Autodesk

A group of programmers around John Walker founded Autodesk in California in 1982 and showed AutoCAD at COMDEX that same year. Until then, CAD meant a minicomputer or an expensive workstation; AutoCAD ran on an ordinary PC and became the default tool for architects, engineers and contractors. Its closed DWG format turned into the industry's de facto standard, which meant competitors spent years reverse-engineering it.

Later acquisitions brought in 3ds Max (via Discreet) and Maya (Alias, 2006), so Autodesk also owns much of the film and games industry's 3D tooling. In 2016 it stopped selling perpetual licences and went subscription-only, a decision that still surfaces in every forum thread about Blender.