Visio to be bought by Microsoft

terrified wrote to to us with the official word that Visio has been purchased by Microsoft. Visio makes some incredible network diagramming and technical drawing software and is used extensively worldwide. The deal was a 1.3$US billion dollar stock swap between the two companies.

Re:Is this a bad thing?

Okay, so probably there will never come a Linux port of this software now. Are there any alternatives?

Dia [lysator.liu.se] is a program that is quite similar. It doesn't have all the functionality of Visio (yet), but it's early days. Still, I've heard several people swear by it. Check it out.

Does this mean...

...that Visio would get a dancing paper clip?


...phil

Shame

I always rather liked Visio, even though they were a bit too keen on Microsoft "technologies".

I guess we now have all the more incentive to hack on Dia [lysator.liu.se], then.

Matthew.

Clever move for MS. Danger, danger Autodesk!

Most folks are commenting on the obvious connection with Visio's eponymous diagramming package, which does make a nice (for MS) addition to their Office suite, a partial countermove to Sun's making StarOffice gratis. (Does StarOffice include anything Visio-like?)

However, on a second front, Visio also owns a CAD software package (IntelliCAD?) that is fully AutoCAD compatible, right down to running AutoLisp macros, reading/writing the latest DXF files, etc.
(The history goes back a bit - SoftDesk originally wrote the ACAD clone so AutoDesk bought them out, but DOJ required them to spin off the ACAD-like software (anti-monopoly move) which they sold to an obscure Australian company that Visio later bought. Confused yet?)

In addition to an add-on for Office, and ensuring that Visio never gets ported to Linux, MS now owns a package that can (and will, count on it) compete with AutoCAD. (Not that AutoCAD, at a thousand dollars or so per seat, couldn't use some competition - but it already had that without MS buying the Visio company.) It also ensures that IntelliCAD (am I getting the right package name?) is never ported to Linux.

This is a very clever strategic move for Microsoft, equivalent to capturing a couple of key pieces in shogi (unlike chess, in shogi you can place captured pieces on the board as your own).

So, what open/free CAD packages are in development out there? And what visio-like diagramming packages? Time to get coding....

Finally I can get the features I've asked for!

I've used Visio for years, and while I've loved it, there have been a few features I've been asking for, but have never gotten.

Finally, with Microsoft at the helm, I'm sure to get the things I've been needing to work productively. My needs are simple and few: increased instability, bloat, and improved incompatibility.

I was beginning to wonder if I was asking for too much from Visio, and I guess I was. But Microsoft has the background necessary to deliver. Hallelujia!

Good for MS

Visio has a history of professional and helpful products. It's mostly used by directors and other administration types. I don't think being acquired by MS will mean the product will be any less good at what it does: design flowcharts and supplement presentation.

Visio took great pains to integrate their software into MS Office, and so MS probably recognised it and decided to go all the way with it.

This is one product I don't mind MS touching. As far as designing flowcharts and presentations goes, MS does OK. I just wish they'd stick to that instead of trying to design operating systems. :)

"There is no surer way to ruin a good discussion than to contaminate it with the facts."