For much of my career at Autodesk I (and eventually my team) focused on encouraging development (internally) and adoption (externally) of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) to our products. It’s why I named this blog “Through the Interface” when it started back in 2006.
At the beginning (for me this means the 90s) this was clearly around desktop software; starting with DOS and even UNIX, although by the time I had joined the company Windows was becoming the primary OS platform for our products. We worked to help companies integrate their own software with ours, whether “in process” via plugin architectures or driving our products “out of process” via automation technology of various kinds. AutoCAD – and therefore Autodesk, as the two were basically synonymous until the verticalisation of the late 90s – had it in its DNA from the early days to support workflows involving customization and eventually 3rd party software development… check this interview from 2008…