Getting Wish List Items into AutoCAD

[BCrouse]

What is the process for getting the a wish list item to be part of AutoCADD? Also, could these items work for an early version of CADD?

Thank you,

Brad

[BrenBren]

Brad,

The most popular wish list items listed here will be presented to Autodesk for possible introduction into future versions - which is the reason it is important for everyone to rank the wishes.

The ideas will NOT be introduced into past releases of AutoCAD - that would be bad business practice. Autodesk obviously wants you to buy the latest version of their software. That is why there are new releases, to add new features and fix buggy ones.

[BCrouse]

Thank you,

[michael.12445]

Sorry if this sounds a bit cynical, but I just can't resist...

As CADGirl explained, you can post wishes here and vote for the wishes others have posted, and the top-ranked ones will be presented to Autodesk, which I think happens once a year. Think of Autodesk as the Tsar in 19th-Century Russia, to whom the peasants (we users) were allowed to present petitions once a year. Of course the Tsar cannot allow himself to be besmirched by direct contact with the peasants, but has the petitions routed through his ministers (AUGI).

A sarcastic analogy? Maybe, but I once had a similar post removed from an Autodesk forum with a nasty note from the moderator, which leads me to believe that it's uncomfortably close to the truth.

What you'll find is that this process results in the incorporation of ONLY those wishes that result in new bells and whistles that Autodesk can then use to make the new release sound as sexy as possible. Some wishes that would really make AutoCAD a lot better and more user-friendly will never be incorporated because either (1) they might hurt Autodesk's bottom line, or (2) they might result in a product that was so good that no one would ever see a reason to upgrade.

For example:

- Breaking it apart into separately available modules, so you could buy only as much as you need, i.e., an AutoCAD LT that could run AutoLISP;
- Making it handle errant data from 3rd-party applications gracefully instead of crashing mysteriously and blaming it on files that "got corrupted";
- Incorporating some basic intelligence into OSNAPS so that, for example, if ORTHO or POLAR is on, points that lie on orthogonal targets are "preferred";
- Basic functionality like plotting and dimensioning that really works without the end user having to go through so many hoops;

etc., etc.

Michael Evans

[mjfarrell]

Carefull, Michael some moderator is right now clicking on
both our juvenile reputation buttons for getting on a
soap-box about AutoDesk, and AUGI is on their leash
so to speak due to the financial contribution that AutoDesk
makes to them. Given the moderators exrcise full editorial
control (censorship) we users must walk a much finer line than
ever so as to not encounter such editing of our posts.

I would rather the quality of the technical information in the post be
rated, not turn the forums into some juvenile cliche.

[BrenBren]

Sorry if this sounds a bit cynical, but I just can't resist...

As CADGirl explained, you can post wishes here and vote for the wishes others have posted, and the top-ranked ones will be presented to Autodesk, which I think happens once a year.
AUGI presents the wishlist to Autodesk during AU, which is in November/December. In years past, AUGI has compiled the most requested wishes and created a poll where ALL users can vote on their favorite ones. AUGI then takes the top 10 of those and presents it. It is up to Autodesk to incorporate them or not incorporate them.


Think of Autodesk as the Tsar in 19th-Century Russia, to whom the peasants (we users) were allowed to present petitions once a year. Of course the Tsar cannot allow himself to be besmirched by direct contact with the peasants, but has the petitions routed through his ministers (AUGI).And I am sure that Michael Dell PERSONALLY asks you what you want on your computer, and the CEO of WalMart asks you PERSONALLY what to carry in his store, and when you want tomatos on your Big Mac you go and ask the CEO of McDonalds PERSONALLY right?


What you'll find is that this process results in the incorporation of ONLY those wishes that result in new bells and whistles that Autodesk can then use to make the new release sound as sexy as possible. Some wishes that would really make AutoCAD a lot better and more user-friendly will never be incorporated because either (1) they might hurt Autodesk's bottom line, or (2) they might result in a product that was so good that no one would ever see a reason to upgrade.

For example:

- Breaking it apart into separately available modules, so you could buy only as much as you need, i.e., an AutoCAD LT that could run AutoLISP;
- Making it handle errant data from 3rd-party applications gracefully instead of crashing mysteriously and blaming it on files that "got corrupted";
- Incorporating some basic intelligence into OSNAPS so that, for example, if ORTHO or POLAR is on, points that lie on orthogonal targets are "preferred";
- Basic functionality like plotting and dimensioning that really works without the end user having to go through so many hoops;

etc., etc.

Michael Evans
If these wishes are in the top 10, they are presented. Again, it is not up to AUGI to determine what goes into Autodesk. It is up to Autodesk. We are just a user group that is asking Autodesk to do something for us. I am sure there is some data out there on this, but I don't know where, but I would like to see how many of the wish list items presented have been incorporated in AutoCAD. I think you would be surprised.

And, just because you think something is important, doesn't necessarily mean it is a good idea. Personally, I find dimensioning to be very easy. I have never had a problem with it. And plotting isn't all that difficult either. It is the consensus of the group

Just my $0.02

[michael.12445]

And I am sure that Michael Dell PERSONALLY asks you what you want on your computer, and the CEO of WalMart asks you PERSONALLY what to carry in his store, and when you want tomatos on your Big Mac you go and ask the CEO of McDonalds PERSONALLY right?

Well, no, I don't expect a personal audience with Ms. Bartz, especially with my attitude :). I just find it off-putting that customers who paid a lot of $ for AutoCAD can't deal directly with Autodesk unless they fork over more $ for paid support. Autodesk chooses to isolate itself by interposing dealers, and AUGI, between itself and its customers. (However, I did once write to Lou Gerstner when he was CEO of IBM, and I got a letter back in response.)


If these wishes are in the top 10, they are presented. Again, it is not up to AUGI to determine what goes into Autodesk. It is up to Autodesk. We are just a user group that is asking Autodesk to do something for us.

My point exactly. In fact, replace "asking" with the synonym "petitioning" and you get pretty close to my comment.


I am sure there is some data out there on this, but I don't know where, but I would like to see how many of the wish list items presented have been incorporated in AutoCAD. I think you would be surprised.And, just because you think something is important, doesn't necessarily mean it is a good idea. Personally, I find dimensioning to be very easy. I have never had a problem with it. And plotting isn't all that difficult either. It is the consensus of the group.

I do think Autodesk incorporates a lot of wish list items into AutoCAD, but again, I think basic nuts-and-bolts functionality takes a back seat to those items that have a higher "gee-whiz" factor. Our experience with upgrading from R14 to R2002 was that while many of the enhancements were nice, whatever productivity might have been gained from them was canceled out by having to spend hours and sometimes days recovering drawings that became mysteriously and sometimes irretrievably screwed up by editing them in R2002. (Oftentimes even our dealer is at a loss as to how or why.) And yes, in an environment with many users, we had to concoct our own LISP file to force every single dimensioning variable to the right value in order to get dimensioning to behave, and sending plot files to service bureas is still a **** shoot because there are so many things that can go wrong.

I contrast this with products that just work, out of the box, with a minimum of fuss. IMHO "user-friendly" and "plays well with others" don't describe AutoCAD very well, and some of its annoyances and clunkiness are just downright amateurish.

Michael Evans

[thomas.stright]

This is starting to sound like Germany 1938.......

[mjfarrell]

This is starting to sound like Germany 1938.......


You have no idea, how close to the truth you have come.
As some of the 'moderators' identify themselves as such
in their user profile, while others hide the fact that they are
moderators. So yes AUGI has it's very own version of
The Secret Police.
I have asked, and got no answer why they (moderators) should
not be required to identify themselves as such.
The answer I got was a link to the page that lists the moderators
only I'm pretty sure the end users of this forum should not be
required to go there and discover who is or isn't a moderator
as a matter of course.