"What's Inside? AutoCAD 2008"Updated

The second edition of "What's Inside? AutoCAD 2008" ebook is now available, one week after the software became available.

(The first edition was based on a beta of the software; the second edition adds eight pages of new and missing information, and corrects some errors.)

Introducing the first edition, I claimed it contained 2x more information than was available from Autodesk -- based on an informal survey. But now I have the hard number: this ebook gives 34% more info.

Autodesk "New Features Guide"
- lists 128 new and changed commands and system variables
- 74 smaller-size pages
- full color images
- printed on paper but no index
- free with purchase of AutoCAD 2008 (US$3,995 or less)

upFront.eZine Publishing "What's Inside? AutoCAD 2008"
- lists 172 new and changed commands and system variables
- 118 full-size pages
- full color images, plus comparisons with AutoCAD 2007
- fully searchable PDF file
- US$16.50

The ebook is available for purchase through PayPal or by cheque. Details at its dedicated Web page.

Comments

[Gary D'Arcy]

Ralph,

Thank heaven some one has done this!
The help is appalling and is riddled with typo's and misleading descriptions of the functionality.
I should talk but it stands out to the extent that I must post.

For example
LINEARBRIGHTNESS
The global brutishness level in...
What does that mean!

Regards Gary

[ralphg]

I reported that typo during beta, and even received a horrified response from someone in the tech docs department. But the brutishness was apparently insufficiently horrifying -- for the typo remains, as you found in the shipping version of AutoCAD 2008.

Here's what I think happened: during spell checking, someone picked the wrong option. Maybe Shaan will post the error as an East Egg!

Other problems include links that don't work, commands in non-alphabetical order, and info that has been updated in years. I've commented on these problems for the last several releases, but the fixes don't seem to be happening.

It's particularly embarrassing when the typo appears on the very first page. Inventor 11's "Getting Started" book states "Febriary 10, 2006." In this case, the U and I are next to each other on the keyboard.

I have typos in my ebooks, too, but then I don't have a $2-billion-a-year corporation paying people to find errors in my work, and I don't charge $3,995 a copy. My dad, a retired drafter, does the copy editing for me, for free.