Cadalyst - June 2008 - (Page 20)

25yearscadalyst By David Cohn A Quarter Century of Cadalyst Cadalyst's former senior editor reflects on the magazine's inception and ongoing growth. nce upon a time, 16 people joined forces to form a company that developed computer software for the burgeoning personal computer field. When they first began, they had little idea of what their software might become or how personal computers would evolve. This was January 1982, after all. Computers were still relatively scarce, and they ran a variety of operating systems, including CP/M, UNIX, and IBM 8086 DOS. The programmers pooled their money, coming up with $59.030. They cobbled together several potential products, including an office automation system, a screen editor, and a computer-aided design (CAD) and drafting system. They proposed various names for their company, including Desktop Solutions, Target Software, InSight Solutions, and RHT (RHT stood for Red Hot Techies). They spent $1,200 for a booth at the West Coast Computer faire, and in March 1982, they showed several of their wares, including a CAD program (originally called INTERACT but then renamed MicroCAD). In August 1982, they began shipping an 8080 version of M,croCAD for $1,000. Three months later, at the 1982 COMDEX trade show in Las Vegas, Autodesk - the name they finally settled on - unveiled AutoCAD-80, and it was an obvious hit. Several weeks later, AutoCAD v1 began shipping. In January 1983, the first IBM PC version of AutoCAD was released. By the end of the year, nearly 1,000 copies of AutoCAD had been sold. The company had more than $1 million in sales. And the rest, as they say, is history. O CADalyst '" t -, .1 _ _ ' ' ' ' _ __, _ ..,11 . . . . _ .. I • , . . 01_. "_,, "_Y~" _ _to, , .. , _ _1 _•• _1 I _ ~ 10 (111" _ _ -~ .~ c__'__ . . ._ "''''', - _ Alt . . , _ . " , , , , " _ , _ _ . ., " a l l 1"'"•••_ 0 •.•_ 0 ••" _ "' • _ .1. _II ~\'1It -., • _ _ _ ' h i . II"","' III' " .. """"'. ., u _ _ to<:lItA _ I . . . . . . _ "'_ _ "a II". .cI" .. _ I p , _ -. . . . _II t·. _ t 1 ..111 , ., t I _ , .. _ ,1 t , _. _• .,.11_ to , _ ~ ._1_ •• 0:• • • • • • 010:1_ _- of . . . _ co,l1_ ' _ ' . _ _ '0". I••• ,,'1,_. _·'1 , oot_ u fr_ , "u•• _ " _ ' • _ _ , 1. . . . . . . _ , Dr _ ' ,. _ _'1. , ..ttl.t .. f t _ ._ __ _\ A .. C. Q. ,,-_, ,. _ " " l a •• t _ _tI1'". ""'' t .. .,., __ 01 ,• 0" . . . . . . ~ , '011_ "","w'll . ,100.. , 1Il: uS' I . onc_ _ I. , _~_ , r _ '''' , of _ _" _ -11 _ _ . _ _• • •_ .. - . . t . . .ft • , _ 0". . . . .,,, 1 1_.1 _ _1 _ , i_ , __ III . . . _11,1 c _ _ •• ",,_ 0" _ _ _ _ •• """ , " . _ _, , _ _0._ _1 _ _' , _ at _ _ _ _ .. ,__ ,,100"" _ .. _ . _, _1_•. , .. _ ""IXIIII _ h , • 1 U_. I.~. o' no., ' ' ' l _ '-"' tD _ t_.~ "D , _ t .. "' I.t. III o!11 _ _ I" •• ,u . . . 1.0:11 , ._ _ ," _ _ <:Ill . . . . •• 4t . .t_~. 111_ I _ I .. _ _n ', h_I ,. ". . _. _'_I . , . l..tIl' __ .h _ ~ _ , _ _.00II;I0Il_ I t _ _ .. "~'_"'_. , __ _ 11. , .,., _ "o_t ,. _ cl_' _ I •• , __U". t t 1 r_•• , _.t '.. _,.. 'C' _ _• a II. . . . . 1 , l"'tQ9II,~ .11. _ - . t l l I I I IIIU I . _ •• _ 'oa.'. _ _" , ,0.., ••• . t _"""" _ , _ _ , 11 1 _ -.clOC8"I Uooo , • •_ , _ . . . . . 1 1 . . . . . ._ I ' . . - . _ I ' •••• _ ••• I_ I _ •• The very first issue of CADalyst, dated January 1984. The first issue was published on a single sheet of 8.5" x 11" paper and folded in half. Another Kind of History In a little corner of southeastern British Columbia, Canada, another sort of history was also beginning. In these early days, it was quite easy for someone to become an AutoCAD dealer - simply buy two copies, one to demonstrate and one to sell. Lionel Johnston (a contract programmer between jobs) and Eric Clough (a landscape architect, solar house designer, and southern Californian "pilgrim from the Nixon years") saw a product ad in the back of Byte magazine and contacted Autodesk. They bought three cop- ies - one for each of them and one to sell- and became partners in (ADventures Computers. Their aim: to sell micro-based CAD systems to design professionals. But they were in Nelson, a small town later made a bit more famous as the setting for the Steve Martin movie Roxanne. It wasn't the best place to be selling CAD software. 20 "We had one of the first Canadian dealerships," said Johnston. "We sold three systems." One day, while sitting in Clough's tiny house in Winlaw, British Columbia, an even smaller town 40 miles north of Nelson, Johnston said, "You know, there should be a newsletter about thiS thing." And Clough replied, "Why don't you do it7" In January 1984, the two men ran off copies of a flyer (half on green and half on mauve paper) that Autodesk mailed to registered users. They mailed "probably 500 copies," said Johnston, "but it could have been 1,000." Johnston introduced his newsletter as the founding piece of a user group. "We are happy to announce the forming of an AutoCAD user group for the mutual benefit of everyone involved with this computer-aided design and drafting software. After inquiring at Autodesk for a contact address for the user group and finding it didn't qUite eXist yet, a few of us have decided to see what we could do." He had Autodesk's active participation, but he envisioned the group www.cadalyst.com cadalyst June 2008 http://www.cadalyst.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Cadalyst - June 2008

Cadalyst - June 2008 Contents Editor's Window CAD Central Tech Trends: Community Building in Progress A Quarter Century of Cadalyst Tracking a CAD Giant The Highs and Lows of CAD Hardware Industry Insights — Looking Ahead Cadalyst Lab Reviews: HP xw4600 Workstation with LP3065 30” LCD Monitor NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700 — Graphics Card LaCie 324 — LCD Monitor CAD Manager: Making Standards Stick MCAD Modeling: Rational vs. Irrational Decisions AEC Insight: Data Collection in AEC CAD Cartoon Issue Indexes Hot Tip Harry: Just a Few CAD Renovations

Cadalyst - June 2008

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