ParaSolid for Mac OS X

UGS PLM Solutions announced Friday it ported Parasolid 16, its 3D solids modeling kernel, to Mac OS X.

While Parasolid is available for the Mac, no Mac software uses it. That didn't prevent USG PLM Solutions from using large numbers in its press release -- large numbers that are at this point meaningless:

* "...offer Parasolid support for the ever increasing customer demand for 3D applications on Mac OS X" but none of them use ParaSolid yet.

* "More than one million end-users employ Parasolid-based modeling applications..." but none of the on the Mac.

* "...like the Virginia Tech G5-based supercomputer -- the third-fastest supercomputer in the world -- built out of 1,100 Power Mac G5 computers." Of which fewer than one uses Parasolid.

* "It is estimated that over 40 percent of the world's 3D CAD data is based on Parasolid's open data format and now Mac users and Mac-based application software developers will be able to link into this vast community." Note the use of the future tense ("will").

* "Parasolid will further broaden the appeal of the Mac for the manufacturing industry by allowing Mac developers to create robust 3D applications that can benefit from the super fast Power Mac G5."

Despite the lack of announced applications for Parasolid, it is admirable that UGS PLM Solutions took the step to port Parasolid to the Mac -- a job that cost the company $$ with no guarantee of future revenue.

Not that I have any great love for the Mac. As my daughter wisely noted: "Where is the other mouse button?"

Update:
CADserver interviewed a couple of ParaSolid-using CAD vendors to find that neither UGS PLM Solutions (NX, Solid Eddge) nor SolidWorks have any interest in porting their CAD package to Mac.

Comments

[Chris Kelley]

You had to write this just because I told you you hadn't written anything that made us angry yet at COFES this weekend, didn't you ;-)

The fact is that we had several third party partners that requested the availability on Mac OSX, so we went ahead and did the port. Based on that demand, I would expect you'll see apps coming in the next few months.

[Nick]

I can't speak to the wisdom of your daughter, but the fact is that Apple computers support multibutton mice -- all the same brands available to PC users. Just because Apple (for whatever reason) does not include a multibutton scrolling mouse with their computers does not mean the computer sucks. This mouse nonsense is a very old and very tired argument often wheeled out to prove the PC's superiority yet all it really accomplishes is making PC zealots look silly as they grasp at straws. I have a 5-button scrolling optical mouse from Kensington hooked up to my G5. Mac OSX recognizes it, utilizes right-click properly, and scrolls with the wheel. Still, I can see why Apple uses the one-buttton mouse as a standard. Doing so means that a program's UI has to have all significant information and commands one click or a click sequence away, unlike, say, the GIMP. Arguably that is good in itself - why are Mac apps easier to figure out? Now picture yourself as someone with limited movement in your hands, or using some other way to control the Mac. Not having to use key combinations or second buttons is vital. Besides, it's quite easy to control/option with the other hand that rests on the keyboard.