Expert: J. B. Borge - 12/26/2006

Question
Hi!
I have experienced with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop and I am new to any CAD program. Most in the newspaper ads today are looking for draftsman (I'm used to be a draftsman in the 80's)or CAD technician who knows how how to use the AutoCad. I,m planning to learn it by myself. Since my computer platform (Mac) is not compatible with AutoCad software I found out that TurboCad is. I just want to know if AutoCad and TurboCad is the same in command operation or similar? I just do not want spending time studying the TurboCad only to find out that I cannot use that knowledge as a AutoCad operator. Is the gap difference between the two is huge? What other software or program that is compatible with Mac platform that is close to AutoCad. Thank you very much and I will appreciate your enligthenment.  

Answer
Rafael,
I briefly used turbocad in the past & found some similarities between the 2 platforms. However, autocad also has the following features: command line utilization which personally renders quicker execution of commands in real world productivity, autocad seems to be more customizable - you can create custom LiSP routines, easily integrate with excel/word/access database thru VBA programming, use of dynamic blocks, ease of data exchange/migration, sharing dwg info across extended teams, automated sheet indexes, wide variety of 3rd party developers seamlessly integrate their apps w/ autocad, autocad community/user groups for free supports, etc. There's quite a lot to learn since autocad has evolved into something what the cad community has always wanted. I'd recommend your local college & check out their course on autocad so you can good idea what the software can fully offer.
I've also been a mac user for the past 6 years & haven't really found anything comperable to autocad. Although, I've collaborated w/ loyal users of PowerCadd (almost same as autocad lt) & VersaCad (voted most powerful cad apps for mac) - not enough to convince me though.
Well, hope this points you to the right direction. Good luck!

Best regards,
J. B. Borge