SolidWorks on Mac: CEO Speaks Out. You Have Your Say. {Poll}

I’m sure of it. Your ankles are swelling with excitiment at the thought. SolidWorks on a Mac? Is this another post teasing of the possibility? Totally. Yes. But this time, you get to find out a little more about what’s going on in the mind of SolidWorks. Particularly, it’s CEO, Jeff Ray, courtesy of a fine, distinguished writer, Kenneth Wong.

You’ve seen how to run SolidWorks on a Mac here, porting it through bootcamp and doing a softmod to get RealView on a MacBookPro, but what if you could run it native… on a Mac?

Recently, Kenneth asked Jeff Ray about putting SolidWorks on a Mac. Here’s what he had to say…

Kenneth Wong: What is the possibility of SolidWorks on Mac?
Jef Ray: For us to play in the Mac space, we have to be every bit as committed to that platform as we have been to Windows. Given the hundreds of developers we have working on Windows, we can?t just go to them and say, ?Starting tomorrow, you?ll start working on Mac.? It would be an offense to our subscription customers, who are paying us and trusting that we?re spending their money on what?s important to them. We?ve always been market-driven. When the market votes to do engineering design on Mac, we?ll be there. So far, the market hasn?t voted that way.That doesn?t mean it won?t change ? I?m sure the day will come when we port [SolidWorks] to [Mac]. But that day isn?t today.”

– _{Read the rest of the interview at Kenneth Wong’s Virtual Desktop}

The debate
The SolidWorks Mac debate has been rearing it’s vicious head for years. A SolidWorks for Mac OS X petition was started in 1999 that currently has 4,530 signatures. While some may see it all as a tiny, annoying beasty, others base their entire professional existence on being able to produce 3D via a Mac.

Why the interest?
I think the web, as a venue, is making the desire more evident… that and let’s say, the incredible popularity of the Mac platform, that iPhone thing and everything people love about the ‘simplicity’ in an OS. You’ll also notice a lot of the interest coming from Industrial Designers… ID’ers that use Macs… ID’ers using SolidWorks to design a product. Why do you as a product designer care if it’s on Mac or a PC?

What’s your concern?
SolidWorks has their concerns. But what are yours as people that us SolidWorks on a PC or want SolidWorks on a Mac? I know I couldn’t possibly capture everyone in this poll, so add some if you like…