On the afternoon of December 15th, 2004 we reached 5 Million downloads of the DWF viewer in almost exactly 2 years since the launch of DWF 6. The monthly download rate has increased to 330,000 and continues to grow due to the popularity and benefits of the DWF format over other electronic formats for CAD documents.

To put this in perspective, each of the following is roughly 5 million:

• The total population of Maryland or Minnesota or Finland
• If you had a US $1 bill for each download, the bills would weigh 10,000 lbs and would require 321,500 cubic inches of space
• The number of years ago that the two main islands of New Zealand began to form
• About 5% of the US population that uses a computer
• The number of miles light can travel in a vacuum in about 30 seconds

Thank you to all of the DWF users out there!

More of my DWF related blog posts:

• Use the Best Tool for the Intended Purpose or Output
• Autodesk DWF Viewer 5 - Adding More Performance and 3D DWF Files!
• More DWF Benefits
• “Is DWF an ‘open’ file format?”
• More DWF vs. PDF
• Quick Article on Design Document Communication with DWF
• DWF Precision Follow Up
• DWF Precision Article by Brian Mathews of the DWF Team
• The Free Autodesk DWF Writer 2
• New Exciting DWF Usage for Facilities
  

If you were planning on downloading and updating Adobe Acrobat 7 for your text documents, you might also consider using the time to also install the free Autodesk DWF Viewer for your CAD documents in the DWF format. Adobe Acrobat 7 still is not up to the measuring stick marks set by the DWF format on file size, visual fidelity, and performance when it comes to CAD drawings.