The History Of DWG CAD
The CAD industry as a whole has been a somewhat small and secular community in regards to the rest of the software industry. There aren’t nearly as many new releases in a year and there are only a few major players which have a virtual monopoly with customers. These pseudo-monopolies and small markets create a unique opportunity to look back into the past of CAD and what has changed and stayed the same. Unlike markets such as word and image processing, CAD software has had very few new comers to the market and there is only a handful of different pieces of software as opposed to the hundreds word and image processing has produced. AutoCAD has been one of if not the most popular choices for CAD software and has since been developed into the most widely used suite of drafting tools. The format of choice and the standard of which all other drafting tools must accommodate became the DWG CAD format.
The DWG CAD format was originally created in the late 1970’s, years before the initial release of AutoCAD. DWG CAD had been created for another drafting program called Interact CAD which was developed by Mark Riddle. In late 1982 Interact CAD had been converted into AutoCAD and thusly it’s favorite and native file format DWG CAD has also in turn been converted to be read by AutoCAD. As the years passed and CAD software became more and more popular, so did AutoCAD and along with that its native file format DWG CAD quickly became the industry standard, much like the jpg format for pictures. The DWG CAD format has gone beyond what any other drafting file format has and unfortunately because of expensive licensing many non-AutoCAD projects are unable to use the DWG CAD format, which has caused many problems.
Due to the extreme popularity of the DWG CAD format, many people have wished they could use the format and have the benefits that come with it, but have wanted to stray away from the AutoCAD drafting suite. In 1998 this desire had spurred the creation of a group called the Open Design Alliance which created third party libraries which allowed other programs that were not AutoCAD to use the DWG CAD format. With the third party solution in place nothing could stop the DWG CAD format from becoming even more popular. Today it is seen almost exclusively used and while AutoCAD is still the most popular drafting suite in use, the smaller drafting alternatives are becoming more widely used due to the drafting communities interaction with one another. As time goes on there is less and less secularism and more programs are working with one another, which creates a better environment for all drafters.
It’s amazing to think one program and one file format can take over an entire industry. While others such as the jpg format have accomplished the same feats, rarely do these formats last for as long as DWG CAD has. For nearly thirty years both the DWG CAD format and AutoCAD have ruled the drafting world and with every year passing more features are being added to AutoCAD and thusly DWG CAD is being edited too. There seems to be no end to the popularity for both of the above. If you’re interested in drafting, odds are that at one point in your life you’ll come across either AutoCAD or DWG CAD.
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