I was educated in GIS using ArcGIS (Desktop and Workstation) and researched with it with (very) short peeks at MapInfo and uDig . During that time, I was satisfied with the program as I used relatively small databases and didn't do a lot of repeat tasks and ArcGIS has a lot of cool tools to analyze scientific data.

For two years now, since graduation, I been working in a company which is in a whole different scale. I deal with huge databases, doing relatively "simpler" tasks, but moreover they are composed of repetitive tasks (I do a series of simple tasks once a week to the whole database). During this time, I've used AutoCAD (as a lot of our data is drawn using AutoCAD) a lot and grew to appreciate it a lot – The greatest advantage is that using the LISP Programming language and using system variables you can control a whole lot of the settings – whether it concerns customizing the default value for a tool, eliminating the use of dialog boxes in the program, or options to script the automatic opening and manipulation of drawings.

Now, when I get back to ArcGIS 9.3, I get frustrated: Python is a great language, but ArcGIS users can't manipulate default values, can't eliminate the use of certain shortcut keys, can't script the use of MXD's and more and more as I move along. The Documentation around the Tools is very shallow (The Days of ArcDoc are long gone). I'd say the problem is probably with ArcGIS, except I know that with MapInfo and uDig the situation isn't better (and even worse)

Are there any GIS platforms out there, free or not, that have this high level of customizing, or am I doomed to frustrated manual work?

I prefer platforms with a good UI along the scripting options, but that's not a must.

I was educated in GIS using ArcGIS (Desktop and Workstation) and researched with it with (very) short peeks at MapInfo and uDig . During that time, I was satisfied with the program as I used relatively small databases and didn't do a lot of repeat tasks and ArcGIS has a lot of cool tools to analyze scientific data.

For two years now, since graduation, I been working in a company which is in a whole different scale. I deal with huge databases, doing relatively "simpler" tasks, but moreover they are composed of repetitive tasks (I do a series of simple tasks once a week to the whole database). During this time, I've used AutoCAD (as a lot of our data is drawn using AutoCAD) a lot and grew to appreciate it a lot – The greatest advantage is that using the LISP Programming language and using system variables you can control a whole lot of the settings – whether it concerns customizing the default value for a tool, eliminating the use of dialog boxes in the program, or options to script the automatic opening and manipulation of drawings.

Are there any GIS platforms out there, free or not, that have this high level of customizing, or am I doomed to frustrated manual work?

I prefer platforms with a good UI along the scripting options, but that's not a must.

I'm new to this site which I find useful and refreshing until now.

And to my question ( WARNING: it's a bit long, so you can skip right to the question two paragraphs down).

I was educated in GIS using ArcGIS (Desktop and Workstation) and researched with it with (very) short peeks at MapInfo and uDig . During that time, I was satisfied with the program as I used relatively small databases and didn't do a lot of repeat tasks and ArcGIS has a lot of cool tools to analyze scientific data.

For two years now, since graduation, I been working in a company which is in a whole different scale. I deal with huge databases, doing relatively "simpler" tasks, but moreover they are composed of repetitive tasks (I do a series of simple tasks once a week to the whole database). During this time, I've used AutoCAD (as a lot of our data is drawn using AutoCAD) a lot and grew to appreciate it a lot – The greatest advantage is that using the LISP Programming language and using system variables you can control a whole lot of the settings – whether it concerns customizing the default value for a tool, eliminating the use of dialog boxes in the program, or options to script the automatic opening and manipulation of drawings.

Now, when I get back to the ArcGIS, I get frustrated: Python is a great language, but ArcGIS users can't manipulate default values, can't eliminate the use of certain shortcut keys, can't script the use of MXD's and more and more as I move along (Oh, I'm using ArcGIS 9.3.1, I heard 10.0 is a bit better but still). The Documentation around the Tools is very shallow (The Days of ArcDoc are long gone). I'd say the problem is probably with ArcGIS, except I know that with MapInfo and uDig the situation isn't better (and even worse)

Question: And now I'm wondering – Are there any GIS platforms out there, free or not, that have this high level of customizing, or am I doomed to frustrated manual work? I prefer platforms with a good UI along the scripting options, but that's not a must. My company will probably stay with ArcGIS, but by answering you'll probably make one GIS analyst very happy and probably a lot less frustrated.

I was educated in GIS using ArcGIS (Desktop and Workstation) and researched with it with (very) short peeks at MapInfo and uDig . During that time, I was satisfied with the program as I used relatively small databases and didn't do a lot of repeat tasks and ArcGIS has a lot of cool tools to analyze scientific data.

For two years now, since graduation, I been working in a company which is in a whole different scale. I deal with huge databases, doing relatively "simpler" tasks, but moreover they are composed of repetitive tasks (I do a series of simple tasks once a week to the whole database). During this time, I've used AutoCAD (as a lot of our data is drawn using AutoCAD) a lot and grew to appreciate it a lot – The greatest advantage is that using the LISP Programming language and using system variables you can control a whole lot of the settings – whether it concerns customizing the default value for a tool, eliminating the use of dialog boxes in the program, or options to script the automatic opening and manipulation of drawings.

Now, when I get back to ArcGIS 9.3, I get frustrated: Python is a great language, but ArcGIS users can't manipulate default values, can't eliminate the use of certain shortcut keys, can't script the use of MXD's and more and more as I move along. The Documentation around the Tools is very shallow (The Days of ArcDoc are long gone). I'd say the problem is probably with ArcGIS, except I know that with MapInfo and uDig the situation isn't better (and even worse)

Are there any GIS platforms out there, free or not, that have this high level of customizing, or am I doomed to frustrated manual work? 

I prefer platforms with a good UI along the scripting options, but that's not a must.