Why is JacqCAD now free?

JacqCAD was developed to run under Mac OS 9 and is compatible with Mac OS X's "Classic" mode on Mac PowerPC based models such as the PowerMac, G3, G4 or G5 series.

Apple Computer supported Classic mode in Mac OS X 10.0 through 10.4, but discontinued that support in OS X 10.5 (Leopard) and subsequent releases.

Apple's current Mac models are all Intel-based, hence compatible with neither Classic nor JacqCAD.

By 2008 it had become apparent that I had neither the ability nor resources to complete the conversion of JacqCAD to a Mac OS X "native" application that could run on the Intel-based systems or under OS X 10.5. Early in 2008 I announced this sad fact to our user base.

Shortly thereafter a courageous group of users undertook their own independent effort at completely rewriting JacqCAD into a modern form. They made considerable progress but unfortunately had to terminate their project in late 2009 due to cost overruns.

That group's primary interest was in preserving a valuable design tool used in their own operations. They hoped to recoup some of their development costs by selling updates to others, but never viewed their project as a profit center.

We are all painfully aware of the past decade's effects on our textile industry. The number of mills has shrunk and the surviving mills are on very tight budgets. I do not believe that any outsiders would decide that undertaking a rewrite of JacqCAD would be a wise investment; I certainly do not have the resources to underwrite such an effort.

Consequently, it can no longer be hoped that a modern version of JacqCAD will be forthcoming. JacqCAD is dead as a commercial product; copies cannot be sold at a price which could support a commercial development effort, sales staff, or a tech support force.

JacqCAD remains a powerful and flexible Jacquard design tool, albeit with some significant limitations concerning the computers it can run on.

I believe it may be of interest to those who cannot afford a fully supported commercial program and who may find the inconvenience of having to maintain older computers an acceptable price to pay.
Students, independent designers, artists and small mills may find that JacqCAD provides a powerful tool which they otherwise could not afford.

Technical Support: I intend to provide users of the shareware version of JacqCAD with tech support on an "as time permits" basis. Please write up your questions and send the email directly to Garth Fletcher.
Established commercial users will continue to receive priority support and should feel free to call.

In order to run JacqCAD you would need:

• PowerPC-based Mac : G3, G4 or G5
• Mac OS X 10.4 or earlier (or OS 9)
•    with Classic installed if OS X

Suitable systems are readily available on the used computer market at very reasonable prices. Any G4 laptop or desktop rated at 1GHz provides more than ample power to run JacqCAD.

An alternative approach is to use the free SheepShaver OS 9 Emulator to run JacqCAD within SheepShaver's OS 9 window on modern Intel-based Macs under OS X 10.5 (Leopard) through 10.15 (Catalina) as well as MacOS 11 (Big Sur) and MacOS 12 (Monterey). It should run on MacOS 13 (Ventura) but we do not yet have test data. Versions of SheepShaver are also available for Windows and Linux; JacqCAD has been tested under the Windows version but not yet under the Linux version. Please see my notes about using SheepShaver and the limitations thereof.

Note that SheepShaver is unsupported freeware for which we cannot offer any support. Please address any SheepShaver related questions to the SheepShaver user group.

NO WARRANTY

BECAUSE JACQCAD MASTER IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. THE PROGRAM IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.