AutoCAD 2.5

AutoCAD 2.5 represents an important stage in the development of computer-aided design software, arriving when personal computers were beginning to become genuinely useful for technical drawing. AutoCAD replaced rulers, pencils, templates, and increasingly messy erasers with a digital workspace where lines could be created, edited, measured, copied, and rearranged with considerable precision. Version 2.5 belongs to the early period of the program, when the interface was firmly rooted in DOS and command-driven interaction. Modern CAD users accustomed to sophisticated 3D environments may find it almost austere, but that simplicity is part of its historical appeal. There were no friendly animated assistants waiting to help; the computer expected you to learn the commands. For engineers, architects, and designers of the period, however, that command line was not a limitation so much as a doorway into a completely new way of working.