mac is missing two VERY VERY important...CRITICALLY important programs:
AutoCAD
3d Studio Max
Otherwise, architects would be all over the mac...though many prefer the mac and keep a pc just for autoCAD work
okay, i feel i need to say something here. first, you're right, autocad has an enormous marketshare and mindshare in the architect community. but having been trained in autocad r14 long ago when it was all the rage, i have no clue why people use the software. if you think word is counterintuitive, try using what is supposed to be a drafting tool where almost every customizing function is buried in a dialog box. there were some late evenings int he computer labs where i just wanted to punch the screen.
personally, i just want someone to come out with an autocad competitor that's 514% better, and is cross-compatible with autocad files. THAT is what mac os x really needs.
personally, i just want someone to come out with an autocad competitor that's 514% better, and is cross-compatible with autocad files. THAT is what mac os x really needs.
i completely agree. i was looking at the situation a little one-dimensionally. but who will make this tool? people around here use form*Z, but that is hardly an autocad replacement and doesn't do much at all very well.
Here's a software sub-question: what word processors exist for OS X besides Mellel, Nisus Writer, Appleworks and MS Word? And of those four, does anyone have comments about the quality of the first two? I'm particularly interested in style and page formatting control.
I do envy the mac office users, the new apple version (office 2004?) has a notebook /w tabs feature.
Us windoze goobers have to pay $99 (student price via efollet) for that, it is a sand-alone app called "one note" gee, the names of new office apps are getting really retarded but i digress; why is the mac version of a Microsoft product superior to the same app on their own windoze platform?
Sorry but M$ is screwing its own user base, and no one even notices, just imagine if apple, say launchet a new version of itunes on windows without updateing the mac version, or chargeing for the mac update, you guys in the mac community would be storming 1 infanant loop.
Well, as far as CAD and 3D, IMO 3D MAX and AutoCAD are the two worst apps out there for their respective purposes.
Form Z is stinky for drafting, and while you can get excellent models and renderings from it, it takes a lot of work. The presets suck. However, it has arguably the most tools at your disposal and certainly caters more to architects than character animators. But it's not a one stop shop for architects either.
AutoCAd is only important because it has a large share of the market. People seem to think it's a better solution, but honestly, aside from AutoDesk making life difficult for us by changing the DWG format arbitrarily, it's not worth having it most of the time. I mean it's really bad. I'd rather see MicroStation back on Macs. I'd condider it much more closely, while I would barely look at AutoCAD, just keeping it on a cheap PC box to one side.
3D Max is also popular but isn't nearly as essential. Maya Complete is far better and even pretty good for architectural use. I remember when it was da shiznit, but that was almost ten years ago now. It's been overrun by other software that's more affordable, better designed, more extensible and non-procedural (or non-linear if you prefer) done by responsive developers.
ArchiCAD is as close to a one-stop shop in drafting and 3D as you'll find anywhere. Vectorworks' 3D isn't so great, though there are some aspets of it I just love (works more like Illustrator or Freehand in some basic, smart ways), but it's a very good 2D app. The list goes on on the high end and low end for architects. It's just aCAD that shakles people to PCs when, to me, it's not worth the torture. AutoDesk is the Quark of the AEC world.
3D Max is also popular but isn't nearly as essential. Maya Complete is far better and even pretty good for architectural use. I remember when it was da shiznit, but that was almost ten years ago now. It's been overrun by other software that's more affordable, better designed, more extensible and non-procedural (or non-linear if you prefer) done by responsive developers.
As i understand it, Maya has basically abandoned their mac development, claiming it isn't profitable. It seems that Maya is more appropriate for hollywood-type stuff than modeling, but i could be wrong
I would find that a little hard to believe since they just released Version 6 a few weeks ago for the mac. Plus Pixar just made the switch to Mac only. I also hope they do not stop future development.
As i understand it, Maya has basically abandoned their mac development, claiming it isn't profitable. It seems that Maya is more appropriate for hollywood-type stuff than modeling, but i could be wrong
Maya isn't going anywhere on the Mac. As someone mentioned, Alias is making over a 1/4 of their money from the Mac platform. Alias is actually pretty devoted to Mac development. They just recently released SketchBook Pro for the Mac and from what I hear from my friends at Alias, it is doing pretty well.
Sigma Plot (the best data analysis software package I can think of).
WebLab Viewer Pro (a .pdb viewer for looking at protein structures).
Sculpt (another .pdb viewer for looking at biological molecules)
Numerous software packages that run confocol microscopes, imaging systems, laser systems, fluorsescenc equipment, patch clamp rigs.....etc. They are all made to run Windows because they can bundle cheap computers to run the equipment. They never port these programsover to OSX.
There is simply not as many scientific programs available for OSX as there is for Windows. I think that Apple needs to get more of these professional scientific programs over to OSX - not sure if you guyw know this but Apple's market share for scientsits at Univerisities is probably around 40% plus. If Apple wants to hold onto that, they better make some changes.
Apple seems to be aiming for the computational market instead of the controller market, for better or worse. Their Biotech Cluster is pretty kick ass... but it won't control your equipment.
I think that most of this is due to the braindead control hardware used in most scientific equipment: RS-232, straight serial, etc. USB and such are simply overkill in most cases. The older ports can still be found on most Wintel boxes sold, but not on a Mac.
What I'd love to see is a simple breakout box that offers USB, an array of older ports, and something like NI-DAC (National Instruments' controller software/hardware). It shouldn't be *THAT* hard for most general cases... but, of course, it'd be yet another purchase for a Mac user... *sigh*
ThousandStars3 - Look for Tex-Edit\tPlus (not TextEdit). Personally, I use QuarkXpress.
progmac - Someone has Autocad working in Virtual PC using WindowsNT (Nasty Thing) that runs as fast as his native 2 Ghz PC. Search on (http://www.macwindows.com/). Also read some reviews at architosh.com for alternative programs.
I never knew what shovelware meant until I was forced to use winblows. 100 versions of a program don't count when 99 of them suck badly.
The Mac is missing key engineering programs that would be perectly suited to running under OS.X, but many developers are not keen to spread. For example Dassault (makers of Solidworks) are according to Architosh 100% devoted to development for Windows.
PTC Pro/Engineer
Dassault Solidworks
IBM Catia
Rhino
AutoCAD
All missing from the Mac, and there is no incentive to make them as no engineering companies use Macs, and because the software isn't there they have no intention of buying them, and because they have no intention of buying them there is no software. Self perpetuating circle really. Also all these are held back by the lack of high end professional graphics cards for the Mac like the ATI Fire etc etc
It's true, we don't have a zillion wordprocessors or quirky shareware as the Wintel world does. But we have 99% of what matters (and some they don't have). The Mac user experience compensates hughly for the remaining 1%.
As for games, we have all the important games. If you wan't more, or you're a serious gamer, you buy a PS2 or an XBox anyway.
I'l agree, and disagree on that one. If your a serious gamer buy a Console, and bare bone PC just for gaming. Good monitor, Good card, Fast processor. Spend about $1,500.00 or so, and your set. ($1,500.00 was a guestimate)
Comments
Originally posted by progmac
mac is missing two VERY VERY important...CRITICALLY important programs:
AutoCAD
3d Studio Max
Otherwise, architects would be all over the mac...though many prefer the mac and keep a pc just for autoCAD work
okay, i feel i need to say something here. first, you're right, autocad has an enormous marketshare and mindshare in the architect community. but having been trained in autocad r14 long ago when it was all the rage, i have no clue why people use the software. if you think word is counterintuitive, try using what is supposed to be a drafting tool where almost every customizing function is buried in a dialog box. there were some late evenings int he computer labs where i just wanted to punch the screen.
personally, i just want someone to come out with an autocad competitor that's 514% better, and is cross-compatible with autocad files. THAT is what mac os x really needs.
Originally posted by rok
personally, i just want someone to come out with an autocad competitor that's 514% better, and is cross-compatible with autocad files. THAT is what mac os x really needs.
i completely agree. i was looking at the situation a little one-dimensionally. but who will make this tool? people around here use form*Z, but that is hardly an autocad replacement and doesn't do much at all very well.
Originally posted by ThousandStars3
Here's a software sub-question: what word processors exist for OS X besides Mellel, Nisus Writer, Appleworks and MS Word? And of those four, does anyone have comments about the quality of the first two? I'm particularly interested in style and page formatting control.
I do envy the mac office users, the new apple version (office 2004?) has a notebook /w tabs feature.
Us windoze goobers have to pay $99 (student price via efollet) for that, it is a sand-alone app called "one note" gee, the names of new office apps are getting really retarded but i digress; why is the mac version of a Microsoft product superior to the same app on their own windoze platform?
Sorry but M$ is screwing its own user base, and no one even notices, just imagine if apple, say launchet a new version of itunes on windows without updateing the mac version, or chargeing for the mac update, you guys in the mac community would be storming 1 infanant loop.
Originally posted by Merovingian
In terms of software available for the Mac, specifically for Mac OS X, what software is missing, that you'd use if existed under OS X?
All Endeavor products
Ariel
Access
Form Z is stinky for drafting, and while you can get excellent models and renderings from it, it takes a lot of work. The presets suck. However, it has arguably the most tools at your disposal and certainly caters more to architects than character animators. But it's not a one stop shop for architects either.
AutoCAd is only important because it has a large share of the market. People seem to think it's a better solution, but honestly, aside from AutoDesk making life difficult for us by changing the DWG format arbitrarily, it's not worth having it most of the time. I mean it's really bad. I'd rather see MicroStation back on Macs. I'd condider it much more closely, while I would barely look at AutoCAD, just keeping it on a cheap PC box to one side.
3D Max is also popular but isn't nearly as essential. Maya Complete is far better and even pretty good for architectural use. I remember when it was da shiznit, but that was almost ten years ago now. It's been overrun by other software that's more affordable, better designed, more extensible and non-procedural (or non-linear if you prefer) done by responsive developers.
ArchiCAD is as close to a one-stop shop in drafting and 3D as you'll find anywhere. Vectorworks' 3D isn't so great, though there are some aspets of it I just love (works more like Illustrator or Freehand in some basic, smart ways), but it's a very good 2D app. The list goes on on the high end and low end for architects. It's just aCAD that shakles people to PCs when, to me, it's not worth the torture. AutoDesk is the Quark of the AEC world.
Originally posted by BuonRotto
3D Max is also popular but isn't nearly as essential. Maya Complete is far better and even pretty good for architectural use. I remember when it was da shiznit, but that was almost ten years ago now. It's been overrun by other software that's more affordable, better designed, more extensible and non-procedural (or non-linear if you prefer) done by responsive developers.
As i understand it, Maya has basically abandoned their mac development, claiming it isn't profitable. It seems that Maya is more appropriate for hollywood-type stuff than modeling, but i could be wrong
And more would jump on the wagon if Alias would bring Maya Unlimited to the Mac. It would give large(r) companies a reason (more) to switch.
Originally posted by progmac
As i understand it, Maya has basically abandoned their mac development, claiming it isn't profitable. It seems that Maya is more appropriate for hollywood-type stuff than modeling, but i could be wrong
Maya isn't going anywhere on the Mac. As someone mentioned, Alias is making over a 1/4 of their money from the Mac platform. Alias is actually pretty devoted to Mac development. They just recently released SketchBook Pro for the Mac and from what I hear from my friends at Alias, it is doing pretty well.
Sigma Plot (the best data analysis software package I can think of).
WebLab Viewer Pro (a .pdb viewer for looking at protein structures).
Sculpt (another .pdb viewer for looking at biological molecules)
Numerous software packages that run confocol microscopes, imaging systems, laser systems, fluorsescenc equipment, patch clamp rigs.....etc. They are all made to run Windows because they can bundle cheap computers to run the equipment. They never port these programsover to OSX.
There is simply not as many scientific programs available for OSX as there is for Windows. I think that Apple needs to get more of these professional scientific programs over to OSX - not sure if you guyw know this but Apple's market share for scientsits at Univerisities is probably around 40% plus. If Apple wants to hold onto that, they better make some changes.
-Dr.Bimane
I think that most of this is due to the braindead control hardware used in most scientific equipment: RS-232, straight serial, etc. USB and such are simply overkill in most cases. The older ports can still be found on most Wintel boxes sold, but not on a Mac.
What I'd love to see is a simple breakout box that offers USB, an array of older ports, and something like NI-DAC (National Instruments' controller software/hardware). It shouldn't be *THAT* hard for most general cases... but, of course, it'd be yet another purchase for a Mac user... *sigh*
progmac - Someone has Autocad working in Virtual PC using WindowsNT (Nasty Thing) that runs as fast as his native 2 Ghz PC. Search on (http://www.macwindows.com/). Also read some reviews at architosh.com for alternative programs.
I never knew what shovelware meant until I was forced to use winblows. 100 versions of a program don't count when 99 of them suck badly.
PTC Pro/Engineer
Dassault Solidworks
IBM Catia
Rhino
AutoCAD
All missing from the Mac, and there is no incentive to make them as no engineering companies use Macs, and because the software isn't there they have no intention of buying them, and because they have no intention of buying them there is no software. Self perpetuating circle really. Also all these are held back by the lack of high end professional graphics cards for the Mac like the ATI Fire etc etc
Chris
Originally posted by BigBlue
It's true, we don't have a zillion wordprocessors or quirky shareware as the Wintel world does. But we have 99% of what matters (and some they don't have). The Mac user experience compensates hughly for the remaining 1%.
As for games, we have all the important games. If you wan't more, or you're a serious gamer, you buy a PS2 or an XBox anyway.
I'l agree, and disagree on that one. If your a serious gamer buy a Console, and bare bone PC just for gaming. Good monitor, Good card, Fast processor. Spend about $1,500.00 or so, and your set. ($1,500.00 was a guestimate)