When?????

[gscott40]

I just purchased a Apple silicon macbook air M2 and WOW. I have been a Mac (apple) user since 1986 when the mac plus went on the market. I was a graphic arts (printing) instructor. Up until that year copy was created with a typewriter and if it included pictures or other graphics it was cut and pasted before a plate was made. 4 mac pluses (cost $2000 each) and a laser printer (cost $7000) and a piece of software, PageMaker, turned the typesetting industry on it's ear. They made my $32,000 Compugraphics typesetter that my supervisor had bought for my program 2 years earlier obsolete. Today I have been retired for 22 Yrs and I have two Mac pros and Mac pro G5 I have upgraded and of course they are approaching obsolescence. I do have an old Dell lap top using Window 7 to run my CNC. Last year I purchased a 2017 27" iMac that is now my main computer.

Why am I writing this on the Vectric Aspire forum you wonder? I have been using aspire for some years (10?) and am becoming frustrated with Vectric. Every major piece of the software I use or might want to use is available to run on the Macintosh natively (and quite often on linux), except for Aspire. I am fed up with having to install a virtual environment (Vmware in my case) and then purchase and install Windows. I paid $2000 for Aspire and have upgraded several times at $400 or more. As I told them in the beginning it became cheaper the more I used it. but now I am no longer happy. I am 82 years old and in pretty good shape but I am approaching the end. I doubt that I can duplicate what Aspire can do but will not upgrade again if there nothing that will run directly on the Mac. I realize that there are Intel base macs and ARM base macs but my guess is ARM is chip of the future as not only is Apple using them, Microsoft and Goggle are also headed in that direction. So Vectric it is time!

I don't know how many Vectric customers are Macintosh users are like me are wanting software that runs directly on their Macs. I am not interested in starting a War. If you use a Windows base computer so be it. I just want Aspire to run directly on my Macs.

I am done venting....this is a fantastic community for the CNC world and all of you have a good day.

[Adrian]

It's been discussed many, many times on the forum. At the end of the day it's a niche of a niche which isn't necessarily a good thing for a reasonable small company like Vectric.

All my opinion of course.

[TReischl]

From a quick search, Apple has about 5-7 percent of the market share in computing.

Since the software can run on virtual machines it would not make a lot of sense to spend resources to develop a native application.

This is the same reason I never developed anything that ran on Apple, that, and the fact that at that time Apple seemed to think it should "approve" of whether or not my app could run on their machines. Not sure if they are still doing that. . . .

[Rcnewcomb]

I use Mac, Windows, and Linux on a regular basis for my day job.

I would certainly enjoy running Aspire as a native app on my Mac laptop.

To support additional operating systems Vectric would need to move their code to a different framework. This is typically how other companies have been able to support Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.

Moving to a new framework is non-trivial. Think of it like swapping out the engine in your car to be able to run on petrol, alcohol, or hydrogen.

It requires effort to get things to work again on the new framework that worked fine on the old framework. The business case for a move to a new framework would need to be based on efficiency gains beyond the incremental lift sales for the additional platform.

At some point Vectric may find there are enough productivity benefits to move to a new framework, and a side benefit may be support for other operating systems. But clearly that needs to be a business decision.

[Jim_in_PA]

I run Aspire on my Mac via Parallels and have from the beginning. The only Windows computer I own is the controller for my CNC machine. I, too, have asked about this numerous times, but I doubt it will happen. The point above about Vectric being a somewhat small company who's primary audience really is Windows focused is pretty spot on. So is the mention of software framework considerations. A couple years ago at the "Aspire Camp", there actually were two or three of us toting Macs in the room, but it was otherwise a sea of various Windows computers.

I could choose to work with different software as there are a number of very capable choices available, at least for the CAD portion, but I honestly haven't felt like dealing with the learning curve again. I've accepted that it's the one application of all those I use that I just have to run in Windows.

[sharkcutup]

All sounds so familiar ---- EXAMPLE --- The ole Commodore 2000/4000 Systems versus Early IBM Systems (WINDOWS was probably in the making or beta stages during this time (think late 80's early 90's probably)

Commodore 2000/4000 (A System in my opinion ahead of the times and did not promote it properly!!! These version of machines had gotten a rotten reputation as a gaming machine from the ole Commodore 64 days!!!)
4096 Screen Colors versus 16 colors
Sound versus the need for a sound card
Plug n Play
And many other advances!

Oh gosh!! I failed to mention that the 2000/4000 systems also had an emulator to where you could use/run the Early IBM 86 systems software.

I still have a Commodore 2000 and a full blown 4000 Video Toaster System (Video Editing Suite) which both still work today!

Just an opinion of familiarity/similarity!!!

Sharkcutup

[mickecarlsson]

Just mu 2 cents….
If you look at the spec for the Vectric Aspire, it does say that it runs on the Windows Operating System.
Why you choose to purchase a computer that not match the spec for Vectric Aspire I don’t know.
I have been using computers since the day that I built my own back in 1980’s.
In my career I have used almost any computer available constructed for what it was supposed to do, examples are S/36, Xenix, FreeBSD, OS/2, DOS, Windows, Linux, Novell NetWare. This text I type on an iPad Pro with a keyboard attached to it as it’s what I use when browsing Internet and reading forums.
I have never tried to run software on a computer it was not designed for. And I certainly does not blame the maker of the software for it.

To summarize, if you want to to run Vectric Aspire on a computer, look at the specs for the software and buy the correct computer for it.
The above probably look harsh, but as I am from Sweden it’s just how we type things

[scotttarnor]

Just wondering if the individuals who want Vectric software to run on Apple products are also asking the CNC manufactures and Mach 3/4 developers for the same Apple support ?

[Jim_in_PA]

Why you choose to purchase a computer that not match the spec for Vectric Aspire I don’t know.

There's a simple answer to that...we're already MacOS users and have been for some time. Changing out everything for one application would not make sense functionally or financially. Aspire is literally the only Windows-only application I use. Why? Because everything else I use is available from all the major software folks to run natively on MacOS...Adobe, Microsoft (!), SketchUp, etc. The machine I do my creative work on here in my office is a Mac and has been since about 2010. To be clear, I have no issue with Windows and actually like Win10/Win11 for the most part. But I'm not going to buy a whole computer for just one application. So I use virtualization to run a legal instance of Windows on the same machine in order to run Aspire. It works just fine. But it's getting harder for folks to do that with the move to ARM processor technology as Microsoft does not officially support virtualization for Win11 ARM, meaning folks upgrading to the latest machines have to face the risk of that lack of official support.

[Tex_Lawrence]

... But I'm not going to buy a whole computer for just one application.

Not to be argumentative to this discussion; just offering my solution since I, too, am only using iMacs for everything else.

It cost me about $300 to buy a whole (PC) computer just to run Vectric software on. Its on my network, so sharing gcode files is easy. YMMV

[adze_cnc]

If you have a non-ARM-based Mac and are only going to run Vectric products you can do so for about $20. Grab VirtualBox from Oracle and go down to your local used-PC shop and grab a copy of Windows 7 64-bit (mine was $20 CAD). You’ll have a system running Vectric’s product that runs just as quickly as on a native Windows box running Win10.

Let’s play “what if...” What if someone started a KickStarter campaign to raise funds for Vectric to develop a Mac version of their software. How many backers would it draw? How much would they be willing to invest in the endeavour?

[Jim_in_PA]

... But I'm not going to buy a whole computer for just one application.

Not to be argumentative to this discussion; just offering my solution since I, too, am only using iMacs for everything else.

It cost me about $300 to buy a whole (PC) computer just to run Vectric software on. Its on my network, so sharing gcode files is easy. YMMV

Yes, that's certainly an option. But I run a very nice setup with dual 4K 27" monitors on my desk. Having another computer, at least for me, would make no sense at all, especially since I cannot do this work on a tiny screen.

I do share my files via the network to the Windows computer that's physically attached to my CNC machine in the shop. I actually use OneDrive for that because it serves not just for file transfer, but also for file backup and archive. That machine also has a large 4K monitor so making adjustments (inevitable...) or doing quick projects in the shop is within the visual needs I have.

[slowoodworker]

Well George, you really know how to rattle cages!
I've always had Macs (with the exception of a hand-me-down Heathkit/Zenith). My last purchase was a 2013 Macbook pro --$2000 plus!
When I bought my CNC I picked up a free Dell 870(?) off the sidewalk with Windows 10 installed. I partitioned the drive and installed Win7 64bit.
Originally, I used Bootcamp on the mac to run windows 7 and Vcarve pro, then Aspire. But it was always "wonky". I used the Mac to teach a CNC class at our local Makerspace too and the "wonkiness" of the Mac became too much. So I went out and splurged on a $300 Asus laptop; not nearly the quality of the Mac, but it runs Aspire and Vcarve Pro Makerspace edition just fine.
To be honest, I don't do anything anymore that requires a Mac except word processing (Pages 'cause it's free) so if/when the Macbook dies, I'll not replace it, then download a free word processor from the net.
--Rich Farwell

[Xxray]

Hope they never do, the time, resources and $$ put into that project would more than likely jack the prices up across the board for everyone to please a very small minority of users.
I'm sure if I was in your position I'd feel the same way but really, you have no grounds to complain - Twas windows based 10 years ago, is windows based now. There was and is nothing underhanded going on, you knew what the deal was and if you choose never to upgrade again because of that, it will be your loss.

[Stephen50]

For ease of use and simplicity at least for myself I've used a Mac Desktop since the late 80s. For designing I utilize Mac Bootcamp and Windows v10 without any issues. For the shop I purchased a low cost Windows machine to run my files.