New Product - Archicad Residential Released!

[archislave]

I can't believe no one has spotted this but a new product from Graphisoft has been released for the US market. Here is a link to the Cadwire.net press release: http://go.cadwire.net and http://graphisoftus.com/

The cadwire press release indicates that it will only be available for windows initially. As a Mac user this has me worried unless they are waiting for the Tiger Mac OSX 10.4 release.

I hope it will be available for Mac since a residential solution is what I need!

[ArchiTAD]

Djordie,

As stated in my post ... if my choice is going to be between ArchiCAD and Revit on a PC, then, from my perspective and experience, a switch from ArchiCAD to Revit might make sense.

We have a 15 person office and experience the usual staff turnovers. Because we are Mac based and using ArchiCAD, we have difficulty attracting experienced people. Virtually everyone that comes to our office is proficient in some version of AutoCAD, only a handful have heard of ArchiCAD, much less have had any hands-on experience with it, Therefore, we have difficulty attracting and retaining the kinds of staff that we want. And when we do get someone, we struggle daily over which program/platform is better, sometimes with unpleasant results. The AutoCAD stranglehold can be difficult or impossible to release.

Because of Revit, the long-held superiority of ArchiCAD over AutoCAD argument seems to have been diminished. Both have similar capabilities now, and lead the architectural community down the BIM road.

The latest release of Revit is bundled with AutoCAD, and they are advertised to be much more compatible than before.

Speaking as a longtime Mac supporter, emotions often do drive business decisions, if they didn’t, the percentage of Mac users compared to PC users would assuredly be much smaller than it currently is. Noting from your posts, you apparently are not a Mac user, and therefore are probably not emotionally attached to your platform. You perceive your computer only as a tool capable of performing the tasks that you need to be done. I, and others like me, in addition to using our Macs to perform tasks, gain pleasure from our interaction with them. The decision to chose a Mac over a PC has always been based, to some degree, on intangibles. The same holds true for Apple's other products.

Again, if Graphisoft stops supporting the Mac, and I am forced over to Windows and a PC, I will probably lose any incentive I currently have to wage my daily battle against AutoCAD and it’s minions. The combination of ArchiCAD and, most importantly, Macintosh, for me has always been worth that effort.

Sorry, but I can’t concede that you are right, I only hope that ArchiCAD Residential will be offered for the Mac, and this discussion will become moot.

[archislave]

Since switching to a Mac in October, I now see the intangibles of Mac OSX and would do anything I had to do to keep from switching back. Besides, the Mac is on the upswing now.

There is also the IBM Power PC chip that both Sony and Microsoft are using in their game consoles. IBM announced the cell processor which will be used by Apple and others in the future. It is a real competitor to Intel. I think the Cell processor is OS agnostic.

So, if Graphisoft is smart they will not tie ArchiCad 10 to MS proprietary formats and go with open standards.

[Anonymous]

archislave wrote:
Since switching to a Mac in October, I now see the intangibles of Mac OSX and would do anything I had to do to keep from switching back...

So, if Graphisoft is smart they will not tie ArchiCad 10 to MS proprietary formats and go with open standards...

It would be nice to get off of the OS soap boxes for a change...we all have our personal preferences. It seems it might be more productive discussing residential related aplications of ArchiCAD and the new add-ons.

Does anyone have any comments about using these new add-ons or suggestions for more residential related content in ArchiCAD?

Should we start a new thread for this???

Dan K

[ArchiTAD]

Easy to say ... from someone unaffected by the announcement of ArchiCAD Residential Released - for Windows only!!!

[Eduardo Rolon]

Dan wrote:
It would be nice to get off of the OS soap boxes for a change...we all have our personal preferences. It seems it might be more productive discussing residential related aplications of ArchiCAD and the new add-ons.

Does anyone have any comments about using these new add-ons or suggestions for more residential related content in ArchiCAD?

Should we start a new thread for this???

Dan K

If I could use the add-on I might be able to comment on this, but...
Anyway is anybody happy with the new AC09 Window and Door library parts, IMO they are too specific and I would mind having a more general obj for this. As part of the design/construction process I don't have to specify how the win/door frame is built, that is handled by the contractor with the submittals that I either approve or not.

[Anonymous]

ejrolon wrote:
...Anyway is anybody happy with the new AC09 Window and Door library parts, IMO they are too specific and I would mind having a more general obj for this...

Are you referring to the standard wdws that ship with AC9...and the trim parameters? I personally believe the windows could be a little simpler to set up and use as well. I would rather handle all my trim with seperate objects because the available trim options included in the wdw dialogue usually don't represent the trim detail I need.

Dan K

[Eduardo Rolon]

Yep that's part of it. In Puerto Rico we don't use wood windows or balloon frame construction. Most of our projects are concrete so I can't use any of the new wood windows. I wouldn't mind having a simple window were I only have to specify the basic frame. In our CD's we don't use Sills, Brick V or Casings and that means I have to start changing parameters to 0 and hope that I don't get a parameter error message.
I don't mind having the extra options as long as we don't loose the simplicity.
Sometimes a Simple Object will do.

[Anonymous]

ejrolon wrote:
...I don't mind having the extra options as long as we don't loose the simplicity.
Sometimes a Simple Object will do.

Well said...I couldn't agree with you more

Dan K

[Djordje]

ArchiTAD wrote:
Virtually everyone that comes to our office is proficient in some version of AutoCAD, only a handful have heard of ArchiCAD, much less have had any hands-on experience with it
///
Because of Revit, the long-held superiority of ArchiCAD over AutoCAD argument seems to have been diminished. Both have similar capabilities now, and lead the architectural community down the BIM road.

I don't see what does Revit have to do with AutoCAD. Persons proficient in AutoCAD are from a different planet than we or the Revit users are.

The very idea is completely different - so, your argument does not stand and you probably have even less Revit proficient people out of the box than you have ArchiCAD proficient people out of the box.

However, Revit is the only alternative if you want to keep walking the VB, or, in their case, BIM path.

Trust me, I know what the AutoCAD struggle is.

In fact, you should take up the Residential for Mac issue with Graphisoft US, as the product is strictly US produced and marketed. I really don't think that in the US Windows ArchiCAD users outweigh the Mac ones; but then, maybe the opposite is true.

[Scott Davis]

Djordje wrote:
if you want to keep walking the VB, or, in their case, BIM path.

I guess BIM is not just 'their case' anymore, as Graphisoft has begun to use the term in their own marketing and press releases.