AutoCAD for iPad, iPod and iPhone - AutoCAD WS

Project Butterfly Autodesk’s CAD in the cloud has been around for some time and this fall it’s time for Project Butterfly as a web and mobile application that will be called AutoCAD WS.

“Autodesk also announced the AutoCAD WS mobile application, a new free* app soon to be available through Apple’s App Store that will extend AutoCAD to Apple’s iOS. The AutoCAD WS mobile application will enable AutoCAD users to edit and share AutoCAD files on iPad, iPhone and iPod touch so they can have real-time collaboration even while on the go.

AutoCAD for Mac will also be offered free* to students and educators through the Autodesk Education Community, where more than 25 Autodesk software products are available for download to inspire learning and help prepare students for successful careers. Autodesk recognizes the popularity of the Mac platform among students and is providing AutoCAD for Mac so they can build needed skills by having access to the same software that design professionals use every day.” - Press release

“WS in AutoCAD WS doesn’t stand for anything.. sorta like the XP in Windows… it’s a designation that it is a web enabled product.”

For some technical details on AutoCAD WS see this interview with the Senior Software Development Manager for AutoCAD WS: “So by the time Steve Jobs’ open letter to Adobe with his thoughts on Flash hit the news, we were already well into our porting efforts to create a C++ kernel for Project Butterfly that could be used to build a native iOS application.”