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VectorWorks 12 to Support Apple?s Intel Macintosh Computers

Columbia, Maryland (December 20, 2005)?Nemetschek North America announced today that its VectorWorks 12 line of software products will support Apple? Intel? Macintosh? computers. Existing VectorWorks 12 users will receive this new support without additional upgrade fees.

?Nemetschek North America has been working closely with Apple and our other technology partners to create a native Intel version of VectorWorks for Mac OS X,? states Paul Pharr, Nemetschek North America?s chief technology officer. ?Apple's Intel plans open up new possibilities for fast and affordable hardware to run their industry-leading operating system, so we understand the keen interest in the Mac community regarding Intel Macs. As the makers of the best-selling CAD program for the Mac, we want to assure our many users we are committed to providing an Intel-native VectorWorks 12 application for Mac OS X.?

Nemetschek North America is a wholly-owned subsidiary of European software giant Nemetschek AG. A global leader in design technologies, Nemetschek N.A. has been developing CAD software for the AEC, entertainment, landscape design, and manufacturing fields since 1985. VectorWorks, its flagship product, is one of the world's best-selling cross-platform CAD applications. It is available in more than 85 countries and is translated into eight languages. An all-in-one solution that's easier to learn and use and more cost-effective than most other CAD programs, VectorWorks is ideal for firms that don't have unlimited IT budgets. For more information, visit www.nemetschek.net.

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Given Virtual PC allowed you to run PC apps and OSes on a PowerPC machine, I'd be shocked if there wasn't a good Virtual PC for Intel Macs. Apple or someone else might even create a Windows compatibility layer for OS X, just like WINE for Linux, which would allow you to run Windows programs directly.

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I can't wait for Intel Macs...you Vectorworks users on PCs have it slightly easier than us Mac people when it comes to exchanging DWGs - at least you can run a DWG viewer to check your export files.

We know for sure that the Intel Macs will be dual boot (if you buy a copy of XP or Vista)....but what we're really hoping for is some way of running an XP window right there inside OS X. Fingers crossed.

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  • 3 weeks later...

This all sounds exciting and the possibilties abound. In fact I'm off later this morning to the MacWorld Conference to see what else I can find out.

One point: The operative word in the VW Press Release is "will". Does this mean that support for Intel Mac's is still off in the future? If so, when will it be in fact available?

Onward!

Bob

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Support for or Intel Macs is still off in the future; it will be available when it's ready.

Older versions of VectorWorks may work on Intel Macs under Rosetta, but it is not recommended for serious work (by Steve Jobs of Apple as well as by NNA.) Upgrade VW when you upgrade your machine.

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Will Nemetchek be doing a kind of comparison as to how fast, for example, VW 11.5 will run on one of the new Intel iMacs vs a G5 iMac? Or if VW 11 runs at all. I know that Apple's Pro apps won't be supported by Rosetta. Users will have to wait for an binary upgrade to be able to use them on Apple's Intel hardware.

But if the chip is twice as fast, surely it won't be too much slower than current. Photoshop didn't seem to be going too slow in Steve's Macworld Keynote presentation. Also I have read that much of VW's code is exactly the same as Wintel versions so would that mean less of a speed hit under Rosetta for VW? VW, Office (occasionally), Adobe CS (even more rarely) are really the only big ticket apps I use, and since my equipment lease is up in a month, I am keen to jump on the Intel train.

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quote:

Originally posted by Katie:

It is important to note that when NNA provides a compatible version of VW with Intel Macs, the compatibility will start with VW version 12.

Which for Mac users with any version lower than VW12 you'll be looking at buying up the last models of any none-Intel processor Macs you can find to run VW or quite understandably, allow a sum of money to upgrade VW to the compatible version in your purchase of a Intel driven Apple.

Alan

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Right. Especially given that Apple isn't guaranteeing compatibility with up-to-date apps, NNA and other software companies aren't going to guarantee Rosetta compatibility for older major versions of VectorWorks. VW 11.5 may work great on Intel Macs, it may be slow, or it may work incorrectly in a few or many cases. If it's either the second or third, don't expect the situation to improve.

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quote:

Originally posted by alanmac:

quote:

Originally posted by Katie:

It is important to note that when NNA provides a compatible version of VW with Intel Macs, the compatibility will start with VW version 12.

Which for Mac users with any version lower than VW12 you'll be looking at buying up the last models of any none-Intel processor Macs you can find to run VW or quite understandably, allow a sum of money to upgrade VW to the compatible version in your purchase of a Intel driven Apple.

Alan

No. Apparently Rosetta works pretty fast, as in the CPU is so much faster than than whatever processor you were using before.

Anybody using a G4 probably will not be disapointed running VW on a Intel Mac in Rosetta.

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quote:

Originally posted by wv_vectorworker:

[/qb]

No. Apparently Rosetta works pretty fast, as in the CPU is so much faster than than whatever processor you were using before.

Anybody using a G4 probably will not be disapointed running VW on a Intel Mac in Rosetta.

Anybody paying the sums of money involved for a new Intel based Mac and not planning to upgrade their version of VW to the latest Universal version when it becomes available is not maximizing on their investment in my opinion.

Sure as a short term stop gap solution, like now if you had to buy one, using Rosetta till the Universal is released.

It's early days but a member here has reported good results with Rosetta on comparable machines so it should help in the short term.

You wouldn't go out and buy a new widescreen TFT television and not upgrade the ariel if you knew it would give you a better picture would you, insisting it was good enough for your old 20" eight year old model so it's good enough for this.

That's my take on it anyway.

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Going back in the posts a bit, it appears that the new Intel Macs are not dual boot ready (ie MacOSX and Windows XP), as Windows can't be run on them. There are reports of many early users trying to install Windows XP and even Vista with no joy. There are technical reasons in the hardware why this is not the case. I'm sure somebody will work out how to do it but for the average users it will be a no go.

What has to be remembered is that these machines are Macs, and will not run Windows software unless Windows is installed, or run under emulation using Virtual PC.

Virtual PC will not run under Rosetta and Microsoft are saying an Universal VPC will not be available until 2007.

So it looks like if you need to run Windows apps you need to stick to the existing G5s, or buy a PC.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Quigly must be too busy working with his new Mac to post a review.

Mike S, did they say stay away from Intel macs or stay away from Intel PCs?

I am using an iBook with 768 MB Ram. I needed a portable, but a Dual Core G5 sure would be nice, or maybe a quad G5.

depends on your budget.

the new iMac Core Duo (intel) is apparently quite speedy, and it officially supports monitor spanning, so you can have a big extended desktop.

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quote:

Originally posted by Mike S:

I was told to stay away from Intel.

Who by and for what reason?

Maxon have brought out their Cinema 4D in Universal Binary a couple of days ago, so I'm guessing other software companies will be well on the way to releasing theirs soon.

With this native running version its already shown to be faster on the new iMac Duo Core 2 ghz than the G5 Dual 2ghz Tower running Cinebench. Certainly looks a promising start.

Alan

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quote:

Originally posted by Deirdre:

VectorWorks 12 to Support Apple?s Intel Macintosh Computers

Columbia, Maryland (December 20, 2005)?Nemetschek North America announced today that its VectorWorks 12 line of software products will support Apple? Intel? Macintosh? computers. Existing VectorWorks 12 users will receive this new support without additional upgrade fees.
[/url]

Having checked out quigley's link:

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/imac-coreduo.arsI

... I have a question for NNA. Does "support for Apple? Intel? Macintosh? computers" mean native or in Rosetta mode? If I understood correctly the Rosetta emulation performance in iMac core-duo was significantly slower than even an older iMac G5 1.8 mhz.

[ 02-10-2006, 10:14 PM: Message edited by: Ramon PG ]

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