"Most times when people use "intuitive" in the context of (PC) software, they don't mean "intuitive" at all, but "works like other (Windows) stuff""

Within a Windows environment there is a certain expectation it works like other programs that work in the Windows environment. I bought the Metrowerks compiler for Palm last year--it was originally developed for the Mac. When you run the Windows version it looks and feels like a Mac program, even insisting on having (empty) resource forks! That doesn't mean it's not intuitive, it just means it's awkward for a typical Windows user. Especially the part about resource forks which are empty on the PC and just clutter up the directories--but if you delete them it won't run.

That said, my problem with Visio at the time wasn't that it didn't behave like other Windows programs. My problem was that it wasn't readily apparent (i.e. intuitive) how the program was supposed to work. I would do certain sequences and get a line between a box, othertimes the same sequence would not produce the same results, or so I swore.

"that an experienced CAD user would expect, rather than the way an experienced Windows user would expect; ie, it's a matter of experience not intuition!"

I'll grant that I'm not an experienced CAD user. But the GUI of choice does (or should) influence how a program operates. That's one of the main advantages of a GUI--no longer do we have to learn a completely new interface for each program like we did in the DOS days. I'm currently in the process of migrating completely to Linux and I find that although Gnome is different than Windows, it is generally intuitive.

What I don't understand is why it being a "CAD program" gives it some special license to do things so totally different from a GUI perspective that the move from Windows to Linux is easier than picking up a CAD tool within the same GUI your used to.

Regards,
Craig Steiner