CompuServe Thread

Craig — Well, for heaven's sake. Of course we're working on it. As to specifics: Layer naming choices – we would all like to see some improvement in this area, but no one seems to have an idea that we can all agree upon. We would like very much to see some standards created by the industry. As a software company, we're not sure that we (alone) should be the ones to attempt to create and/or impose a layering standard. To that end, we're working with a number of professional organizations in the construction trades. In the meantime, we'll do the best we can with the current industry standards (which every architect here on the Forum seems to disagree with in some way). Extensive parametrics – there are hundreds of parametric symbols on the current AEC template, with more on the way in the next release. An attribute IS a user-definable element stored in the drawing file. I'm not sure what else you mean. "AutoWindows"…hmmm, sounds pretty good, and we do it right now on the Sun, VAXStation/MicroVAX and Apollo workstations (multiple sessions running concurrently), if that's what you mean. Associative elements – the next release of AutoCAD will be able to maintain permanent associativity between drawing elements and external data files. Dimensioning standards – we are always working to improve our dimensioning capability. It's because of people like you, who are willing to share their time and expertise with us, that dimensioning will become more powerful with future releases of AutoCAD. You can run AutoCAD right now on a network (using the net for file-serving and peripheral sharing) or stand-alone. As we announced in June of last year, the next release of AutoCAD will have a fully three-dimensional database, and trust me, you're going to love it. I can't comment on competitive products. If you have more specific recommendations about these topics, please send 'em over. And thanks for taking the time to talk with me. Always a pleasure. — Brad ..