Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 10:51:28 -0800
From: John Lynch
To: pcmag@zd.com, gary@softsource.com
Subject: LT vs. AutoCAD

I read David Cohn's review on low-cost CAD ("A Whole New Side to
CAD") in your December 2 issue with more than just a passing
interest.  I must comment on a couple of things.

It seems that Mr. Cohn is comparing many of the low-cost CAD
packages to full-blown AutoCAD (list price $3750), not 
AutoCAD LT.  For example, in his review of VDraft, he comments
that the package lacks "AutoCAD's robust 3D capabilities", but
so does AutoCAD LT.  He goes on to describe the lack of support
for "AutoLISP, ADS or ASE" in the package, but AutoCAD LT lacks
these capabilities as well.  I also believe that LT provides only
relative input via the digitizer, just like VDraft.

I believe it would be more useful to your readers to compare 
these packages on a consistent basis with AutoCAD LT rather 
than AutoCAD since their prices are less than 15% those of 
full-blown AutoCAD.

John Lynch


(Author's note: my "more than just a passing interest" comes
from my 11+ years at Autodesk where I most recently served as
an executive and was responsible for the first version of
AutoCAD LT, and many releases of AutoCAD.  Although I left Autodesk
in July, I am still intensely interested in this market, and just
want your readers to make informed decisions based on objective 
reviews.  Too many CAD reviews appear to be written
by AutoCAD users and enthusiasts.  C'mon David, you can do better
than this!)