"" Of course you aren't going to be able to retrieve comparable amounts of data from both of them. That still doesn't mean dwg is more complex format. ""
Oh, I see. Using the opening PDF as an excuse to call for the opening of the DWG format is still apples and candy wrappers. While the individual formats may or may not have the same complexity, one is a format from which I can glean an enormous amount of complex data, while the other is little more than MS Paint. There is that better?
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"" No, you really don't. All you're offering here is more speculations. ""
Part of my business is providing skilled designers to engineering firms around the country. We communicate on a regular basis with a large portion of the industry design end users in an attempt to meet their needs. So I am quite familiar with what a good chunk of the design community is doing. In the last year we've had hundreds of queries for skilled AutoCAD help ranging from Plain-Jane to any of the desktop verts to Revit and INventor. PDS help (especially admin) is the second most requested, after that is a big gap before you get to Pro-E, Msta, VersaCAD, Intellicad, Plant-4D, SolidWorks and others. In the all years I've been associated with this business we've never had a request for a PDF creator, nor have we had a request for someone that could work on a clone of MSTA.
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"" Bringing up the fact that they claimed it would error free has nothing to do with anything. ""
...
"" Of course ActiveX components aren't going to run in Firefox on a Unix or Mac. ""
That IS the point, GENIUS. We already have a plethora of loose canons making claims of full compatibility that isn't there, and we already KNOW that they won't run identically. Opening the format will only fuel that insanity.
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"" That doesn't change the fact that you are benefiting from others work ""
Yes I am.
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"" In the previous post you complained about "those wishing to profit from some one else's work product", ""
No complaint, but a comment relating to the whine coming from those who disdain the closed DWG format.
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"" which is exactly what you are doing. So like I said, you're against the sharing of information unless it benefits you in some way. ""
Well here let me explain the difference. If someone says, "hey you can't use that commercially", I'll say cool and go look for something else. There are some that post at the swamp that use a disclaimer in their code to that effect, and I respect that wish. Now we have some 250 posts relating to opening the DWG format. AutoDESK has stated it's a proprietary format, and I respect that every bit as much as I would your code. In either case, whining that it's not open is just so much sour grapes from those wishing to benefit from someone else's work product without paying for the privilege.
(In the DWG case, I can see a severe detriment to my current operation if the format is opened and have so stated.)
Now, if you can't see that difference, it's only because you so choose.
But hey, that's just me.
Randall Culp
Civil-Structural Design Technician
(aka CADaver)