Windows is good advice for the consultants who support it (was: Re: Good advice! (was: Re: [Ti] Windows compatable))

[Chris Olson]

On Jan 15, 2006, at 12:50 AM, Thomas Fulton wrote:

> Vectorworks and Multiframe are stand out  apps in this regard.   
> Even with the potential issues concerning translation of dwgs they  
> still make for a more efficient, stable and productive environment  
> to work in.

We use Ashlar-Vellum Cobalt and Xenon, which also provides a  
productive design environment.  I never said these applications  
aren't viable.  I said the defacto standard doesn't exist for the  
Mac, regardless of whether or not it's a dinosaur.

Here's what happens:
Say you have a shop that has 250 seats running AutoDesk products.   
This design shop is going to have a much more significant investment  
in software than they do hardware/operating environment.  This shop  
is never going to transition to Mac OS because it adds another layer  
of complexity to their internal support department, having to support  
yet another application suite (Vectorworks, Ashlar-Vellum, or what  
have you).  The financial realities of supporting multiple  
application suites internally, and dealing with yet another vendor  
with per-seat licensing issues etc., kills it.

Add to that the many choices in things like FEA software in the  
Windows environment, which simply doesn't exist on the Mac, and the  
Mac looses out in an area where it should excel - design and data  
analysis.  So even if you use Mac CAD software, but need to do linear  
static & dynamic stress analysis, eigen, steady/unsteady heat  
transfer, incompressible fluid flow, etc., analysis, you're going to  
be still using Windows, Linux, Solaris, or IRIX.  There used to be  
some good FEA software for Mac OS Classic, but we lost it during the  
"last big transition" from OS 9 -> OS X.

We can't afford too many more of these "big transitions", aka PowerPC  
-> Intel, because the Mac just keeps getting more expensive to  
support with every one.
-- 
Chris

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