The project Archimedes - The Open CAD is a platform for developing computer aided design (CAD) systems. The project, over 3 years old, aims to create a trustful and simple development base with the basic tools needed to elaborate a technical architectural project. Those tools allow to improve the software adding more complex features.
The project uses the Eclipse framework with dynamic plug-ins over the Java Virtual Machine. Archimedes' interface is very similar to AutoCAD's one (current market leader) but it runs on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X maintaining the native look of the system to ease the adoption for new users. It currently has a strong and powerful basis of technical drawing tools with support for PDF files and its own open format based on XML.