As noted earlier, progeCAD 2009 Smart! is now available.   This is a full-featured CAD program based on Intellicad 6.5 technology.  You can download and use this program for free if (and this is a big if) you use it for private use only.  They are very clear that progeCAD 2009 Smart! is for private, non-commercial use only.

The software offers an “AutoCAD clone” experience including the following key features: 

Here are some comments from someone we know who downloaded it today at home for personal use (training, experimenting, home projects, etc.)

• The download file is almost 100Mb (but it did download in about 30 seconds on a cable broadband system)
• The installation (Windows XP laptop) took less than 2 minutes; it was very easy – not a lot of options or questions
• Registration is required if you want to use the free program for more than 30 days (this is not mentioned on their web page)
• Registration can be done on-line (what they call “live”) or via email or fax.
• The online registration required providing a name, address, and email address
• The program loads quickly – and seems very responsive to commands
• It was able to load a variety of different versions of AutoCAD files (dwg)
• The installation process does associate DWG files with this program – so if you do have a version of AutoCAD / AutoCAD LT / Other CAD program you may need to change this association back
• They also provide the opportunity to download free blocks; they claim to have 10,000 – 11,000 free blocks to download; including Architectural, ANSI-ISO and DIN_ISO Mechanical
• NOTE:  it seems that when you print from progeCAD smart! 2009 each page is printed (on the edges) with the words “Personal use only – Business use is illegal”.  Not sure if this can be removed without paying for the product.
• UPDATE:  progeCAD smart! 2009 can be installed on a system running Microsoft Windows 7, however you must enable the Windows XP (SP3) Compatibility mode on the installation file.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 8:02 pm and is filed under Tools. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.