Well, this is a fine kettle of fish.  That's an old saying.  It means a REAL MESS.

I have now three times downloaded the latest DraftSight to run on XP Pro and three times can't get anything to run.

More particularly...I have never gotten the activation routine that DraftSight's own tekkie made a movie out of.

In HELP there is a popup to activate the professional version, but I didn't buy or download the pro...only the freebie.

Can't get crosshairs in the graphics window.

Can't get a straight answer from a live person.

Can't use the program at this time unless somebody can point me to a solution, and I am NOT going to make a career out of trying to get the software to run.  That ain't gonna happen.  There's nothing this program does that my rather old AutoCAD doesn't do, and ACAD runs without a hitch from install to GO.

If this is the best DSS can do I would have to think twice, or maybe 5 or 6 times before purchasing something as hyper as SolidWorks.

I a NO the dimmest bulb on the string, and never have I hit a dead end like this.

Anybody got a solution, fine, but without a sensible, knowledgeable answer, this dog comes off my machine in 24 hours and there won't be a fourth try to make it go.