Bentley Systems Inc, Exton, Pennsylvania developer of the Microstation design package for personal computers, is committed to continued support of Apple Computer Inc hardware despite AutoDesk Inc’ss withdrawal of support for Macintoshes in its latest AutoCAD software. Bentley is beta-testing MicroStation V5 on the Power Macintosh and will offer an upgrade program for users that want to run computer-aided design applications on a Mac or Power Mac Existing versions of MicroStation already support 68000-based Mac configurations but the new release is optimised for the Power Mac. It has Mac-specific features such as support for Mac interface, high print resolution, and all monochrome and 32-bit colour video output. Microstation V5 now runs under MS-DOS, Windows, Windows NT for iAPX-86 and Alpha AXP computers, and Sparc, Precision Architecture, Silicon Graphics Inc and RS/6000 workstations. V5 enables users to share project data, customer workspaces and third party software using a Windows, Motif or Macintosh user interface. Version 5 will ship this quarter for $4,000. Users that have AutoCAD, VersaCAD, ClarisCAD and MacBravo! software will be able to upgrade to MicroStation V5 for $1,500. MicroStation V4 users can upgrade to the new version on the Power Macintosh for $150, while users of earlier versions of MicroStation will be charged $750 for the upgrade.
