Always a personal computer company at heart, Autodesk Inc is giving up on the Unix version of its best-selling AutoCAD computer-aided design after the current release. Instead, the company will concentrate on 32-bit Microsoft Windows and Windows NT software, leaving its Unix, DOS, and even its Windows 3.1 customers (even those with Win32s extensions) marooned on the current Release 13. The move stems from a strengthened partnership with Microsoft, announced at the company’s worldwide value added reseller conference in San Rafael, California during the summer, just as Autodesk announced support for NT 4.0. A message from Microsoft chief Bill Gates assured those assembled that Autodesk’s customers were rapidly moving to 32-bit Windows platforms. The company said it would continue to sell and support Unix, DOS and Windows 3.1 versions of AutoCAD Release 13 as long as the demand continues, and said that some products it might develop or acquire in the future might support dual NT/Unix servers. It also said it would be introducing a migration program to help customers move over from other platforms to Windows. Autodesk’s Unix efforts, initially on Xenix, the short-lived Sun 386i, and later on SCO Unix and Sun Sparc, were always marginal to its main volume desktop interests. But earlier this year, it finally managed to get the Unix version of AutoCAD Release 13 in synch with its mainstream product line, and shipping on Sun, Hewlett-Packard, Silicon Graphics and IBM Unix boxes – its widest ever range. AutoCAD Release 14 may be out in the summer of next year.
