Despite the news last week, SolidWorks Corporation of Massachusetts told Architoshlate Friday that they are not planning to introduce a version of SolidWorks for the Mac OS X platform anytime soon. Fielder Hiss, Director of Product Management at SolidWorks, told Architoshthat reports of the existence of a native OS X version are flat out false.
Asked if an OS X version exist under wraps and if they plan to release one later this year Fielder Hiss said emphatically, “No.” “The majority of our SolidWorks customers are not interested in a Mac OS X version,” said Hiss, “only a small minority of our users are asking about that.”
Hiss told Architosh that his company is interested primarily in listening to its customers and meeting their requirements and interests. At this time Mac OS X, as a platform, is not a major enough concern. “We don’t have a UNIX past,” said Hiss, “we are the Windows mainstream CAD company.” Hiss noted that despite what rumors people hear, the SolidWorks Corporation isn’t even competing for the most part with highend MCAD playser UGS, which recently shipped a native OS X version of NX 5. “We focus on getting mainstream CAD users to adopt a 3D product like our SolidWorks,” said Hiss.
Asked if UGS and its new OS X Leopard version of Unigraphics NX 5 was on the company’s radar, Hiss responded: “We watch the whole market and evaluate things regularly, but honestly, they are in markets like aerospace where we are more a mainstream CAD company.”