Onshape anyone?

[gerritv]

With Fusion360 your files are 'in the cloud'. You can also store a copy locally, this is esp. needed when you need to work offline. This applies to all pricing models. https://knowledge.autodesk.com/supp...dcarticles/Where-are-my-Fusion-360-files.html

 

[ericc]

I just read the magazine article referenced in the first post, and I had a question about it. The author seemed repetitive about the hostage problem with cloud based CAD. This is the problem of the vendor changing terms or disappearing entirely resulting in lost collateral in the form of your design files which have a huge investment of time and effort incorporated within them. Then, the author went on to say that this is one of the reasons that he chose Onshape. This seems kind of strange to me. Wouldn't Onshape have the same problems that the author repetitively covered with respect to the hostage or orphaned files problem, or is there something that I am not understanding about the article. If I read it correctly, the author seems to be making an argument for using a local based free program such as Freecad, which was described but later bypassed. Is there something that I am not seeing?

 

[Lo-Fi]

You're right, he's kinda contradicted himself. I use (and like) Onshape myself, but they've just been bought out. Whether the "free for hobbyist" plan remains is any body's guess at this point. Only time will tell.
That being said, it's easy to export into many different file formats, both 2D and 3D. You'll lose the procedural work, but not the results.