Ongoing Petition Reveals Interest in SolidWorks for Mac

Soon after Autodesk blogger Shaan Hurley announced Autodesk’s survey for AutoCAD on Mac, WorldCAD Access, another CAD blog, unearthed a petition for SolidWorks on Mac.

Dominik Hoffmann, the originator of the petition, wrote “With Apple continuing to deliver screaming-fast hardware in their G4 line of computers and the new Mac OS X’s Unix underpinnings, the Macintosh would be an excellent platform for the SolidWorks 3D CAD system. By porting SolidWorks to Mac OS X, SolidWorks could truly make their flagship ‘The Standard in 3D Modeling Software’ in eliminating its single-platform limitation ...  I would like to make known to SolidWorks Corporation my great interest in seeing SolidWorks on Mac OS X.”

Hosted at PetitionOnline.com, the document has been signed by 4,450 signatures so far. (On April 9, when WorldCAD Access checked it, the total signatures collected stood at 4,403.) A glimpse of the comments left by petitioners shows dedicated Mac fans’ desire to run SolidWorks on their preferred platform:

Jeff Spivack from Arlington, Virginia, wrote, “I love SolidWorks and I love my Mac.  PLEASE let me use the two together.” Jeff Bickel from University of Washingtn wrote, “Seriously guys, we need this.” Alex Wood from Ishida Europe, a weighing and packing solutions provider, wrote, “The only thing keeping me on a Windows PC is Solidworks. I’d swap tomorrow if Solidworks was made compatible with OS X.”

On Facebook, Autodesk blogger Hurley reported, “10,000 more AutoCAD on the Mac surveys taken in just the past three days and still going ... my poor server!”

On Mac support forums and Mac user communities, people frequently solicit tips on running Pro/E and Solid Edge as well. The growing interest in CAD on Mac suggests CAD software developers like Autodesk, Dassault, PTC, and Siemens would need to pay more attention to Apple fans.

For more, read the Q&A with Dominik Hoffmann, the man who first launched the SolidWorks for Mac petition, and SolidWorks CEO Jeff Ray’s thoughts on the Mac platform.