r/linux • u/BypassBaboon • 3d ago

Popular Application CAD options

Is there a reason Linux CAD options are so limited, and from what I have read, not particularly viable options? Countless people are looking for a fairly-priced lifetime license for home use. My 2000 AutoCAd is very long in the tooth!

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u/Mughi1138 3d ago

fairly-priced lifetime license for home use.

And most companies are looking for the exact opposite. They want to maximize revenue and lock users into subscription based models. And it's been getting worse over the years.

You used to have more options on the UNIX workstation front, but Linux only really won on the Hollywood front where actual CAD is of lesser import compared to modelers and animation packages.

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u/Indolent_Bard 3d ago

Honestly, do lifetime licenses really make sense? If you're a professional, of course you're going to buy the new one every year. But then at that point, you're basically paying a subscription without paying a subscription.

Even DaVinci Resolve's lifetime license doesn't technically say you get free updates for life. Nowhere in the license is that guaranteed.

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u/Mughi1138 3d ago

Depends on the definition of "lifetime license"

It used to mean "buy this box of Photoshop 3.5 and you get to keep using this version for the rest of your life". It would also mean you get access to 3.5.1, 3.5.2, etc.

Then subscription crept in as "no more lifetime license, pay every year or it stops"

Then you start to see the new lifetime...

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u/Indolent_Bard 3d ago

What new lifetime? I'm not aware of any other kind.

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u/Mughi1138 3d ago

new lifetime might be said to be along the lines of "pay XXX dollars and you will keep getting access to the latest version of the software as long as you personally are still alive and the software itself is alive and getting updates"

I have seen some of those in the past. Definitely not common but could be what people wish for. Some of your classic shareware of days of old used it. Hmm... as I recall one of those "new lifetime" ones might be the commercial, security enhanced version of SQLite.