Revit Architecture Forum
Welcome to Autodesk’s Revit Architecture Forums. Share your knowledge, ask questions, and explore popular Revit Architecture topics.
cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Questions regarding Revit and compatibility with Mac.

65 REPLIES 65
Reply
Message 1 of 66
Avh_UK
37073 Views, 65 Replies

Questions regarding Revit and compatibility with Mac.


This is really a follow on from this topic (started on the cloud service topic) see below:

 

http://feedback.autodesk.com/cloudservices/topics/revit_mac_version

 

As Christiaan said "it's a travesty that there are no powerful and intuitive BIM programmes available for Mac. Revit and OS X belong together!!"

 

I understand that as an organisation you need to keep certain things quiet until they are released, but i presume this is more to do with particular features and tools within Revit.

 

The closest competitors to Revit already have their software native to both the PC and Mac. So i can't see why there is a need to keep the plans, or a possible time frame for Revit to include a native Mac compatible version quiet. (unless there are no plans for this to happen?)

 

Releasing this information can only be beneficial to Autodesk, its users and potential future users, as we can prepare our offices appropriately.

 

Our office uses Mac computers and the only thing holding us back from making the move to Revit is that there is not a version for the Mac OS.


The key questions from this thread are:

1). Is Revit going to be available on the Mac using OS X?

2). When is this likely to be?

3). What form is Revit on the Mac likely to take?

 

Can someone from Autodesk please, provide some clarification to these questions?

65 REPLIES 65
Message 2 of 66
Chris_D_UK
in reply to: Avh_UK

We're also in the situation of having a Mac based office of about 25 seats, but would like to switch to Revit. The move to Windows is holding us back and we'd rather not do it.

Message 3 of 66
edward_saota
in reply to: Avh_UK

Message 4 of 66

..it would be probably cheaper for Autodesk to buy all you guys PC's, than completely re-write the code, test it and release it then maintain it. 

 

Graphisoft went PC in the 90's surely because they realised that Mac doesn't feel like the how AEC wants to work. However..along comes the iPad and suddenly..the 'C' of AEC are saying....this is it. Smiley Happy

 

Message 5 of 66
Chris_D_UK
in reply to: Avh_UK

Graphisoft ArchiCAD is available for Mac OS, as is Vectorworks Architect from the same parent company (Nemetschek).

 

We don't need to have PCs bought for us, the Mac hardware will run Windows just fine. We just don't want to run Windows.

Message 6 of 66
helsinki_dave
in reply to: Chris_D_UK

..I can't even begin to imagine the hassel of running two platforms. Imagine for every bug fix, or feature request - you need to do it twice. So every time you find a bug, there's a twin branch in the bug/feature request logging system. And then how do you keep both branches talking to each other - so that when the cause of the bug is found - the other branch knows where they might start to look. And you need to test both platforms once the bug is fixed - then document the fix..twice....etc.

 

 

Message 7 of 66
Chris_D_UK
in reply to: helsinki_dave

Two platforms or platform neutral? The key is to avoid depending on proprietary Microsoft technology (or Apple technology) too much. Trimble are guilty of this too (in fact are worse than Autodesk).

 

From browsers, to office suites, creative suites, etc etc, most vendors manage quite happily to develop software for two platforms, sometimes three.

 

Mac OS is stable, nimble, simple and we're not alone in preferring it to Windows. We shouldn't have to change for a single vendor's software.

Message 8 of 66
helsinki_dave
in reply to: Chris_D_UK

..platform neutral is a superb idea.

 

I'll go with that. It's called the web 🙂 

 

 

Message 9 of 66
amorphousarch
in reply to: Avh_UK

This question has been around for a long time, and was specifically asked seven months ago on another discussion board (see link in Avk_UK's original post). An autodesk representative responded but dodged and avoided answering the question directly - we still don't have an answer.

Someone from Autodesk please give us a straight answer:
- the answer must not direct us to another link
- the answer cannot be 'we don't know' (find the answer)
- the answer to part one of the question: 'Is Revit for Mac going to be available' is either YES or NO
- the answer to part two: 'When is it going to be available' must give the year (2012, 2013... 2020?)
- the answer to part three: 'what form'. Please respond 'native OS application' or 'cloud based'

Thanks

Message 10 of 66

- the answer must not direct us to another link

 

I don't know if there is another link


- the answer cannot be 'we don't know' (find the answer)

 

We may or may not know the answer, but cannot give "forward looking statements" about our future direction in public forums.  Privately, we could have you/your company sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and then discuss specifics with you.


- the answer to part one of the question: 'Is Revit for Mac going to be available' is either YES or NO

 

Sorry, but there is no one at Autodesk that can answer that.  It's like asking someone at Apple "tell us the exact time the iPhone 5 is going to be released." 


- the answer to part two: 'When is it going to be available' must give the year (2012, 2013... 2020?)

 

Since we cannot  answer Yes or No, there is no way to answer this question, and legally, we can't.


- the answer to part three: 'what form'. Please respond 'native OS application' or 'cloud based'

 

Sorry to give you what seems to be the run-around, but we simply are not allowed to discuss specifics about the "future" direction of our software.

 

With that being said, there are plenty of current customers that are running Revit on Macs now, using bootcamp, parallels, virtualization, etc.  There are even Autodesk employees running Revit on Macs in a windows environment.  So yes, it can be done, and is being done sucessfully by many of our customers.

 



Scott D Davis
Sr AEC Technical Specialist
Message 11 of 66
amorphousarch
in reply to: Avh_UK

Hi Davis,

Thanks for your response.

Unfortunatley the answer you gave me is exactly the same mon-answer given to the 'Revit on Mac' question for the last ten years.

You specially referred to the Apple iPhone example. I think if you asked any Apple employee 'is there going to be an iPhone 5' they can all give you a straight 'YES' or 'NO' answer without asking me to sign an NDA.

As of today, iPhone 5 is not released yet. But it is public knowledge that it will be available in September, the public knowledge of its imminment release has been around past year.

Apple is infamous for its secrecy, is Autodesk a even more secretive corporation than apple? From your response it does seem so.

Julian

Message 12 of 66
Hevek
in reply to: scott_d_davis


@scott_d_davis wrote:

We may or may not know the answer, but cannot give "forward looking statements" about our future direction in public forums.  Privately, we could have you/your company sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and then discuss specifics with you.


Scott, we would be interested in taking you up on the offer of an NDA. We're an architects firm at our wits' end with Vectorworks and are trying to decide on a long term software strategy.

 

How can I get in touch to progress this further?

Message 13 of 66
scott_d_davis
in reply to: Hevek

I just sent you a Private Message regarding contact info. 



Scott D Davis
Sr AEC Technical Specialist
Message 14 of 66

Scott,

 

We're in the same boat. Just converted our offices to macs and are using autocad lt for mac to help with budgeting. But we're needing revit as well. I would be happy to sign an NDA so we can see which direction to lead our office.

Message 15 of 66

Scott see my previous post. I believe it replied to the wrong person. Thanks.

 

Message 16 of 66

Scott- I would also be interested inworking through a NDA to help determine the BIM future of my office. 

Message 17 of 66
Hevek
in reply to: jasonkersley7210

Forget it. I took up the offer only to be told by someone else that it's not possible.

Message 18 of 66

We're you told revit on Mac was not possible or working with a NDA wasn't possible?

Message 19 of 66
Hevek
in reply to: amorphousarch

That the NDA wasn't possible.

Message 20 of 66

what is the big secret?

 

i've seen others compare it to apple letting everyone know when the next iphone is going to be released.... but the reason that is a secret is if I'm thinking of buying a new iphone, and I know the next iphone is coming out next month, i'll wait the month to buy the phone. with that, apple would be killing sales of their own current product.

 

If I know that revit for mac is coming out in a month, I wait to buy revit instead of buying archicad. if i know it is coming in 8 months, i would buy revit for windows and pay for the cross-grade when it comes out... If i have no idea, i will just by archicad.

 

rediculous!

 

Can't find what you're looking for? Ask the community or share your knowledge.

Post to forums  

Rail Community


Autodesk Design & Make Report