I strongly agree with all that. In fact, being FOSS could be a huge advantage. The #2 kernel ACIS by Spatial is massively held back by albatross round its nec

I strongly agree with all that. In fact, being FOSS could be a huge advantage. The #2 kernel ACIS by Spatial is massively held back by albatross round its neck - ie. the parent company Dassault who have foisted there own IMO inferior kernel CGM on them in the bizarre belief that it is a technical marvel. Dassault is also the albatross round the neck of another subsidiary: SOLIDWORKS [1], and is famous for the $6.18 billion cost overrun when Airbus transitioned the A380 from the Catia V4 kernel to the Catia V5 kernel, which is essentially CGM. [2] My point was that it is very difficult for OpenCASCADE with its setup to compete with 450 person-years of core dev work on essentially $0 funding. [1] "One of the non-technical issues with CGM will probably be licensing costs. DS (and, hence, Spatial) is “proud” of CGM, and will be pricing it higher than ACIS." http://www.3dcadworld.com/spatial-acis-cgm-and-the-future-of-geometric-modeling-kernels/ http://www.3dcadworld.com/spatial-acis-cgm-and-the-future-of... [2] http://calleam.com/WTPF/?p=4700 http://calleam.com/WTPF/?p=4700