mentat@auscso.UUCP (Robert Dorsett) (10/31/87)
<mucho stuff on the lack of CADD/CAM software for the Mac deleted>
There's nothing new about this. Over the spring, I was in a position of
consulting a medium-sized architectural firm. They wanted to fire a bunch
of draftsmen, which is not a laudible action, in my opinion, and not the
sort I'd normally get involved with. At any rate, they already had a
candidate (IBM, running some kind of CADD program) when I entered the picture.
I perused the Sun Catalyst catalog and scoured the Mac market to provide them
with an alternative. The Suns were way out of the price range they were
willing to consider, but had a wealth of software available or available for
porting. The Mac had something like THREE programs with the words "CAD" or
"Draft" in the titles, and were PATHETIC. Either extremely poor interface
design or limited features. The interface problems were like the programmer
had spent a few years on AutoCAD and wanted to implement the software on a
Mac, while retaining MacPaint/Draw-style features. Garbage was the result.
When I heard WHY the company finally chose the IBM and the software, I was
aghast. The deciding factor was--(drum roll) two disks full of architectural
symbols. Like, symbols of chairs, etc. Unbelievable. The market is WIDE
OPEN when that type of garbage is the best the IBM world can offer.
I can see an ENORMOUS market out there for good CAD/CAM software. In fact,
if any publishers were game enough, such software would probably be ENORMOUS
sellers in the general software market (i.e., under $1000). I know a lot of
people in the sciences, not to mention engineering types, who would love some-
thing that allowed them to create precise drawings.
However, I think the problem is one of incentive: it is NOT Apple's respon-
sibility to publish CADD software. Apple has so far bent over backwards to
provide enormous technical support to professional (and not-so-professional)
developers who wish to program the Mac. The problem lies with the individual
software companies.
Apple COULD improve the situation by providing more competitive mass-computer
discounts. IBM clones are blowing away the Mac where small businesses need
to computerize, dirt-cheap. I have advised several people lately on network-
ing, but the cheapest Mac configurations I can find cost almost double what
the equivalent IBM-clone configurations would. Perhaps such a mechanism
already exists, but at the retail level, the "discounts" from dealers for
business customers are barely satisfactory to cover the sales tax. Of course,
I have no idea what the overhead for dealers is, but I'm willing to bet APPLE's
overhead is far, far less.
--
Robert Dorsett {allegra,ihnp4}!ut-sally!ut-ngp!walt!mentat
University of Texas at Austin {allegra, ihnp4}!ut-sally!ut-ngp!auscso!mentat daveb@geac.UUCP (11/06/87)
In article <594@auscso.UUCP> mentat@auscso.UUCP (Robert Dorsett) writes: ><mucho stuff on the lack of CADD/CAM software for the Mac deleted> >.... The Mac had something like THREE programs with the words "CAD" or >"Draft" in the titles, and were PATHETIC. Either extremely poor interface >design or limited features. I must agree: the Mac CAD/CAM stuff was *underwhelming*. On the other hand I just read a preprint of a CAD/CAM mag discussing a recent show where several real Mac CAD programs suddenly appeared out of the woodwork. The editor's opinion was that the Mac developers had suspended development until they could get Mac IIs with large or multiple screens and colors for identifying their various drawing planes before letting anything real out into the marketplace. --dave (wait... wait... SHAZAM! its here) c-b -- David Collier-Brown. {mnetor|yetti|utgpu}!geac!daveb Geac Computers International Inc., | Computer Science loses its 350 Steelcase Road,Markham, Ontario, | memory (if not its mind) CANADA, L3R 1B3 (416) 475-0525 x3279 | every 6 months.