Network graphics tools

Tue Mar 21 18:44:42 UTC 2006

On Tue, Mar 21, 2006 at 09:17:44PM -0500, Howard C. Berkowitz wrote:
> Much of the enterprise market seems wedded to Visio as their network 
> graphics tool, which locks them into Windows. Personally, I hate both 
> little pictures of equipment and Cisco hockey-puck icons; I much 
> prefer things like rectangles saying "7507 STL-1" or "M160 NYC-3".

Not sure how preferring things like rectangles stops you from using Visio,
but *shrug*

> Assuming you use *NIX platforms (including BSD under Mac OS X), what 
> are your preferred tools for network drawings, both for internal and 
> external use?  I'd hate to be driven to Windows only because I need 
> Visio.

If you're doing diagrams for internal use and know the chances of them
being used with external parties is slim-to-none, go ahead, play with
toys like dia.  Omnigraffle looks hopeful, but haven't personally used.

On the other hand, if you are doing professional business communications
I'd seriously condsider getting vmware and Visio.  I might be a little
backward to many here, as I work for a consulting company and 95% of what
we do is client-facing.  Maybe, more accurately, if you never expect
anybody other than you to edit your work, Visio's not a necessity.
PDFs are almost 100% acceptable, with a few losers left who won't
install a reader.

Not trying to start a Visio religious war, just saying there's a reason
enterprises use it.

Random thought - think Visio's capabilities are about as underused as 
Excel's...

John