Over on Gizmos Grabowski, I describe how to install Google's Linux- and browser-based Chrome OS operating system on a computer -- an ASUS 701 netbook, in this case.
Of course, the very next question is, "Does it run CAD?" It does, albeit it's cramped on the netbook's 7" screen.
I went to http://butterfly.autodesk.com to run Autodesk's Flash-based, installation-free version of AutoCAD. Because it is Flash-based, it runs in pretty much any Web browser on just about any operating system. (Must drive Microsoft batty!)
The figure below shows Project Butterfly version of AutoCAD running on the netbook and Google operating system:
Of course, the very next question is, "Does it run CAD?" It does, albeit it's cramped on the netbook's 7" screen.
I went to http://butterfly.autodesk.com to run Autodesk's Flash-based, installation-free version of AutoCAD. Because it is Flash-based, it runs in pretty much any Web browser on just about any operating system. (Must drive Microsoft batty!)
The figure below shows Project Butterfly version of AutoCAD running on the netbook and Google operating system:
This post proves that I'm getting more cynical, because my first thought when I saw the screen shot was "stupid ribbon".
Posted by: Owen Wengerd | Mar 18, 2010 at 11:02 AM
Please Ralph, Project Butterfly is not any kind of "version of AutoCAD". It's a basic browser-based 2D drawing viewer/editor. It may be DWG-compatible to a limited extent, and it may be Autodesk-owned (now), but it ain't AutoCAD or anything like it.
Being Flash-based, I guess it's not going to work on an iPad (or iPhone, but that would be silly anyway).
Owen, cynical? Never. It is indeed a spectacularly space-inefficient Ribbon implementation. The Butterfly Ribbon works much faster than AutoCAD's, though, which is kind of embarrassing.
The profligate space waste applies to the whole of the Butterfly UI, not just the Ribbon. An unavoidable byproduct of multi-browser-support lowest common denominator UI design, inherent to cloudy software? Not entirely. I'm sure it's possible to do better, and it will probably be improved sooner or later.
Posted by: Steve Johnson | Mar 21, 2010 at 08:26 PM
Well, I'm CYNICAL, and you can't change me! All the freakin' fuss over the screen real estate that the screen menu was taking up and this GUI ribbon that takes up even more screen real estate has icons that AutoCAD is going to change every year like they have been doing with all their other icons, so that we will have to relearn what our same commands look like all over again every year. It's CRAP!
Posted by: Bill DeShawn | Aug 31, 2012 at 12:13 PM