Reading through the forums and different other sites, I see from time to time a request about a version of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite for Macintosh computers. The last version of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite that was released natively for Mac OS was version 11 and was only compatible with PowerPC processors at that time (wasn't Apple still making fun of the Pentium back then?). With version 12, Corel took the decision to focus the development of the CorelDRAW Graphics Suite product purely on Windows. At that point, and after having had multiple versions of CorelDRAW developed for Mac OS, we only had a very small percentage of users on that platform, while the vast majority of you where using Windows based computers. It was a hard choice to make, but the cost, time and constraints related to supporting cross-platform development where the drivers of the business decision to focus on Microsoft's Operating Systems. With the new version X4 for example, you can see how we where able to integrate with Windows Vista to offer built-in desktop search and high-resolution thumbnails for example, as well as the re-designed "New from template" dialog box. 

Since the move to the Intel CPUs, and more recently with the availability of Mac OS 10.5 that includes Boot Camp to run Windows on Macs, Apple has started to officially support Windows as an operating system for their hardware. And the good news is: CorelDRAW Graphics Suite is compatible with Windows XP or Windows Vista, not with a specific brand of computer manufacturers. While I am going to get a lot of negative comments from the mac community, starting with Leopard, the hardware from Apple has become just another Windows computer with which CorelDRAW Graphics Suite is compatible with, just like a Dell, HP, Toshiba or Sony computer.

And now for the technical support disclaimer: Corel won't support any problem specifically related to the Mac hardware. I am currently not aware of any specific issues related to using Windows XP or Windows Vista on a Mac through Boot Camp. But if you have a problem, please make sure that this is not specific to running the operating system on that hardware by testing this on another non-Apple computer.  

The other option of running Windows applications on a Mac is to use a virtualisation tool such as Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion. As you can see on the screen shot above done on the Mac I have at home (sitting next to a PC), CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 is working on a Mac (in this case, using Parallels in Coherence mode) side-by-side with native applications. And the same rule as with Boot Camp applies to the virtualisation solution: CorelDRAW Graphics Suite is compatible with Windows, not with the particular hardware that is running Windows, physical or virtual. 

Update - 26 Feb 2008: I had the opportunity to try VMware Fusion for the last few days and I have the impression that it is slightly faster than Parallels... might be only me, but if I had to estimate the effect of running in a virtual machine, I would estimate that you loose about 10% of the performance (no, I did not conduct scientific benchmarks).

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  • I have been hoping you would have a change of heart with regards to Macs and as a very long time Coreldraw user I can assure you that the mac population is growing and if marketed to correctly you can make money there. I have tried using Coreldraw on a virtual PC but it is unworkable as colour correction is near enough impossible and the functionality is clunky at best. Please redevelop things for mac or at least do a deal with a company like istudio to provide interoperability with macs and possibly some of Corel's functionality....

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