I was just reading in an IT mag I get, and saw an interesting article that says Siemens is offering it’s Solid Edge 2D Drafting software as a free download.  To quote the article, “While Siemens is willing to forgo the $995 cost of the software, it will still charge for support, and automatic upgrades still carry a fee.”  So far there have been over 80,000 downloads, and 70% of those are in the manufacturing sector.

I am not familiar with this program, and I haven’t had time to play with it yet, but I get the impression that it is a very mature product from a company with a lot of clout in the business world.  Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Sketchup, and I’m not suggesting that this is to be used instead of SU.  Furthermore, it is a 2D drafting program, so it’s in a different class.  But if someone were looking for a good (free) drafting program, it might be worth a download.

I’ll post the link to the download, but you are on your own after that.  As I said, I haven’t even had a chance to get it yet, so don’t ask me any questions about it.  I’m just passing along the information.

http://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/en_us/products/velocity/solidedge/free2d/index.shtml

GT