To maintain your free copy of Draftsight users must confirm their registration (very quick process) once a year. I run a copy on both my home and work computers (64-bit) using Win7 Pro and Ultimate. And best of all, it is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions that work well with Windows 7.
The program will read drawings created in AutoCAD up to 2010 and write to the same DWG file format so nothing really changes in that regard. Dassault also offers a FREE Getting Started Guide and they have their own Draftsight forum for those seeking help with specify problems. Draftsight is enough like AutoCAD that the transition would not be that problematic.
DS is the maker of Solidworks which is a very reputable program in its own right. Then why not consider making a move to a less dated software? Have you heard of the FREE 2D CAD program, and AutoCAD-clone, called Draftsight by Dassault Systemes.
