"CAD + free" does sound pretty good. I wonder, though:

I've been out of the profession for four years, and a lot can change in that time, but the kind of design/drafting I used to do was strictly 2D. In essence, it replaced the drafting board, hand tools, pencils -- and especially the eraser! -- with a mouse, a screen and a plotter, but didn't change the meta-language (if you will).

Each new release of AutoCAD was, to me, a huge amount of overhead I had to accept, but never use. To my various employers, it was an unavoidable demand for hardware upgrades to support all of that unused overhead, merely to remain compatible with drawing files we got from our clients (and vice versa).

I'm tempted, in a hypothetical sort of way, to sign up for this X-CAD, thinking "Maybe I could freelance from home..." Lord knows I could use the income.

But I'd like to know a lot more about importing and exporting to/from other CAD software -- information which, for now, doesn't seem to be forthcoming.

I'd also like to know why X-CAD seems to think that 3D is The Inevitable Wave of the Future for all us grizzled hold-overs from the days of manual drafting on flat translucent sheets.

So -- Steve, as our resident architect, can you tell me: Are projects in your office being generated in 3D? Are your engineering consultants (or in-house engineers) running duct and pipe in 3D, or still just drawing lines? Are bid sets still printed on paper, or do contractors now get a CD with the entire project integrated as a virtual building?