[lazulicurio]

Just to start, I want to acknowledge that the problem space is tremendously complex; the FreeCAD developers have put in a lot of effort and it's amazing that a project like FreeCAD exists at all.

Not trying to disrespect the other FreeCAD developers, but it seems like things have improved remarkably since ondsel started taking a more active role.

The project seemed to exhibit a (common) impulse to prioritize extensibility too much. The "workbench" architecture and python API let you do some really neat stuff if you're willing to dig into the weeds. But, from the perspective of a community outsider (so take it with a grain of salt), the development process seemed to be a good example of Conway's Law in action. The workbenches let everyone have their own sub-projects to manage without stepping on each other's toes. This led to a lot of resulting complexities, inconsistencies, and instabilities, which made the approach a net negative (imo) in terms of tradeoffs.

With ondsel, there's been more focus on holistic improvements and getting the individual modules working together more smoothly, which I greatly appreciate.

[Robotbeat]

Agreed with all of this. Although... the extensibility (while it is the stereotypical open source trap that leads to splintering of focus and complexity) is ALSO nice, although built on a shaky platform. Once the base GUI and functionality of Freecad is fixed up, the extensibility could potentially allow more flexibility than commercial CAD packages. Lots of potential there, if the platform is improved.