Should a right-click in a desktop application always bring up a context menu?

In most every "modern" desktop application I've used, the right mouse click brings up some sort of context menu. In some though, especially high end engineering applications, right click is used to cancel. AutoCAD for example has a knowledge base article telling users how to get this behavior back.

Is (or was) UI behavior dependent on the type of application being used?. If so, should this behavior be brought forward or should all desktop applications update their behavior to use current conventions?