SIE is an old Control Data Term for
"Suggestions for Improved Efficiency"

My name is Steve Jasik. I have been using computers for over 50 years, first as a programmer for CDC, then as a Macintosh developer where my products can be seen at my web site www.jasik.com .
Currently I use Virtual Gibbs (2000) on the Mac to write programs for CNC lathes & Mills.

I just downloaded Draftsite for the Mac as I could not get my old educational version of Solidworks to come alive.

My problem is that I am trying to get a small company to build carbide Step drill for me and their genius programmer can't read my simple dxf text file from Virtual Gibbs 2000 which contains only points, lines and arcs.

So I downloaded Draftsight for the Mac and tried feeding it my.dxf file.
I wasted over an hour looking for my drawing expecting the lines to show up as white on a black background which appears to be the default display.

After some more screwing around, I exported my file to a .dwg only to find out that it was there and the geniuses who wrote DS aren't bright enough to know that they are displaying black lines on a black background.
Eventually I stumbled upon the fact that though some magic I can select a white background at which point the contents of my .dxf file shows up as black lines.

If you inherited your code from SolidWorks, then I have an idea of why the genius at the tool making company can't see my .dxf file.

--------- my comments ----------

There is something about DS for the Mac that smells of Windows,
It is the UI that needs some work to make it friendlier,
something that doesn't require 190 pages of learning.
OTOH most CAD programs take concentrated effort & time to learn.

1) More extensive Tool tips would be a nice addition so that when one holds the cursor over an icon I would get a balloon or such that would tell me something useful about the icon and what it does.
A copy of Virtual Gibbs ( now called GibbsCam ) does a nice job of that.

2) As I said above, it took me a while to discover the Model/Sheet selection boxes at the bottom of the drawing window.
I only discovered that the option existed when I stumbled upon some command.
Why do you come up with a black background and then paint the lines, ... in the same color ?
Who forgot to put on his thinking cap ?
I would make the Sheet the default as after all this is a 2D CAD program, and if I want choices,
they should be presented BEFORE you open the window.

3) 30 or so years ago a local Silicon Valley programmer said that programs should be written in a way that minimize wrong choices.
Most of us ignore that dictum.
CAD programs are complicated tool boxes and difficult to learn.
Some come with video tutorials like ViaCAD2D3D.

4) I am not a big fan of eDrawings either.
While I certainly would like to see a Mac version of SolidWorks,
Every CAD/CAM program has a history of architectural design (bad decisions) which make life difficult for the user and create problems that the programmers can't solve. Gibbs only has circles and you have to trim them to make arcs and other annoying stupidities.

I can be reached at steve@jasik.com