Compatibility with OS X Sierra

[hlafferty28]

Quite frankly, I hate to even have to ask this question, but we are approaching the time when Apple releases the latest version of OS X (Sierra). It is currently in Beta 4.  I am wondering where Autodesk is in the process of compatibility review?

This has been an issue for a number of years.  Autodesk continues to place most of its development resource on windows based products. Other software developers seem to be able to be work fairly closely with Apple so that their products work with OS X releases as they come.  Autodesk always seems to have about a 2 -3 month delay.

Does anyone (MAXIM) out there have information about possible compatibility issues and timing for a Service Pack for AutoCad 2016 for Mac and Autocad LT 2016 for Mac?

[pendean]

betas are evaluated in the lab but Autodesk (and many other software vendors that don't pay Apple a premium to be participants in the OS beta) never guarantee their software compliant until after the full OS is released to the public and is final. Sometimes the delay is weeks, sometimes it's months: depends on the guts of the OS changes.

If you are, by profession, a beta tester or like to be one, make sure you don't make the mistake of upgrading your one and only production PC for this experiment.

Good luck.

[caspar]

That's a very disappointing response to an important question. The question was nothing to do with compatibility with a beta, but with the long delays we often see after the full version is released.

AutoCAD -- and in fact all Autodesk software -- is eye-wateringly expensive. Delays in compatibility are aggravating. I understand these are complex products, but the ongoing lack of feature parity between Windows and Mac is also an enormous source of frustration. The software is good, but it needs to keep improving.

Your arrogant and condescending answer suggests that your attitude towards your users is in need of even more work.

[maxim_k]

Hi @Anonymous,

BTW - Dean (pendean) is an ordinary AutoCAD user, just like you. He is not from Autodesk staff.

Maxim

[stephane_veireman]

Compatible with macOS Sierra or not ?

[hlafferty28]

Thanks Caspar for calling it right. There was no answer. 

The condescending warning about beta testing from Dean (aka Pendean) did not even merit a response. Maxim pointed out that Dean is an AutoCAD user "like you" (and me for that matter). I suspect not so much like you as he has more than 37,000 posts on this forum. My firm would not make money if I spent as much time posting here.  

I expected better from Maxim, as he is usually very responsive and has really helpful advice.

The sad truth is that, so far, there is not an answer to my question. At least not that I have been able to find.

We pay a lot of money to have the use (we no longer own anything) of AutoCAD. For that money I would expect a stronger commitment by Autodesk to support for Mac. I say I would expect.... I should point out that AutoDesk left the Mac users completely hanging back when they quit writing for Mac 15 or so years ago. So maybe I should just consider myself lucky for the few crumbs thrown to us.

I will keep hoping and waiting for a real response. In the meantime, we can expect to see AutoCAD 2017 and AutoCAD LT 2017 for Mac by the end of the year - nearly 5 months after the Windows Release.

[maxim_k · Accepted solution]

I am 99% sure that current AutoCAD (2016) is partially compatible with new macOS.
At the same time I believe the Update will be released soon.

2017 version will be compatible with new macOS (of course).

And... believe me or not: neither Dean nor I get cash rewards for the assistance provided to AutoCAD users here in the Forum.

Maxim

[hlafferty28]

Thank you for your response. Referring to payment (or lack thereof) I completely believe you. Just saying, that you two are not the average AutoCAD user. But I suspect these days the average user has in excess of 37,000 posts to social media sites. You two just happen to focus your efforts here, and for that I am grateful.

I need to mention that my earlier response today (referring to Pendean's post) is connected to a response that completely missed the point of the initial question that ended with

"Does anyone (MAXIM) out there have information about possible compatibility issues and timing for a Service Pack for AutoCAD 2016 for Mac and AutoCAD LT 2016 for Mac?"

Henry

[Anonymous]

I am a little fanatical about keeping up to date, even when I don't really have to, but I do find it frustrating when AutoCAD does not keep pace with MACs. I can't afford to keep updating AutoCAD, I use 2015. So I do wish there was a better solution when upgrades come through or do I just forget bothering and slowly get totally out of date.

[hlafferty28]

My frustration with Autodesk has a long history, but really escalated during the recession when, after purchasing 4 seats of AutoCAD, the people who were to use them were no longer employed by my office. But AutoDesk would not provide a path to extract any of the nearly $16K that was put into their product to keep the lights on in the office; would not provide a path to convert the license from Windows to Mac; nor would they allow the exchange of multiple licenses for a single current license. It has only been in the last 2 years, as they try to get the legacy perpetual licenses out of circulation, that they are discounting a 3 year subscription for the exchange of a license. The simple fact is they want your money, but don't really care very much about the end-user unless you happen to be purchasing 500 seats.

The product has become more and more expensive - now that it has no perpetual license you either pay yearly or lose the privilege of using it. Nearly $4,000 for a seat is not pocket change for most small offices. But building in a fixed and ongoing expense is not something I take lightly after the last recession.

And when I spend that kind of money, I certainly expect the developer to keep pace with the operating system. To their credit, there will be a service pack and the release of 2017 sometime before the end of the year. But try to find anything about it on the website and you get directed to posts like mine that offer no real answer. That's why I generally appreciate responses by Maxim. He seems have some inner Autodesk knowledge and he has pointed me in the direction of solutions to problems I have experienced more than once.

There are other options (like Draftsight) since Autodesk lost their lawsuit to keep the DWG file format proprietary, but when dealing with consultants, I prefer to minimize the possibility of errors.

Unfortunately, you will continue to get more and more out of date, unless you fork over more cash - lots of it. If you have a perpetual license, hold on to it.

[pendean]

>>....is connected to a response that completely miss the point of the initial question that ended with...<<<

We all read and interpret posts differently: sometimes we connect, sometimes we do not. Simply point out the misinterpretation to correct it is better than wailing and ranting.

You did it yourself: you read "condescending" I thought I wrote "factual". You didn't see me rant and wail on your response or that of the other person, I figured you both just needed to vent so I let it go.

Good luck with it all.

[pendean]

Alistair, as a general software management rule, if you plan on sticking with old software you must stick with the old OS that it works in best.

So pick one or the other, you cannot have it both ways: "fanatical about keeping up to date" must apply to everything or nothing on your work-production PC that earns you a salary.

It's the approach found in all corporations with experienced I.T. departments/teams who, like you, have no budgets to be constantly upgrading all software as well as retraining.

[hlafferty28]

Pendean-

Well, I certainly don't see wailing and ranting in my response, however, I did use the word "condescending". 

As I read your response to my query, I heard dire warnings about Beta testing. I didn't ask about beta testing, but just observed that "we are approaching the time when Apple releases the latest version of OS X (Sierra). It is currently in Beta 4. I am wondering where Autodesk is in the process of compatibility review?"

In my experience anyone beta testing knows that there is a risk that things may not work as planned. And anyone knows the by the time a product is in beta 4, the release is imminent. After being warned about the risks of beta testing I received no response to the direct question that was asked at the end of the post asking "Does anyone (MAXIM) out there have information about possible compatibility issues and timing for a Service Pack for AutoCAD 2016 for Mac and AutoCAD LT 2016 for Mac?"

Please accept my apologies for misreading your response.

As I noted in a later post, I am deeply grateful for the time you, Maxim, and other Expert Elite users spend on this site.

I do need to note that the change from Yosemite, to El Capitan, and now to Sierra is not an apple to apple (ha!) comparison of say Windows XP to Vista to Windows 7, 8, and then 10. To say that a Mac user who purchased an early 2015 machine with El Capitan should not move to Sierra and needs to keep the same operating system and software that is/was on the machine at the time of the purchase is just not accurate. In fact, you can make the case, that when windows issues a service pack (as many as 3 for XP)  the operating system is no longer the same as the original. And this is not even taking into consideration the many updates that Windows releases on a weekly basis.

For a Mac, one needs to know the processor, etc. when evaluating compatibility. The age of the machine is a very real factor in compatibility. But this discussion leads back to my previous comments about the commitment of AutoDesk to writing for OS X. These are not rants - just my unapologetic observations of Mac Support at Autodesk since migrating from PCs to Mac in 2011.

[Anonymous]

Hi Guys ! interesting comments. For now I am going to take the approach, if it works don't fix it and watch this space......

[wei503]

Gentlemen,

Let me answer the questions frankly:

1. Sierra compatibility review started the first day of Sierra internal Beta releases.

2. We have been working on the fixes for issues discovered by internal test.

3. The fixes will be in the new release, and we will release updates to address the issues on older releases.

4. By now, I haven't seen issue reports from users about working on Sierra. I hope it is a good news. But to your concern, the best way would be to try it yourself, installing the Sierra on a different disk partition, so that it does not ruin your production environment, and install AutoCAD on it, try a few hours with your drawings. People are using AutoCAD differently, you may hit on issues that others did not.

Finally, Apple would not tell us when Sierra will be released, and they released new OS at different time every year. AutoCAD cannot release before the OS. We have seen "small" changes in GM Beta, which leads to serious issues on AutoCAD. 

Thanks for your understanding, and if anyone would like to share the experience/issues on Sierra, we read the forums!

Thanks,
Wei

[hlafferty28]

THANK YOU so much for your reply!

[pendean]

An observation: when a software reaches 'beta' testing it's pretty much going to be released as it is presented and all they are trying to do is confirm there are no fatal errors in the program. They rarely fix anything during beta that is not 'fatal' or 'takes away from a new feature'. There is little to no regard to whether it works 100% perfect or if it affects existing feature that has a workaround.

Pretty sad state of affairs.

Please continue to participate and voice your opinions in these forums.

[hlafferty28]

You are more cynical than me

I will say that in my experience with Windows that was always the case. The first release of XP, Vista, 7 ... whatever, always felt like a rough draft that was amended in the service pack. That is certainly present with various iterations of OS X, but in my experience, not as bad. However, I suspect that folks who experienced the change from Power PC to Intel were not at all happy.

Be well

[sapote]

I've been wondering this myself too... since macOS Sierra beta was announced; "Will AutoCAD LT for MAC 2016 be supported at time of release to general public or will it go the way of the "El Capitan" fiasco?" I would hope AutoDesk learned from that experience, but honestly, I think it'll be at least 1-3 months before there's even an update released for 2016 users. I worry though if they'll even release an update first for 2016 users (forget about 2015, 2014,..) before 2017 version. I understand their point with it being tested/compatible with GM release, but come on, for the most part every other OS X app maker is ready for it and if not, it's soon after. AutoCAD is the only app on my iMac that hinders updating to a new OS X release, other then SketchUp Pro, of which incompatibility issues with latest OS X release are rare and quickly fixed - unlike AutoCAD. 

[Anonymous]

It has been a few days which was made the release of Mac The Sierra I want to know if there is any problem with autocad 2016 ??? I'm curious to see what the operating system, but fear that occurs with the previous version ... I was a good time without ...