Civil 3D for Mac

[Anonymous]

Will one be created?  Thoughts?

[igee]

I just bought my 7th DELL. This time with the latest and greatest windows 8!!!! Sorry DELL, my next machine is a MAC. Autodesk - you make your decisions as you please but I am going MAC soon and finding you there would have been great.

[AllenJessup]

Your choice. But since you didn't mention why your latest Dell made you make that decision. There isn't much to say. I bought a Dell M6500 last year and it's running like a champ.

[igee]

Dell is most certainly not the problem. Windows is.

[DarrenP]

why did you get windows 8?

none of the autocad products are supported on windows 8 nor has autodesk ceritified them for windows 8

[igee]

My point is: Windows is losing market share. Autodesk should give more consideration to the development of C3D for MAC.

[AllenJessup]

---

@igee wrote:

 Autodesk should give more consideration to the development of C3D for MAC.

---

I'm sure Autodesk is aware of market trends. When they think that they will sell enough MAC versions of Civil 3D. They will issue a version that will run on a MAC OS. But based on how long it took them to release vanilla AutoCAD in the current version [there was a very old MAC version] it's going to be a while.

Civil 3D is only a small part of the AutoDesk market. Even when based only on AutoCAD based products, it's still a relatively small market. They're going to wait until {profit from number of anticipated sales - development} = PROFIT.  Until they see a profit in it, they're not going to be interested.

[neilyj666]

it'd be interesting to know what market sectors would consider a Mac version of Civil 3D.

[rkmcswain]

---

@neilyj666 wrote:
it'd be interesting to know what market sectors would consider a Mac version of Civil 3D.

---

Not us.

If they want to port to Mac (or whatever), let those users pay for the development costs. Keep the C3D Windows team intact and focused on existing bugs and new features for the Windows platform.

[AllenJessup]

Yes. That would be interesting. I would believe that would only be the individual of very small business users. Most places with any sizable user base will have an IT dept. that will specify the type of hardware used. As it is where I work.

Shops of a larger size will also have non-CAD computer users; Clerical, HR, etc. So any change of hardware and OS would be a major undertaking. Not only in hardware and software expense but in retraining as well.

I must admit that I'm old enough not to be fond of anything that's really GUI. I find that the contextual ribbon is useful but I still prefer the command line and aliases for most things. So I don't anticipate liking the Window 8 desktop. A really stupid idea in my opinion.

[jmayo-EE]

Nor us. As I agree with your sentiment Randy regarding the product my boss would simply look at the number's above and with just 6 seats he would never consider $21,000 vs. $9000 for PC's.

[neilyj666]

that's the market research done for Autodesk.....don't bother with civil for Mac just fix the bugs in the PC version...:)

[igee]

If MACs are really that expensive (and I am not sure they are), maybe Android can come to the rescue???

We all had to forgive Microsoft for Vista but now they did it again!!! This time they did worse - they matched their Windows Mobile failure. MS got nervous at the superior OS offered by Apple, then tried to match it but, instead of rewriting their inferior OS, they added a tile-based desktop to the old menu-based desktop and then moved some functionalities from the one to the other - EXACTLY what they did with Windows Mobile just before it disappeared from the mobile phone arena.

Now, what about Autodesk?

C3D sure was an ambitious project and what a commendable piece of software!! Problem is with the keeping up. Autodesk's reluctance to fix their products swiftly and efficiently, slow response to much needed additional functionalities and their unwillingness to remain relevant to the larger graphical design community (where MAC OS holds a significant share) is disturbing. They should be there with MAC OS and they should be there with whoever replaces Microsoft. That’s only if they are serious about their survival in a rapidly globalising market with competition on the way.

[neilyj666]

leave the graphic design to the Apple fanboys and we engineers will stick to civil 3d on our PCs....a bit of controversy before the new year.....

[mathewkol]

[...Whoever replaces Microsoft...]

MS is not going anywhere anytime really soon. Maybe someday certainly. At that time Autodesk can and must switch gears. In the meantime, I disagree that they should support a MAC OS. Better to leave the resources in a single pace in my opinion.

[AllenJessup]

---

@igee wrote:

Autodesk's reluctance to fix their products swiftly and efficiently, slow response to much needed additional functionalities 

---

I don't know if it's a "reluctance" but rather a decision to dedicate resources to other tasks. Like coming up with the next change to the GUI.

But this is exactly why you see so much reluctance in those responding to you posts. We don't want to see Autodesk divert resources to rewriting Civil 3D for the MAX OS. We want those resources focused on the repair and improvement of the software it's self.

[rkmcswain]

---

@AllenJessup wrote:

We don't want to see Autodesk divert resources to rewriting Civil 3D for the MAX OS. We want those resources focused on the repair and improvement of the software it's self.

---

Exactly. IMO, if the MAC crowd get noisy enough to warrant development on this platform, then fine do it. But please hire a new team of programmers and pass on those development costs (time and money) to the MAC users.

[wfberry]

I hardily concur with Matt, Allen, R.K. & neilyj and a host of others.

Bill

[BrianHailey]

Another thing to think about, how long will Civil 3D be around? Is it nearing the end of it's life cycle? Is there something coming down the pipe from Autodesk to replace Civil 3D? Or will it continue on for another decade or more? I honestly don't know. If Autodesk is actively working on a replacement for C3D, there is no chance it will go to the Mac. Even if they aren't working on a replacement for Civil 3D, the effort to port it over to a Mac would be extreme to say the least. Civil design software on the Mac will probably have to wait until the next family of software that will replace C3D.

Of course, I'm probably wrong about all of this and we'll find out tomorrow that they are releasing a Mac version and C3D will be around for the next 1/4 century. 🙂

[rkmcswain]

---

@BrianHailey wrote:

Another thing to think about, how long will Civil 3D be around? 

---

Good point. Will we all be on the cloud at that point in time? Then it won't matter what local O/S you are running. 😉

[neilyj666]

Cloud....I do hope not....!!!!!