I once owned a company in the UK that built CAD workstations. It was in the early days of AutoCAD. I watched as architects were gradually forced to use the AutoDesk ( AutoCAD) product by their own governing bodies. A few years ago a substantial firm in the NW of the UK I think it was, defied this ‘directive' and went for TurboCAD. I was aware how good it was, and within a little while it was doing things that were only on the ‘wish list' for AutoCAD.
I got the impression that the (then) £2,500 per seat software was like a ‘Snap On' tool box. There was something for every occasion, but you might not need it for...oh, ten years or so, and even then you could get over most things with an old lawnmower spanner. The £79 TuboCAD was like the giveaway tools, simple and to the point.
When Coral Draw matured it was also very good, but was not quite a replacement for a CAD program. I always felt that a combination of the two would have been a fantastic product.
There was a communication dialog that Auto Desk gave away in the early days DFX format files I thing it was. This would allow dwg. Files to be transferred to other CAD progs within these files. Any prog in those days that had not got this ability, was at a clear disadvantage.