AutoCAD 2005 Rant

Earlier today I opened the new issue of Architecture magazine and only got as far as the two page spread on the inside cover. At first glance I thought it was an ad for some prescription drug like Provasic or another highly-advertised pill to improve our lives in some way, but it turned out to be an ad for the latest release of AutoCAD. Yes, AutoCAD 2005 is parodying those popular drug ads to...to...to do what? I'm not really sure. Architects and architecture firms don't purchase ACAD because of a funny or ironic advertising scheme, but because it's the industry standard software, or at least the most popular software for architects, engineers and other related professions, among other reasons like coordination and the fact they already use it.



Maybe autodesk is touting their newest release as the release that will solve your ills and give you lots of free time and make you feel a lot better. From the images of people clapping, jumping and having fun to text like, "you're going to be finishing tedious tasks much faster, so you can spend more time on the more rewarding aspects of your work...you'll probably be happier...more productive," that's the impression I get.



I guess I bring up their ad because I believe that with every piece of software or every update comes new problems, so productivity never really increases very much. Yes, architects can do a lot more with CAD than they could drawing and building models by hand - like realistic renderings and animations - but these things take time. Also, referring to the quote above, I wouldn't say that rendering isn't tedious like the tasks they're referring to, such as drawings wall partitions.



I don't want to ramble on too long about this because I'm tired and moreso haven't investigated the new features in release 2005, but am I the only person that thinks these things? That yearly updates on extremely expensive software are extreme? That increased productivity as a sales point is misleading? That prescription drugs aren't the best target for parody and irony?



But with the name of this and my other web page I really shouldn't talk.