Historically, drawing (.DWG) files created with an educational version of AutoCAD were, for lack of a better word, purposely “infected” with a plot stamp that would appear on prints (paper or electronic) indicating the drawing was created and/or edited in an educational product. Starting with SP1 for AutoCAD 2014, the educational plot stamp was still embedded in the drawing, but it would no longer plot.
Autodesk employee Shawn Niles in this thread at the Autodesk forums confirms that “infected” drawings will still contain the EDU indicator, and this can and will propagate to other drawings. Shawn says that the “the current plan is that the 2015 version will have the ability to remove the stamp altogether”. Unfortunately, the link in that message is no longer valid.
As Shawn made note of, now beginning with the 2015 Autodesk products, the plot stamp for EDU products has been removed completely.
Autodesk educational team representative Andre Davis says “The strategy to remove the educational plot stamp from all Autodesk products was to align the user experience for users in both the education and professional arenas. The intent was to remove some of the boundaries that made the products look and feel different.”
If you are a user of a commercial license of AutoCAD:
- How do you feel about the removal of the EDU plot stamp?
- Does this give potential dishonest competitors an advantage since they can simply obtain the EDU (i.e.: free) version of AutoCAD and produce commercial work with it?
- Any other comments or concerns?
