AutoCAD 14 vs 2000

[acad_2k]

I have been using AutoCAD 2000 almost exclusively for the past 20 years under Windows 2000 and have been very happy with it. There seems to be alot of praise for release 14. Is this simply because R13 was not so good? Any adavntages of using R14 over 2000 (R15)?

Edited June 6, 2020 by acad_2k

[BIGAL]

Lets face it we are up to 2021 that's 20 versions ? Want to compare then buy Bricscad.

[acad_2k]

thanks....I guess

[acad_2k]

2 hours ago, BIGAL said:

Lets face it we are up to 2021 that's 20 versions ? Want to compare then buy Bricscad.

 

I'm curious, why would you mention 2021 in the AutoCAD Museum forum?

[Cad64]

19 hours ago, acad_2k said:

There seems to be alot of praise for release 14. Is this simply because R13 was not so good? Any adavntages of using R14 over 2000 (R15)?

 

I never used R13 or R14. I jumped from R12 to 2000, so I don't know about advantages of 2000 over R14, but here's an article that talks about some of the new features that were added in the 2000 release.  https://fcw.com/articles/1999/05/09/featurerich-autocad-2000-debuts.aspx

 

[SLW210]

We used add-ons with R14, most if not all of those were eliminated with 2000i (barely used 2000 before we moved to 2000i), never used R13 very much if at all. Are you running AutoCAD 2000i or AutoCAD 2000? IIRC, AutoCAD 2000 was unsupported on Win 2000, but ran, that's one reason we moved on to 2000i. With the add-ons R14 wasn't as good as 2000i, don't remember if 2000 was much better or not, but it probably was or we would have stayed on R14.

[acad_2k]

I have been using 2000., I have 14 but never used it. The article that @Cad64 linked suggested 2000 has multiple "layouts" in paper space which I use extensively . The other improvemnets don't apply to me. I am thinking of unloading some software that's been unused but before I get rid of 14, I just wanted to make sure there wasn't anything special about it.

 

I try to keep things simple, that's why I stayed with 2000i, but there are obvious drawbacks. 

[SLW210]

I run my AutoCAD 2000i on Windows 10 at home with no problems as of yet.

[RetroCAD]

R14 and 2000 are both solid versions, and each appeals to me in it's own way. In my experience, R14 is rock-solid and does not crash for any reason. But I will give a slight edge to 2000 for overall performance and is far and away the fastest-running AutoCAD ever created. Even the modern version on the most insane machine lags behind 2000.

 

2000 did have some nifty improvements, but nothing very game changing for me. I can produce drawings just as quickly in R14.

[tomhurns]

The main improvement in AutoCAD 2000 was the multi-document interface (allows you to open multiple Drawings in the same editor). It allows you to Copy/Paste from one DWG to another.

 

I found that both AutoCAD 2000 and AutoCAD 2000i are constantly broken by Windows Updates + Windows Security, I solved all the issues by installing AutoCAD 2000 using the Longbow solution - https://blog.longbowsoftware.com/installing-autocad-2000-on-windows-11/ 

Also works for AutoCAD R14 also - https://blog.longbowsoftware.com/installing-autocad-r14-on-windows-11/

[SLW210]

My 2000i on my home computer with Windows 10 runs pretty good, I haven't done a lot lately at home on AutoCAD though, might need to see how the latest updates from a week or so ago affected it.

 

Are you just going around posting links to Longbow?

 

 

[paulmcz]

On 6/10/2020 at 7:53 PM, RetroCAD said:

R14 and 2000 are both solid versions, and each appeals to me in it's own way. In my experience, R14 is rock-solid and does not crash for any reason. But I will give a slight edge to 2000 for overall performance and is far and away the fastest-running AutoCAD ever created. Even the modern version on the most insane machine lags behind 2000.

 

2000 did have some nifty improvements, but nothing very game changing for me. I can produce drawings just as quickly in R14.

R14 was very solid version but 2000, 2002 and 2004 were also very fast, even on Windows XP. What was game changing for me was that starting with version 2000, I could zoom in and out with mouse wheel.

[Drafting Teacher]

I know this is an old thread but I just couldn't resist.

I believe the reason there's so much praise for R-14 is that this was the point when AutoDesk finally got their ducks in a row. There was a little known CAD program (DOS) called Generic CADD Level 3 which they bought out that had some really cool features the previous ACAD's didn't have. They were integrated which was a pretty good idea, and Bob's your uncle, Release 14 was born. That's my take on it anyway. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Edited January 23 by Drafting Teacher
Rephrase 1st sentence

[SLW210]

Generic CADD was bought in 1989 and sold off shortly after and became VisualCADD and still available (now owned by TriTools).  Visual CADD™ Official Site

 

Generic CADD still available to 6.0 (I haven't checked these downloads). WinWorld: Generic CADD 6.0

 

Autodesk got rid of it pretty quick and it was long gone by the time R13, R14 and 2000/2000i were released. 

 

My WAG is they got very little out of it and didn't feel it was even some competition or they would have just let it die.

 

AutoCAD already had LISP with R2.1.

 

Autodesk bought Softdesk around 1997 and near that time Genius CAD-Software.

[Drafting Teacher]

On 1/24/2025 at 7:44 AM, SLW210 said:

Generic CADD was bought in 1989 and sold off shortly after and became VisualCADD and still available (now owned by TriTools).  Visual CADD™ Official Site

 

Generic CADD still available to 6.0 (I haven't checked these downloads). WinWorld: Generic CADD 6.0

 

Autodesk got rid of it pretty quick and it was long gone by the time R13, R14 and 2000/2000i were released. 

 

My WAG is they got very little out of it and didn't feel it was even some competition or they would have just let it die.

 

AutoCAD already had LISP with R2.1.

 

Autodesk bought Softdesk around 1997 and near that time Genius CAD-Software.

One man's cheese is another names crackers SLW. Generic CADD 6.0 was a flop before it was released in my humble opinion. Generic CADD Level Three was actually a winner for it's era and was my first CAD program to boot. I made a few bucks using it.

[ralphg820]

AutoCAD 13 was bug-ridden, with something like 11 additional sub-releases to patch its many problems. By comparison, R14 was a breath of fresh air.

 

Perhaps not surprising Release 13 had so many problems, because was the first major re-architecture of AutoCAD since its launch, adding modern functions like user-definable objects, new programming interface (ARx), and the ill-fated object enablers. Autodesk invented IFCs to help users translate drawings that contained custom objects, later spun off IFCs, and now IFCs are the primary way to translate architectural drawings between incompatible CAD systems, ie, BIM.

 

R15 was renamed "2000."

[f700es]

I did like r14 and I also really liked 2008 (loved the Dashboard side panel). Both were very solid and stable. I honestly can't remember my last true AutoCAD crash. If I had to count them all on my hand from the last 10 years I'd have 8 or 9 fingers left over. Currently using r2025 and starting using 2026 a bit.

[Cad64]

I guess I was lucky. I jumped from R12 to R14 and skipped R13 entirely.