BIMcloud Basic – Future on macOS

[florianvoi]

I just read on IDC’s website (a Swiss Mac distributor) that BIMcloud Basic, the non-subscription version, will no longer be developed for macOS in the future.

At the moment, it still runs via Rosetta / Intel code, which means that at some point it will no longer be able to run on future versions of macOS. Apparently, there are currently no plans to port it to Apple Silicon.

So what does this mean for the future of Archicad on the Mac? Especially now that Apple is finally offering genuine professional computers again.

Please note: BIMcloud 2027 will be the last version to support macOS. Starting with BIMcloud 2028, there will no longer be a Mac version of BIMcloud.

[Tex]

We bought an Ultra for 5000 euros after we signed in 2025 and payed 3years upfront. Thinking that Graphisoft will surely port BIMcloud to Apple silicon. So we also got a kick in the gut and stomped on.

[florianvoi]

Are there other ways to get @GRAPHISOFT  attention and reach other users than through this forum?

I imagine there are a lot of offices that will be surprised when they find out that BIMcloud support is being discontinued.

[Uffe]

Graphisoft needs to look back at its history.

In the early 90s, we chose ArchiCAD for the Mac. We had no interest in the PC world. If I recall correctly, it was ArchiCAD 3.4 back then.

A whole new world opened up for us—we were people who had already spent some 25 years working at drafting tables.

As you can gather, I have since turned 80.

In the mid-90s, a group of us traveled to Budapest to visit Graphisoft. During the visit, Gábor Bojár gave us a presentation and a walkthrough. We learned that it was Steve Jobs himself who had supported Graphisoft’s Mac CAD software in the mid-80s. Apple provided computers, funding, and know-how. Support for the PC came later.

In fact, Gábor Bojár and Graphisoft even ensured that a sculpture of Steve Jobs was installed in Graphisoft Park following his passing in 2011.

Graphisoft, get your act together!

Do your homework and learn.

Remember the many Mac users who are an essential part of Graphisoft’s history—a part you cannot simply ignore.

MACARK

[vlahtinen]

Count me among the deeply disappointed. We have one Windows server and administering it has been a pain compared to our Macs.

Pitching BIMcloud SaaS as the easy way forward seems silly to me, since there’s still no way to backup automatically to anywhere other than the SaaS platform itself – as far as I know. With an on-prem server I know that I can restore our projects no matter what happens to the vendor, our account or our internet connection. Given how unreliable Graphisoft’s cloud services have been, moving to SaaS would require a huge leap of faith.

If six years wasn't enough to port BIMcloud to Apple Silicon, that speaks volumes about its technical debt – and Archicad has plenty of it too. This makes me worried about the future of the whole platform. One more nail in the coffin.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Yes, the partial abandonment of the Mac - forcing Mac firms into managing a mixed system environment and the networking and maintenance headaches that implies (if using Teamwork and requiring all data be secured in-house) - is surprising.   I had to go back to Gábor Bojár's 2005 book "The GRAPHISOFT Story" to get my dates straight... that Graphisoft's very first fully-owned computers were 4 Apple Lisas in 1983 and Archicad 2.0 on a Macintosh was then released in 1984 ... 9 years before a Windows version.  Over 40 years of support from Apple and Apple customers...

[Tex]

Yes, I wonder what Gabor thinks about this crazy decision.

[Tex]

Agree totally. There is a reason we use BIMcloud basic on Mac that, I don't believe Graphisoft has understood. SAAS is not a solution to our needs. No backup. Beach balls waiting for it to respond. Then Graphisoft indirectly forcing us to invest large sums of money into windows servers. It really shows how they have lost all credibility in providing for our needs and expectations as Mac users.

[Tex]

We could start a Linked in group.