Autodesk history

Update: Here is the AutoCAD 1.x sample file, one of the earliest sample files from 1984.

An oldie but a goodie! Back in AutoCAD version 2.18 (circa 1985), Autodesk placed a sample drawing with AutoCAD named the Solar.DWG to demonstrate the precision of AutoCAD back in the early eighties.

He withdrew as chairman and president of the company in 1986, continuing to work as a programmer.

In the summer of 1987, Autodesk initiated a second issuing of stock, offering 2.5 million shares at $24.00 per share.

In 1988, Autodesk had assets of over $100 million in cash and securities, while revenues increased 40 percent over the previous year.

In 1989, Autodesk's sales grew to over $100,000,000 after just four operational years.

“Autodesk: A Success Story,” Information Week, July 23, 1990.

Rohrbough, Linda, “Autodesk to Pay $5 Million to Shareholders,” Newsbytes, December 11, 1992.

In 1993, the first Autodesk user conference that became AU was hosted near our headquarters in San Francisco.

Berst, Jesse, “A Grown-Up Autodesk Faces the Cross-Roads,” PC Week, January 17, 1994.

By the end of the year, sales were down by nearly $40 million and the company’s net income of $42 million represented a paltry 8 percent of sales. “It has been a very rough couple of years,” Bartz conceded in a September 22, 1997, interview with Forbes.

That is such a bunch of crap.” Bartz entered the Internet realm in 2001, launching a web portal and introducing Internet-enabled products to allow users to collaborate through the Internet.

Kerber, Ross, “Waltham, Mass.–Based Architectural Software Company Bought by California Firm,” Boston Globe, February 22, 2002.

On August 21, 2003, this blog started thanks to the encouragement of two Autodesk colleagues Bill Johnston and Eric Wright.

The company shot past the $1 billion sales mark in 2005, when total volume reached $1.2 billion.

Bartz, who suffered through troubled years at the beginning of her tenure, stood as Autodesk’s hero when she ended her era of control after the company announced it had generated $1.5 billion in revenue for 2006.

In February and March 2009, both sides filed motions for summary judgment addressing the issue whether the First Sale Doctrine applies to previously licensed software.

Autodesk introduced a new logo at the TED conference in Long Beach, California, on February 26, 2013.

Autodesk announced the largest lay off in its history on November 27, 2017, with the lay off of 1,150 jobs.

Autodesk updated to its current logo in September 2021.