When Geeks Rule Corporations...

Autodesk has a geek running things there -- and I mean the word in the nice sense: people who understand how technology works and know how to make it work for others. We can tell, because Autodesk now has an Autodesk Labs page, of the kind mimicking Google Labs. It holds betas of software not crucial to the corporation:

* Project Freewheel Technology Preview (view DWF files in browsers without plug-ins).
* Google Earth Extension Beta (place drawings from AutoCAD, ADT, Civil 3Dand Map 3D into locations on Google Earth -- sorry, 2007 versions only).
* Autodesk DGNV8 Translator Beta (read MicroStation 2D V8 DGN files into the 2007 releases of AutoCAD, ADT, Building Systems, Electrical, and Mechanical).

AutoCAD 2007 already has these commands built-in for handling DGN files:
DgnAttach -- attaches .dgn files to drawings.
DgnFrame -- toggles the frame around the DGN image.
DgnOsnap -- toggles osnapping of the DGN frame.

Comments

[Tony Tanzillo]

Geek ? Uhhhh That's "Uber nerd".

Google and Autodesk Labs were probably modeled after Microsoft Research:

http://research.microsoft.com/