Someone at Microsoft thinks the same ;-)

https://github.com/microsoft/edit

If you have Windows 11 it comes with this new (open source) `edit` written in Rust - open a command prompt and type `edit`.

This is somewhat amusing, considering all the bloat that it comes with otherwise. Even `notepad` has become rather... feature full... it has tabs, spell checking and AI...

I wondered the same and actually tried it on Windows 95 - it will be a bit more work. The bottom screen shots in this comment https://github.com/solvespace/solvespace/issues/1036#issueco... are the missing APIs on Win95...

I expect the build for Windows 2000 may work on NT 4.0, because it has OpenGL, but Windows 3.11 with Win32s will never work - because it does not have OpenGL(I think...).

And Unicode will also be a problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode_in_Microsoft_Windows

One more fun fact:

SolveSpace officially is supported on Windows (Vista-11), Linux and macOS, and compiles with Emscripten and runs in a browser.

However with a little effort it also compiles for and runs on Windows 2000.

https://github.com/solvespace/solvespace/issues/1036#issueco...

So it runs on all the majour platforms from the last 26 years (excluding MacOS 9).

And 6-7 years later the `WinSxS` directory was born and these days it is tens of gigabytes.

`Dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup /ResetBase`

In an administrator command prompt. You can thank me when it's finished ;-)

One more fun fact:

SolveSpace officially is supported on Windows (Vista-11), Linux and macOS, and compiles with Emscripten and runs in a browser.

However with a little effort it also compiles for and runs on Windows 2000.

https://github.com/solvespace/solvespace/issues/1036#issueco...

So it runs on all the majour platforms from the last 26 years (excluding MacOS 9).

Join SolveSpace development? ;-)

But does it run etirely locally in the browser after downloading a total of 2993991 bytes (less than 3 megabytes) of code? ;-)

Local storage too. We don't want your data.

That 3MB also includes gnu unifont, the builtin vector font, and the 3js viewer for when you export models to html (viewer gets bundled in the file)

GNU Unifont is 973KiB, and we also have the vector font unicode.lff.gz at 1.03MB.

So the web version of SolveSpace is literally one megabyte of WebAssembly.

Reminds me of installing Autocad from 1 x 5.25 floppy.

Had to Google this one :-)

Since SolveSpace has a helix tool that can "extrude" any sketch along a helix it should be doable.

After looking at some videos of what this even is, I'd say it can do it but will likely fail on the boolean operation where the two spirals intersect. It might work fine but it's an operation likely to trigger a bug, and it would be sensitive to the exact placement/pitch of everything. Having said that, using the "force to triangle mesh" option solvespace will probably work fine. That should be sufficient for the home 3D printing crowd to make some fun stuff, but you won't be able to save a STEP file then. Just my guess as to how this might go.

Thanks for sharing your insight.

Perhaps if the author makes a demo it would be a good showcase for how much better it is than the other open source tools!

The last Autodesk software I've used was AutoCAD 2000 (released in 1999). And I've not followed them since.

Perhaps they have indeed become "one of the worst corp. in the world of software", but in the early years they were very interesting. The founder of Autodesk, John Walker (he died in 2024) wrote/edited and interesting book on the early years: "The Autodesk File" https://fourmilab.ch/autofile/

Yeah, and then ran away to Switzerland rather than work to preserve the democracy which made his fortune possible.

By the way this creation of his, from July 1990: https://www.fourmilab.ch/evilempire/ is very relevant here, but we are getting off-topic :-)

SpeakFreely was his as well - a very early encrypted, VoIP app.

And this: https://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/ ... As I said - an interesting person :-)

That is more of an indictment of the US than it is of Mr Walker. Maybe I should run away to Switzerland, too.

Is this critique or praise of his character? ;-)

Statement of fact with my interpretation --- folks should verify the fact and read what he has written and come to their own conclusions.

While I'm grateful Autodesk stepped in and kept TinkerCAD afloat, I'm relieved Sketchbook escaped their clutches, and am glad I never got involved in Fusion 360 so as to suffer from their on-going "rug pulls" --- which of these are a result of his influence, I've not found a need to discern.

Had to Google this one :-)

Since SolveSpace has a helix tool that can "extrude" any sketch along a helix it should be doable.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dreaded-double-helix-tutorial...

That's the right target in Solidworks, but I'm seeking open source solutions.

I think the very latest Blender can do it, I haven't got it working yet though.