A loyal subscriber emailed me to remind me about this cool tool where you can have your icons in Windows Explorer display which version of AutoCAD was used to create a dwg file.

 

 

 

A subscriber emailed me to ask how to edit a VLX file.  This is a lsp file (autolisp) that has been compiled using the VLISP Editor so it can not be modified or copied.

 

The whole point of compiling a lisp routine into a VLX is to prevent someone from copying your code or changing it.

 

So, if you have a VLX file you want to modify, your only choice is to code the routine from scratch...I don't know of any method of editing and cracking a VLX file.

 

I don't know if it is coincidence or just a rising sense of frustration, but I got three emails this week from different people - two instructors at colleges and one applications engineer for a reseller - all complaining about the difficulty of keeping up with the annual releases of Autodesk software.

 

It wasn't so bad when Autodesk staggered their releases, so there was 1-3 months between each new release.  This meant that AutoCAD would be released in March.  AutoCAD Architectural might see an April release. Inventor's release would happen in June.  Revit's release in July, etc.  This gave instructors and AEs an opportunity to sink their teeth into each release before they went on to the next software application.

 

But, now every March Autodesk unveils their line-up like it is some sort of fashion parade.  Adding insult to injury, some of the more recent releases have been little more than a Carny shuffling cards on a folding table - move a dialog box here, change a mouse click there, Presto-Change-O...it's a new release! 

 

I was extremely disappointed in the 2008 crop of software, particularly Inventor - which I still don't have properly installed.  I have to stay productive, so I just moved over to SolidWorks. 

 

I think there should be some sort of rule that in order for you to upgrade and release a new software version there should be something significantly different... at least 20-30 new features.  Let's raise the bar here.  Don't call it a new release just so you can extort more money from the customer or give them a warm fuzzy (which will turn more like a sour stomach) if they are on subscription.

 

I sense a growning malaise from the 'desker base.  They don't mind paying for an upgrade if it is really an upgrade.  They don't mind learning the new features...if you aren't wasting their time.  What they don't like is coughing up the dough, installing the new release and then finding out it is the same pig with new make-up.  They were happy with the old pig.

 

Autodesk has a strong customer base, but they are messing with their customer loyalty when they play these types of mind games.  Users are smarter than that...and with free or lower cost software like Sketchup and Alibre out there...Autodesk shouldn't give them any more reasons to bail.

 

 

Free Lisp Routine to Make Roof Lines - Thanks to Dermot Meaney in New South Wales, Australia for the tip!