That said, I don't especially care for Visio; it's unnecessarily complicated, and it costs money. Now, though, I can use Project Draw, a free Web app from Autodesk.

Dia is a free structured drawing program that looks and acts a lot like Visio, but it's smaller, simpler, and snappier. For a free alternative, Dia is surprisingly complete.

TL;DR: Microsoft’s best-selling diagramming tool is price-dropped to $14.97 for a limited time, making right now the perfect time to give it a whirl (reg. $249.99). If you’ve ever wasted time ...