AutoCAD on Mac
Someone on the Autodesk 2007 discussion group asked this innocent looking question: "When will Autodesk release a AutoCAD version that will run on Mac? Just asking. Thanks."
The replies he got amused me. One person replied, "No, but a Mac will run Windows which will run AutoCAD on a Mac."
Another replied, "They already did. In 1989", and pointed to this web page by one Prof. Langdon. I have no idea whether the info on this page is true.
Yet another replied, "Should be available about the same time the patch to run R14 on Vista".
But I liked this one the best. "Search the term Apple or MAC around here, topic comes up weekly and there is no need to start another dead-end thread about it this week".
I doubt the poor guy is going to ask anything else anytime soon.
The replies he got amused me. One person replied, "No, but a Mac will run Windows which will run AutoCAD on a Mac."
Another replied, "They already did. In 1989", and pointed to this web page by one Prof. Langdon. I have no idea whether the info on this page is true.
Yet another replied, "Should be available about the same time the patch to run R14 on Vista".
But I liked this one the best. "Search the term Apple or MAC around here, topic comes up weekly and there is no need to start another dead-end thread about it this week".
I doubt the poor guy is going to ask anything else anytime soon.
posted by Deelip Menezes at
7:36 PM
10 Comments:
AutoCAD will never run on a Mac because Apple will never pay Autodesk enough to do the porting -- as was the case with NX from UGS.
Since Apple uses NX, it made sense for them to subsidize the porting.
By
Anonymous, At
9:16 PM, January 30, 2007
Actually AutoCAD was available for the Mac back in the R11 and R12 days as well as DOS and UNIX. Developing large applications and features and UI elements that may be platform dependant is not easy unless you aim for the lowest common denominator. We at Autodesk are always watching the market for each product for what makes sense and our users are asking for. We also have product teams that develop currently on Linux, Mac and others. So contrary to the rumor, we are not tied to Windows in some secret handshake meeting, but that the Windows platform is dominant in CAD customer requests and use environments.
Regards,
Shaan
Who is using R14 on his Windows Vista without a patch...and also used AutoCAD on a Intel based MacPro using Bootcamp to run Windows XP. I also run AutoCAD 2.6 from time to time in Virtual PC only due to the limited DOS partition size required for very very old DOS applications.
By
Anonymous, At
1:36 AM, January 31, 2007
Don't forget Sun solaris also.....
http://www.itia.ntua.gr/twiki/pub/Main/MuseumItem00035/00035.jpg
By
R.K. McSwain, At
12:55 AM, February 01, 2007
Back when AutoDesk was small, there was a Mac port of AutoCAD. AutoDesk chases easy money now (Subscription) whereas Graphisoft (ArchiCAD) already does a version for both Windoze and Mac OS X. Maybe Graphisoft employs better programmers, or really want their users to be happy with the product. ArchiCAD is now my choice of 3D CAD software, on either Mac or Intel and I still wish I could offload my two legal licences for AutoCAD.
By
Anonymous, At
3:29 AM, February 01, 2007
Frankly, I don't believe in the need for AutoCAD on the Mac platform. You have VectorWorks and ArchiCAD, which are available on OSX (and Windows too) and there are some alternatives (e.g. TurboCAD, Vellum ...). If people insists to use AutoCAD, they should run it on Windows. You are still free to run Windows on a PC or on a Mac, these days.
I don't think there would be any financial interest to port AutoCAD to OSX, certainly with the recent evolution of AutoCAD to use more .NET technologies and the apparent evolution to Windows-only Direct3D display drivers instead of cross-platform OpenGL. The same could be said for MicroStation: .NET and Direct3D are clear hints that a port to OSX is unlikely as well.
By
stefkeB, At
2:22 PM, February 01, 2007
I have used AutoCAD on a mac back when rel. 13 was prominent and the port did not work very well. I much preferred using Claris CAD for all my 2D work and quit using AutoCAD on MAC. Also, DenebaCAD and MiniCAD ran quite well on MAC along with Alias UpFront for 3D work and had plenty of power fo those days, however, that was before AutoCAD dominated the CAD market and now you can't get a CAD job without AutoCAD experience so I have had to switch platforms even though I find the MAC environment vastly superior to Windows. I still use my MAC for most everything else but have yet to upgrade to the Intel based MACs so I guess that will be my next move. How well does AutoCAD run on an Intel MAC? I am curious.
By
Anonymous, At
2:31 AM, February 09, 2007
You can work with Autocad 2004 on Mac easy, by using parellels. I got a macbook pro and works faster than a desktop XP machine.
Finally no more windows
By
Anonymous, At
7:52 PM, May 04, 2007
I run parallels for running AutoCAD 2007 but having problems using the PAN function for AutoCAD using the mouse. Can anyone tell me how to use it? As the problem I face is that whenever I hold the mouse scroll button I happen to trigger the calender/mouse thingie to pop up on the screen instead the pan function to work...
By
Unknown, At
7:36 AM, June 08, 2007
Another very good CAD on Mac :
http://turbo3d.online.fr
amazingly fast and powerfull...
Regards
James Foltz
By
Anonymous, At
1:45 AM, July 04, 2007
If you are doing serious work on Auto cad, Parallel on Mac was never a good solution. I use it only to open and view drawings but when I have allot of work to do on Auto CAD I use Apple Boot Camp and it is like working on a true pc with no speed loose that come with Parallels translation bottle neck. One reason I would like to see Auto cad on a Mac is so I can stop being forced to buy two operating systems.
By
Unknown, At
7:06 PM, October 18, 2010
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