Wings3D looked like fun. The mouse direction to rotate/pan the work grid was similar to Solidworks, just opposite directions, though. The program didn't behave well with my laptop's graphics card and so I only used it once to test it. Didn't close cleanly. Affected the GUI of other programs. Had to reboot. :-(   And I loathe rebooting.

I started with AutoCAD when it was version 3. Got into Bryce, then tried out 3DSmax because I saw a lot of nice books at the school's bookstore about it. Very impressive stuff. When I messed with it 3D art for me was a hobby, not a career (still is) and so I wondered what 3D program to get involved with. Moved on to SolidWorks because I figured if I'm going to spend time to learn something complex, let it be something I could use to get a job with.

This is why I asked earlier if the choice to learn another program was career related or just to extend a hobby.