My Experience with FreeCAD - A Review from a Long-Time User

As I've been using FreeCAD for over five years, I thought it would be helpful to share my thoughts and experiences with this open-source CAD software. In this review, I'll cover the pros and cons of FreeCAD, including its unique user interface and controls, limitations, and potential improvements.

Firstly, I want to acknowledge that FreeCAD is still in its early stages, which can sometimes make it frustrating to use. However, I believe that more users and feedback would greatly benefit this project. With a bit of patience and practice, you can learn to navigate the somewhat-different UI and controls, which I've grown accustomed to.

One aspect of FreeCAD that I strongly dislike is its vendor lock-in business model, similar to Fusion 360's 'free' options. As an advocate for open-source software, I prefer not being tied to a specific provider or format. OpenSCAD/CADquery doesn't appeal to me, although it surprises me since I write code for a living.

Despite some limitations, I've found FreeCAD to be a valuable tool in my workflow. However, the lack of built-in assemblies is probably its biggest pain point for me. The file format has also changed significantly over time, which can cause issues when accessing older files. This has led me to hold onto a copy of FreeCAD 0.16 to ensure I can still open files created years ago.

Despite these challenges, I believe that it's time for the project to move forward and collaborate on adding missing features and functionality from other CAD software. This approach would allow developers to experiment with different approaches, which can sometimes result in crashes or evolving features. For instance, there are competing implementations of assemblies available as plugins, which is exciting given FreeCAD's current version of 0.18.

Overall, my experience with FreeCAD has been mixed. While it's not perfect, I appreciate its open-source nature and the potential for improvement. If you're willing to learn its unique interface and controls, you may find FreeCAD to be a valuable tool in your CAD workflow.

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