Autodesk Inc, the company that lives in the unlikely location of Sausalito, the idyllic artists’ colony on San Francisco Bay, a short boat ride from the city – pass Alcatraz on your left – is shipping entry level computer-aided drafting and design software which runs on personal computers only and is aimed, the company says, at the occasional, professional user. In May 1989 Autodesk, which develops the AutoCad range, bought Generic CADD and its family of products which have been around since 1986 and are mainly sold in the US – something that Autodesk aims to change. The company plans to ship 6,000 copies this year. According to AutoDesk, part time users – professionals that do not design all day – need a proper CAD system but not a full-blown product requiring lots of hardware which costs lots of money. Hence the Generic CADD which comes in MS-DOS and Macintosh versions and Generic 3D Drafting. The MS-DOS versions needs only a machine with 1Mb memory, while the Macintosh will run on a Macintosh Plus up. Design software such as AutoCad requires a personal computer with 4Mb of memory, a maths co-processor and usually, a colour monitor. The Generic systems do not run under Windows 3.0. The systems include single point floating precision accuracy, dynamic dragging to enable users to see how components fit together before they place them, solid filling and cross hatching. It is designed for general purpose applications such as precision drawing. Generic CADD for the Macintosh costs UKP350 and is available in August. The MS-DOS version is also UKP350, available now, and the Generic 3D Drafting costs UKP250 and is available now. Autodesk’s UK subsidiary is headquartered in London SE1.
