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Will MacIntel Hardware Open The Door for Mac OS X CAD?

Posted by Cliff on from the new-niches-for-exploitation dept.

xcleetusx wonders: "I've been a fan of Apple for years, and with their current strangle-hold on mainstream media my desire to make the switch has been growing ever more, but the same nagging issue that has prevented my switch for years still remains: I'm an engineer, and I simply can't invest in a computer that won't run modeling/simulation software like CATIA and Solidworks. Since this software is available on Unix (which Mac OS X is built on) and also on Windows (Intel hardware), is the Apple switch to Intel-based hardware going to better my chances for a Mac OS X CAD workstation, or will it remain a pipedream?"

5 of 126 comments (clear)

  1. Hardware OS by Florian · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The switch to x86 doesn't change the API of MacOS X and hence won't magically give you Intel PC software. And if that software had been cross-API-compatible (via Qt, wxwidgets etc.), it could have been released for PPC-MacOS already.

    The only thing that is likely to happen with Intel-Mac is that Windows Emulators - and hence Windows software - will run at nearly native speed.

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  2. No by Otter · · Score: 5, Insightful
    This is not complicated and I don't get why people find it so difficult to comprehend. Macs are still going to be Macs, with MacOS and Cocoa. There's going to be a chip inside with a different instruction set; everything upstream will be essentially identical.

    MacOS is not going to magically turn into Windows or Linux just because there's Intel Inside. Mac development will be unchanged, with some marginal exceptions.

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  3. Pipedream. by sootman · · Score: 5, Informative

    Programs run on operating systems, not CPUs. Your best chance is if the new Apple/Intel hardware dual-boots, or if Apple gains enough market share that CAD companies decide to start coding for them.

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  4. The problem is political, not technical... by argent · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Since this software is available on UNIX (which Mac OS X is built on) and also on Windows (Intel hardware), is the Apple switch to Intel-based hardware going to better my chances for a MacOS CAD workstation, or will it remain a pipedream?"

    If the software is available on UNIX, and is not available on the Mac right now, then whatever is holding it back is unrelated to the processor the Mac is using. Either the vendor does not consider the Mac market large enough (which is odd, since by this time the majority of workstations capable of running UNIX software are Macs), or they consider even a port to another UNIX platform unreasonably difficult, or they don't realise that Mac OS X runs ordinary UNIX applications very well.

    These are not problems that will be solved by switching to a new processor, case design, color scheme, mouse, keyboard, monitor, or pizza topping.

  5. Re:Only hope lies in increased popularity. by Mattcelt · · Score: 5, Interesting

    X11 is not nasty.

    On OSX it is. In fact, it's the antithesis of everything the Mac UI stands for - it's clunky, enigmatic, and difficult for people who aren't familiar with it to troubleshoot.

    My girlfriend gave up on using openoffice altogether because of X11.

    While I don't argue X11's potential, its implementation on OSX leaves much to be desired.