I've gotten the gist that there's no good open source CAD software ... I haven't really dabbled in CAD except for AutoCAD (which is hugely expensive and not practical when there is and will be a growing need for volunteers to contribute on CAD projects from their home computers; AutoCAD, as have been discussed elsewhere, would obviously be too expensive for regular users to use).  Simply googling around, I found an open source CAD software called "BRL-CAD" at http://brlcad.org/ ... is that not adequate to the needs?  Its my understanding the big notion of "open source" isn't that its free to download and use (though that is, obviously, a huge boon to opening up collaboration to anyone, not just those that have money to spare to buy software), but open development, enabling anyone to contribute.  If we simplify the tools by using a standard common set of open source (or at least free) software, it would be easier ... I think we should always presume that there is always room to improve on every aspect of OSE, including the documentation we produce.  Suppose someone spots a little errant detail on a CAD drawing that's been put in a document, they could fix it themselves if they knew what programs we are using, downloaded the source CAD file, made the fix and uploaded it for the community to decide if the fix was worth having; if everyone is instead using their own programs, they would have to find the particular person who made that particular CAD drawing, inform them, and hope they're active and around to fix it.  The option for someone to spot and fix something themselves I think improves the open source model but, I think, needs a documentation manager to decide what programs we should use.

For word processing, spreadsheets and the like ... OpenOffice or LibreOffice?  Or maybe Google Documents with its inherent Internet capability?  Should documentation be intended for print, in which case exporting/publishing as .PDFs be a goal (in which case page layout and formatting should be attended)?  Or should we publish everything in a wiki format?  I'm guessing we'll probably want a combination of online and printable formats, but I think we should determine what and which formats.

If we are going to collaborate on documentation, I think this stuff should be worked out so we're all on the same page (pardon the pun) with the tools we should use.  I think it would be much easier to set these standards early on, then waiting until there's a messy hodgepodge of documentation created with different software and realizing we'll need to go back through and rewrite what's already been written so they conform to a common format and could be readily edited for even minor grammar fixes (or CAD drawing glitches) without having to have a dozen different programs.

Thanks for time and consideration in reading and addressing my concerns here, and I hope they are received in the constructive manner I intended.  If they were already addressed elsewhere, I severely apologize!