AutoCADderTuesday, December 12, 2006
Autodesk vs. ODA - it is about faking
There are lots of comments to the TrustedDWG lawsuit between Autodesk and ODA. Many "user-rights defenders" are arguing loudly against Autodesk with the assertion "who owns the data in the DWG file" and that DWG cannot be compared to Rolex, Coke or Adidas.
But it can. They are just using a wrong parable. Let's take another one. You carry your valuable paper drawings in a Samsonite case. You know it is fairly solid and reliable. Of course the drawings inside it are all yours. Of course you can choose another brand for your next briefcase. But of course Samsonite's competitors cannot form a non-profit group (a funny understatement) and produce briefcases labeled "Samsonite". And Samsonite of course can protect its brand by adding something like holograms or CEO signatures inside their cases. And it can sue the villainous competitors producing faked and less reliable cases.
ODA has simply faked a product (DWG format) of another company. I know from my own experience that DWG files created by Microstation, IntelliCAD, or Nemetschek often cause AutoCAD failures as they contain non-standard entity properties and settings. Maybe AutoCAD should pre-detect all these format errors, maybe Autodesk should improve reading of its own DWG files. But it doesn't change anything on the fact that ODA must not create TrustedDWG fakes.
I am glad that I am warned by AutoCAD when opening a less reliable DWG file. So it is a practical benefit for me. On the other hand if you want to work with such files silently, you can switch the DWGcheck off and AutoCAD let you open these "DWGs" without any hindrance. So what's all the shouting about?
But it can. They are just using a wrong parable. Let's take another one. You carry your valuable paper drawings in a Samsonite case. You know it is fairly solid and reliable. Of course the drawings inside it are all yours. Of course you can choose another brand for your next briefcase. But of course Samsonite's competitors cannot form a non-profit group (a funny understatement) and produce briefcases labeled "Samsonite". And Samsonite of course can protect its brand by adding something like holograms or CEO signatures inside their cases. And it can sue the villainous competitors producing faked and less reliable cases.
ODA has simply faked a product (DWG format) of another company. I know from my own experience that DWG files created by Microstation, IntelliCAD, or Nemetschek often cause AutoCAD failures as they contain non-standard entity properties and settings. Maybe AutoCAD should pre-detect all these format errors, maybe Autodesk should improve reading of its own DWG files. But it doesn't change anything on the fact that ODA must not create TrustedDWG fakes.
I am glad that I am warned by AutoCAD when opening a less reliable DWG file. So it is a practical benefit for me. On the other hand if you want to work with such files silently, you can switch the DWGcheck off and AutoCAD let you open these "DWGs" without any hindrance. So what's all the shouting about?
