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“In the latest sign of that comeback, Autodesk plans to announce on Tuesday that it is bringing its flagship AutoCAD design and engineering software to the Mac for the first time in nearly two decades,” Helft reports. “The Mac was once a popular platform for AutoCAD. But Apple’s share of the personal computer market dwindled in the early 1990s, so Autodesk made its last version of AutoCAD for the Mac in 1992, and stopped supporting it in 1994. The company continued to make other products for the Mac, including software used in the entertainment industry.”
Helft reports, “Autodesk could no longer ignore Mac’s comeback, Mr. Hanspal said.”
“The Mac accounted for nearly 10 percent of all PCs sold around the world in the first quarter, according to Gartner, or more than double its share just a few years ago,” Helft reports. “In the most recent quarter, Apple sold nearly 3.5 million Mac computers, a 33 percent increase from the same quarter a year earlier. That rate of growth far exceeded the overall PC market.”
Full article here.
Autodesk’s press release, verbatim:
Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK), a leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software, announced AutoCAD for Mac software. This version of AutoCAD, one of the most widely used software for professional design and engineering, runs natively on Mac OS X and will increase choice of hardware for millions of users around the world. Autodesk also announced the AutoCAD WS mobile application, a new app for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch that will allow users to edit and share their AutoCAD designs in the field.
“Apple is thrilled that Autodesk is bringing AutoCAD back to the Mac and we think it’s the perfect combination for millions of design and engineering professionals”
“The release of AutoCAD for Mac marks the return of professional design and engineering software to the Mac platform and an important convergence of power and design. Over 5000 customers have helped develop this product through our beta program and they are delighted to have the choice of a native Mac version of AutoCAD,” said Amar Hanspal, senior vice president, Autodesk Platform Solutions and Emerging Business. “The combination of this new version of AutoCAD and the extension of AutoCAD to iPad, iPhone and iPod touch is a big step in Autodesk’s efforts to accelerate design and make design more accessible for an ever-greater number of people so they can shape the world around them.”
“Apple is thrilled that Autodesk is bringing AutoCAD back to the Mac and we think it’s the perfect combination for millions of design and engineering professionals,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The AutoCAD WS app is a bold new idea, a mobile version of industry-leading design software for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, the world’s most innovative mobile devices.”
AutoCAD for Mac Built for Mac OS X
AutoCAD for Mac has an intuitive interface that will be familiar to Mac users and makes available many of the powerful AutoCAD features and functionality to customers who choose to work natively on the Mac. AutoCAD for Mac takes full advantage of Mac OS X, including graphical browsing of design files with Cover Flow and use of Multi-Touch gestures on Mac notebooks, Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad for intuitive pan and zoom features. User experience design patterns, such as the visual approach to drawing and layout management, have also been incorporated into AutoCAD for Mac.
With support for native creation and editing files in the DWG file format, AutoCAD for Mac also offers easy collaboration with suppliers, customers, clients and partners regardless of platform. Files created in previous versions of AutoCAD will open seamlessly in AutoCAD for Mac, boosting productivity by reducing time-consuming file translation and cleanup of converted data. The value of AutoCAD for Mac is further extended with an extensive API (application programming interface) and flexible customization options that allow for tailor-built workflows, simple application development and adaption, custom configurations for settings and screen real estate options to suit individual workflows and project demands.
AutoCAD Extended to iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch
Autodesk also announced the AutoCAD WS mobile application, a new free* app soon to be available through Apple’s App Store that will extend AutoCAD to Apple’s iOS. The AutoCAD WS mobile application will enable AutoCAD users to edit and share AutoCAD files on iPad, iPhone and iPod touch so they can have real-time collaboration even while on the go.
AutoCAD for Mac will also be offered free* to students and educators through the Autodesk Education Community, where more than 25 Autodesk software products are available for download to inspire learning and help prepare students for successful careers. Autodesk recognizes the popularity of the Mac platform among students and is providing AutoCAD for Mac so they can build needed skills by having access to the same software that design professionals use every day.
Availability
AutoCAD for Mac and the AutoCAD WS mobile application will be available beginning this fall. AutoCAD for the Mac will be available in North America and Europe and the AutoCAD WS mobile application will be available worldwide. For details and purchase options, visit http://www.autodesk.com/autocadformac
About Autodesk
Autodesk, Inc., is a leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software. Customers across the manufacturing, architecture, building, construction, and media and entertainment industries – including the last 15 Academy Award winners for Best Visual Effects – use Autodesk software to design, visualize, and simulate their ideas. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk continues to develop the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art software for global markets. For additional information about Autodesk, visit http://www.autodesk.com.
*Free products are subject to the terms and conditions of the end-user license agreement that accompanies download of the software. The software is for personal use for education purposes and is not intended for classroom or lab use.
Autodesk, AutoCAD and DWG are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. Academy Award is a registered trademark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product and services offerings, and specifications and pricing at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.
Source: Autodesk, Inc.
what will be missing from AutoCAD for Mac that AutoCAD for Windows will have?
Perhaps M$ finally quit paying them not to build a Mac OS version.
Hope they also release a reader app for OS X.
That lovely Windows experience…
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I honestly did not think AutoDesk had it in them.
They actually developed a native version of AutoCAD for the Mac that looks, feels, and operates like a Mac program. They didn’t simply port the spaghetti-coded Windows version, but built something new that even uses multi-touch. Turn a civil designer loose with a Magic Trackpad and Magic Mouse, and they will never, ever want to go back to their Windows AutoCAD again.
Plus, AutoDesk is even releasing a version for the iPad which will allow engineers and inspectors to go out to job sites with their drawings in digital format rather than hauling around a roll of plans the size of a missile under their arms.
Some people at AutoDesk are actually thinking progressively. Good job boys. Now we are left with only Adobe and MS as the incompetent rubes who can only look backward.
Maybe Act! will return as well?
@ fatal
For the same price it had better not be missing a single thing. If they were going to hamstring it, they’d probably sell it as an LT version for Mac and price it accordingly.
I’m hoping to be able to use my Windows license to run the Mac version on the same computer for transition purposes. Then I could switch back and forth until I was certain I could permanently switch. I’ve been running AutoCAD on a Mac using bootcamp for almost 2 years.
It’s stupid that companies like SAS and ESRI (makers of GIS software) support Linux but won’t support OS X.
3ds max please !
I currently use ProE and SolidWorks and have always regarded AutoCAD as second shelf. I know over the years when I have glanced at it, they have been getting a lot better. I think it is time to look at AutoCAD again.
@ Yea!
Preview can read DWG autocad files.
@aaplsaur
From the press release:
“makes available many of the powerful AutoCAD features and functionality to customers who choose to work natively on the Mac”
So it is not going to have “all” features, I wonder how big the gap will be?
Am I going to have to wear stupid 3D glasses?
Anyway. This big for me as I use autocad everyday for work. And everyday vie been wishing for it to comeback to Mac. Especially because of the magic trackpad and magic mouse. I am going to tell the IT guy at work to f*ck off I am getting a Mac and using it in the office.
Everyone’s falling all over AutoCAD like it’s the Second Coming. It even admits that it can no longer ignore the Mac, i.e., you.
After pulling a decade-long QuarkXpress stunt, AutoCAD’s “Bend over farther, suckers” is happily embraced.
It’s the finest example of Stockholm Syndrome since, well, Stockholm.
IMO, AutoCAD leaving the Mac platform was one big coffin nail in the casket for Mac in the business place. It may be that I am too engineering/scientifically oriented, but I saw virtually 100% of my engineering colleagues go tot he PC when that happened. I think this will not be the dramatic reversal of fortune that we saw in the 90’s, but this really will have a huge impact on the engineering side of the science/engineering equation (scientists never really left the Mac the way that the engineers did.)
Autodesk, we moved on. I needed AutoCAD about the time you dumped the Mac. The Mac is back DESPITE your abandonment. I assume because 75% of the students in college are using the Mac and looking at other CAD software you had to come back or loose the future engineers. I had to use Vectorworks, TurboCAD, and several others while you orphaned your Mac software. Your price doesn’t impress me and at that price there are several other packages I can consider. Loyalty. You have to prove you are worth our dollars and our loyalty.
Maybe since they ‘ignored’ the Mac for so long, they could give Mac users a $1000 rebate for 60 days after launch. That would go a long way to say ‘Sorry for ignoring you’
Very cool news. I particularly love the sound of that iPad app. Apple better bolster their Apple store support staff cuz there’s going to be a lot of engineers and architects looking for answers. The bigger story is hopefully Solidworks, Inventor, SolidEdge and the others will follow suit. And Apple makes a competitive high end platform to run these apps.
Next they need to make Revit for Mac as well for those in architectural institutions.
@Truth
Everyone’s falling all over AutoCAD like it’s the Second Coming
Really? Is there any truth in that statement? Everyone?
“The Mac was once a popular platform for AutoCAD.”
That’s a bit of a stretch! It was available, but it was a kludgy port and most Mac users wouldn’t use it because of that.
It wasn’t too long ago that PC users used to make the arrogant statement that only PCs were suitable for doing “real work”.
After years of advocating Macs I am no longer being looked at like a loon. We are well past the tipping point and I am enjoying the avalanche of changing public perception.
BTW, how long has it been since you saw a laptop on a TV show that didn’t have the Apple logo? No one wants to be perceived as being backward enough to still use Windows. I Love It!
joiseypaul, you can’t believe the crap I have had to deal with trying to read AutoCAD files that are attached to request for quotes. Over the last year, I have been trying to find a good Mac software to convert these Windows only CAD files into CNC codes. This is much more than “one big coffin nail in the casket”. They pored cement over the casket then built a monument and parking lot around it. This has been many years of crap and every 3 or 5 years Autodesk wanted to take a survey to see if we missed them!
I wonder if this will prompt Corel to deliver Coreldraw for the Mac or ACD to come back to the Mac with Canvas. My take on this is that we have been abandoned or ignored by these companies for so long that I will not readily support them until they convince me that they will stick for the long term.
Dear Adobe,
This is how it’s done.
Fsck You Very Much,
bcs