[openstandaarden] OpenDWG: Who should have control of your DWG files?

[Wouter Vanden Hove]

Ik wist niet dat CAD-programma's ook met een "doc"-probleem zaten.
Zie http://www.opendwg.org  (toevoegen aan linkspagina?)

Wout.


The DWG format is the de facto standard for storage of CAD data. 
Autodesk claims that there are more than two billion drawings in this 
format. But DWG is a closed, proprietary format. This data format offers 
nothing of value to its users, other than its compatibility with 
AutoCAD. There is no method provided by Autodesk that allows users a 
free, easy way to write programs to access this data. The closed nature 
of this format has unreasonably limited interoperability with other CAD 
programs. And every user who stores his or her valuable data in this 
format is beholden to Autodesk for the software that allows them to 
retrieve it. An open DWG standard will allow all CAD users access to 
their own data.

The OpenDWG Alliance is an association of CAD customers and vendors 
committed to promoting Autodesk's AutoCAD DWG drawing file format as an 
open, industry-standard format for the exchange of CAD drawings. As a 
result, CAD data will finally be fully-accessible; CAD software will 
work better with existing DWG files; and developers will be able to 
concentrate on building products instead of reverse-engineering solutions.

To promote this standard, the OpenDWG Alliance is providing free 
resources and tools designed to help you take control of your drawings. 
For the first time ever, the Alliance is publishing its specification 
for the DWG file format. In addition, we are granting Alliance members a 
non-exclusive, perpetual, royalty-free license to the source and object 
code of the OpenDWG Toolkit (originally based on the MarComp AUTODIRECT 
libraries). These tools enable the reading and writing of DWG files for 
versions of AutoCAD through AutoCAD 2002*. As future versions of AutoCAD 
emerge, we will provide updated libraries to read and write these formats.