics software (apart from SU of course) before as well.

I don't know about differences between AutoCAD, ArhiCAD, DoubleCAD or any other piece of this category but honestly speaking, thanks William for this "freebie" (so far I'm using this version) so that I can start learning whatever it is really.

And yes, if I were thinking about upgrading to a Pro version (of anything actually),I'd probably choose DoubleCAD after I've got(ten) familiarised with it (now not even considering those rumours one can read in the Corner Bar about Autodesk's pricing policy and potential craziness)

cadward

wmanning
ok....honesty...Do I like AutoDesk pricing policy?....No
Do I work for AutoDesk?....No
Do I use AutoDesk software?....yes
Do I hope DoubleCad is a success?....certainly, it look very interesting

Your product is compatable with AutoCad LT 2009. It is not compatable with 2010 (2010 unfortunately has a new dwg format)
You were comparing your Pro selling price with AutoCad LT 2009 MSRP (list price). Please compare sale price with sale price.
Amazon clearly sells it today for $559 (just checked). I call your statement being a little deceptive, hey but thats a well accepted advertising strategy...and a lot of companies do it. (just being honest)

I use AutoCad 2010 ,AutoCad Architecture 2010, and occasionally Revit Architecture 2008. I use them because the vast majority of the Architectural Industry uses them. I know I can share my files with all my consutants with very few problems.
Provide me with a viable, cheaper alternative and I will gladly use it! Until then I will continue to use what has kept me in business since 1990.

I just like to know actual purchasing prices of the software I am looking at....Thats All...It helps me control what I buy...and where I buy it from.

I hope your company is successful....because in the long run... competition helps keep prices down and improves the quality of the software we use.

I meant no disrepect to you personally...Just want to know the facts.

Always looking for better alternatives...

G Ward

Ecuadorian

@gaieus said:

I have never been a CAD user

I'm in a similar boat, Gaieus. Nowadays I only use CAD for doing some clean-up of the drawings I receive from my clients before building 3D models from them. That's why I am so grateful to the Double CAD team

wmanning

@cadward said:

...Please compare sale price with sale price.
Amazon clearly sells it today for $559 (just checked). I call your statement being a little deceptive, hey but thats a well accepted advertising strategy...and a lot of companies do it. (just being honest)

...I meant no disrepect to you personally...Just want to know the facts.

Thanks for that last part, the feeling is mutual!

That said let me try to answer a bit more regarding price comparison and being "deceptive." (Hopefully this is read in the academic spirit in which I write it.)

Regarding the first part quoted above, it is too difficult to compare sale price to sale price when the prices change daily, apply to one reseller location for one version, in one geography. Hopefully each potential customer can see list vs. list and see what is the best deal that they can get on either product. It may be online, or it may be tossed into a bundle with other products coming from a VAR.

I checked Amazon today. The special I mentioned yesterday for $679 is gone. Today's price is actually $859 for last year's LT. The $559 price you mention is for the Upgrade SKU from LT06/07/08 to LT09. (Same price for the LT 2010 upgrade on Amazon.) See attached images. Amazon can sell at these prices only in specific markets, and the prices do and can change daily (as in the last 24 hours).

A few other prices today, April 1, 2009, for AutoCAD LT 2009:
Amazon.co.uk UK £1,652.69 (US $2,380.70 at today's exchange rate)
and LT 2006 for £600! (US $ 864.30 not eligible for upgrade)
Amazon.fr French market: EUR 1.846,70 (US$ 2,441.71 today.)

Is it deceptive for Autodesk to list the product at $1,200 when one of their resellers has a lower price? I don't think so. We have no intention of being deceptive.

Our latest effort has been to compare to an LT 2010 upgrade. Their LT product includes a couple of great new features like PDF underlay, better Xref support, and DWG2010 support. For most users it will be a choice of the upgrade price vs. our price. For that we decided to match the official upgrade price through May 23: ACLT2010 for customers with LT 07-09 at $575 vs DoubleCAD XT Pro to anyone at $575, or DoubleCAD XT for $0.

We appreciate Autodesk too btw. We hope to be a companion to AutoCAD (much like AutoCAD LT is today). We compete with them but being just a couple of miles down the road they have some of our old employees and vice versa.

-- William

watkins

Dear William,

While price is important, so is the way that DoubleCAD interfaces with Sketchup. You promised a few more video tutorials showing how work-flow between the two applications. When might these be ready?

Regards,
Bob

wmanning

Bob,

Sorry about the lengthy price stuff. Probably just a little overworked lately, sorry Cadwald if I came across too touchy.

Obviously dropped the ball on the videos. Should have something in a few days.

wm

cadward

no problem....looking forward to the tutorials

utiler

William, any advance on those video tutorials...?

wmanning

I've got to admit that progress is slow... I've had a lot of recent hardware problems, resolved only after a format

Also we are a late entry in the AIA Expo2009 coming up in two weeks in San Francisco (booth 739 if you're coming -- just down the aisle from Google and Autodesk), and I've been tagged with creating the booth, etc. So I apologize for the delays. We've been swamped with work recently. I'll try to get on it though as soon as I can.

utiler

@wmanning said:

I've got to admit that progress is slow... I've had a lot of recent hardware problems, resolved only after a format
OUCH!!!!!!

No problem, look forward to them soon.....

HPW

Is DoubleCAD STD or PRO in any way scriptabel like Autocad with AutoLisp/DCL ?

Regards

Hans-Peter

wmanning

There is no scripting language implemented yet. We will be creating a published SDK and then implement scripting. We have been having lots of discussions about that: whether to do LISP, Ruby, Python... If we implement LISP it might be nearly impossible to make it very highly compatible with existing AutoLISP scripts, so that makes us hesitant to implement LISP. We're still taking input if you have suggestions and opinions!

HPW

@unknownuser said:

If we implement LISP it might be nearly impossible to make it very highly compatible with existing AutoLISP scripts, so that makes us hesitant to implement LISP. We're still taking input if you have suggestions and opinions!

It might not be highly compatible (for example compatibel to the latest VisualLisp improvments) but it should be compatibel to the early AutoLisp's.
But also important is any kind of scriptable GUI. So a DCL-compatible solution would be a wellknown Standard. (Intellicad and their clones support this mostly)

Also SketchUp with its Ruby-API has a web-based GUI included.
But there are also alternatives like FxRuby etc.

So keep us informed what (and when) language will get into your products.

My personal vote:

1.Lisp
2.Ruby

jpalm32

Best Free 2D Cad download EVER! Tried them all! This is the best. Brings in SKP also.
Tried some trial and they had more problems with my Autocad files.
I was willing to buy after using Autocad Lite but no upgrade price for my version 1000 bucks NO way.

wmanning

Rather short notice, but we have started running Webinars on DoubleCAD XT and XT PRO. Wednesday, June 10 we'll be doing one on SketchUp to DoubleCAD XT PRO workflow. It will be at 8:30 am PDT (GMT - 7). We'll add more sessions to our calendar including some afternoon sessions to cross over with Asia/Pacific region morning hours.

View upcoming events, and sign-up here:

http://www.doublecad.com/Support/LearningCenter/Webinars/EventsCalendar/tabid/1403/Default.aspx

Hope to see you there!

William

jwlyon1

Just another jealous mac user...

Vote for mac version!!

wmanning

Thanks for the Mac vote...

By the way, I forgot to pointout that the Webinar we did was recorded and can be viewed here for those interested: http://www.doublecad.com/Products/DoubleCADXTPro/ProFeatures/FileInteropampXrefs/SketchUpWorkflow/tabid/1455/Default.aspx

Just click on the videos tab. The first half shows how DoubleCAD XT handles .SKP models, and the second half shows a bit of additional PRO functionality.

William

Edson

i have watched the video and was very impressed by it. however, it has no mac version which kinda spoils the fun for me.

are there any plans for a mac version? if i am not mistaken IDX Renditioner has one and this is a good precedent.

wmanning

I know that we'd like to do a Mac and even Linux versions, but right now there are no concrete plans for that. The DoubleCAD video was shot on a Mac running DoubleCAD under VM Fusion because several of us working on DoubleCAD use Macs too, but clearly a native version would be better.

-- William