When Visio realized that they weren't a CAD software company, they formed an independent organization to handle the IntelliCAD source code, the ITC. The first company to ship IntelliCAD in the new environment was CADopia, headed up by a former IntelliCAD programmer.
A few years ago, things between the ITC and CADopia got testy, with the ITC even laying down a law suit against CADopia. ITC said CADopia hadn't been paying its dues, and so could no longer ship IntelliCAD, or even use the ITC logo. CADopia said ITC owned it funds, and how could it pay membership dues if it could sell no software?
I was involved in some of the early behinds-the-scenes activities, and so I knew that CADopia was finding a solution to its problem. Things were quiet for the last few months, but today a tweet from Roopinder Tara alerted the CAD world that CADopia was back.
The www.cadaopia.com site looks the same, but with one significant omission: references to IntelliCAD and ITC are scrubbed. A download of the demo version of CADopia 11 reveals why: it is based on ARES from Graebert of Germany. CADopia is available for OS X and Windows.
Wither the ITC?
Commentators have been wondering where the ITC is headed, now that it's no longer the prime source of AutoCAD workalike software. In recent years, significant members left the ITC:
- Bricsys was a member, but then completely rewrote its Bricscad software to exit the ITC legally. Bricsys now emphasizes its third-party developer program, and is successful with it.
- IMSI/design belonged to the ITC only long enough to learn that they did not want to base their software on IntelliCAD. They retained TurboCAD as their platform.
- Greabert never was a member, and has now emerged as the primary cometitor to the ITC through its OEM program.
- CADopia got booted out, taking its 700,000 (claimed) customers away from IntelliCAD over to the ARES platform from Gaebert.
- SolidWorks now has its ARES-based DraftSight, having abandoned its IntelliCAD-based DWGEditor.
- progeCAD is an ITC member, but this week launched its AutoCAD workalike for Macs, based on ARES.
- ZWCAD is also an ITC member, but last year bought VX Corp to get their hands on real 3D CAD/CADM software.
All this occurred while the ITC struggled to release IntelliCAD v7, the massive rewrite first announced by upFront.eZine in October, 2005. The ITC still has dozens and dozens of members, but none are shipping V7 yet, currently at beta 2. All the while, members discretely fight each other over pricing (too low) and geography (too broad). Or leave.
The landscape sure has changed in those five years.
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