Autodesk announce support for AutoCAD based products in Windows 7, but also announce known limitations.

Here at Kung Fu Dojo we have some very intelligent readers. In fact, since our readership consists of CAD professionals and geeks of all sorts we like to think that our readers are well above average. That being the case, yesterday’s release of Microsoft Windows 7 should have been no surprise or source of wonder for most readers. We too have been following this story and were left with only one question: how will our CAD applications work in Windows 7?

Autodesk announces support for AutoCAD-based products in Windows 7 ...

Never fear, Autodesk is here!

Hot on the heels of Microsoft’s announcement Autodesk posted a press release announcing their position on support for AutoCAD 2010 and other Autodesk 2010 vertical products in conjunction with Windows 7. According to the press release, support for additional Autodesk products will expand as updated versions are released. The first nine applications to receive official support are as follows:

AutoCAD 2010, supported for with Windows 7 ...

• AutoCAD 2010
• AutoCAD LT 2010
• AutoCAD Architecture 2010
• AutoCAD Electrical 2010
• AutoCAD Mechanical 2010
• AutoCAD MEP 2010
• Autodesk Algor Simulation 2010
• Autodesk Inventor 2010
• Autodesk Inventor LT 2010

Visit the press release page for the full announcement text and information related to Autodesk support for 2010 products in Windows 7.

Unfortunately with the good news comes some bad news. Well maybe “bad” is a bit strong, but there is a cautionary note to the “Autodesk hearts Windows 7” story. Later in the day Autodesk released a post through its RSS network announcing “Known Limitations with Windows 7 for AutoCAD and AutoCAD-based Products”. To be fair the list was short and consists of issues that may or may not be a problem for some users. The known issues for AutoCAD 2010 and all vertical products based on the AutoCAD 2010 platform in Windows 7 are as follows:

• Dragging Ribbon tabs sometimes crashes the product
• Encrypted files fail to open and save on Windows 7
• Export to Impression functionality will not work because Autodesk Impression is not supported on Windows 7
• Infocenter balloons sometimes display blank
• Open files do not appear on Windows 7 Jumplist

Additionally AutoCAD Architecture 2010 and AutoCAD Mechanical 2010 users should be aware that “Text in the Drafting Settings dialog overlaps radio buttons“.

Finally there is a note on graphics card compatibility. Autodesk states in the post

“Windows 7 is supported but not certified. This means that Autodesk has not certified every card but we expect they should work with Windows 7 without issue.“

We expect that almost all but the most recent generation of advanced graphics cards are going to operate without incident. Be certain to read the “Known Limitations” post for more information on these matters. If you are having a graphics card issues that is not addressed visit your card’s manufacturer to see if there is a certified Windows 7 driver available. Even if there is not one there is bound to be one available for most graphics cards in short order.

Of course none of this is a catastrophic turn of events and it certainly won’t stop the early adopters out there. As for us here at Kung Fu Drafter, we probably won’t be upgrading anytime soon. We are total curmudgeons when it comes to migrating operating systems. “If it ain’t broke, then don’t fix it” is our motto, which is probably why we haven’t move to Vista yet.

We’d love to hear from our readers who do install the apparently awesome Windows 7. If you also happen to be a CAD professional please please leave us a comment and tell us your experience. We are dying to know what the real performance story is for AutoCAD and other CAD applications on Windows 7 …

- KFD -