If your cad software were ported to run native on any OS, would you:

As a hypothetical question, if the cad software you are currentlly running were ported to run natively on any OS, would you:
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its something we all have to face... Windows will remain the dominant platform for many years before one of the others will erode it's market share (hopefully Linux, since Mac is too propertary for my liking and will eventually fall down the same road as Windows).

 

Hmm, so far nobody thinks Windows is the best OS all things considered!
It's kind of odd, I find, that most basic and mid-range CAD stuff is Windows based, but then when you start getting into the really powerful tools such as Fluent, where speed and stability are critical..... everything's written and optimized for Unix.
Microsoft has waaaaay too much influence.

 

I find these sorts of questions about operating systems way beyond me. I am a naval architect, not a computer guru. I just want to be able to use the software and make sure I can communicate with others. I don't care what goes on in the background with the operating system. Computers nowadays have much more speed and power than I ever wanted, which are about the only important things. The programs have to work, and the user intereface has to be intuitive and easy to use. But a couple of observations:

I recently had to change from a Windows 98 computer with a CRT display to a Windows XP Professional computer with a flat screen TFT display. The motherboard crashed on the old system. Although I can see benefits to the speed, power, and capabilities of the new system, it is not as stable as the old one. For example, the new XP computer will not necessarily boot up completely when you turn it on--the anti-spam software that I have from my ISP, I think, intereferes with the boot-up. If I shut it down once, then turn it on again, it usually boots up fine. I refuse to subscribe to Norton or MacAvie because they are just a bunch a crooks who take your money, obsolete the software after one year, and have the worst customer service ever. But another thing, like what happened this morning, is that I have set my preferences to the "Classic style" desktop, yet when it booted up, it brought up the typical XP desktop. Again, a reboot brought it back, but not completely, so a third reboot finished the task and here I am.

Finally, there is he display--I got very used to the more muted brightness of the CRT display, and lines work in AutoCad and Prosurf were easy on the eyes to read. On the TFT display, they are overly bright, indeed flourescent, and even though I have the brightness of the screen turned way down, it is still different and it is hard to get used to.

Sometimes, I think the computer designers and builders shoot themselves in the foot with expanding the technology so far that they lose features that we really like. This has happened a number of times over the years.

Eric

 

This is a bit off topic, but addresses the issues that Eric brought up

Erick,

If your computer is crashing, or not booting up properly, then there is defiantly a problem. I run windows XP Pro on a computer that runs a raid disk array, and automatically over clocks for speed, water cooled to keep it running cool, and it never crashes, starts up in less than 30 seconds.
I can understand the frustration with big corporations always trying to find creative ways to siphon money from your pocket; here are a couple of deals that can’t be beat.

Zone Alarm is n excellent firewall, much better than windows fire wall it will run with or with out windows fire wall, your choice. It is easy to control, if you want you can set it at its default levels, and it does a very good job of keeping people out of your computer.
The best part is its free (for individuals)
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/conte...sp?dc=12bms&ctry=US&lang=en&lid=dbtopnav_zaav

I run Zone Alarm with antivirus its about 20 dollars per year it updates automatically, and automatically deletes, or heals virus attacks.

If 20 dollars per year irritates you, there are great free options. Gristsoft makes a product called AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition. Like Zone Alarm, it has won multiple awards, runs seamlessly in the background, and works very well. I run both at the same time, simply because it is hard for a single company to keep up with all of the viruses that are put out on a timely basis. Gristsoft also offers a free anti-spyware program.

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5

Javacool puts out a free product called Spyware Blaster that prevents Spyware, adware, browser hijackers, and dialers from loading on your computer. It works with Internet explorer; it does not have to be left up and running. You can set it to keep your browser from logging on to known sites that are malicious.

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

Lavasoft puts out a free virus protection program that has won many awards.

http://www.lavasoft.de/products/ad-aware_se_personal.php

I don’t keep Lavasoft up and running, but if I suspect there is a problem that one of the other programs has not detected, I will start it up and have it scan my computer. Download these programs; run them, you will be amazed at the crap they find on your computer. Of course you have to download the new updates, and virus definitions. That of course is free too, and in most cases the programs can be set to check for updates automatically.

 

I second Tom's recommendation of Lavasoft Ad-Aware, this program has been of great help in wiping malware of all sorts off the computers I manage. I'd add Spybot Search&Destroy http://safer-networking.org/ to that list, like the others it's not perfect but it catches most of what the others miss. Also adds good permanent protection and in Advanced mode, some useful tools for cleaning up nuisances such as run-on-startup crap and useless speed-launchers.
I've grown to really like modern LCDs... then again most of our CRTs are ancient and growing fuzzy. Some programs have their own LCD smoothing options, and making sure Windows' ClearType mode is set for LCDs really does improve text display.
ISPs' own anti-spam and security software is almost always crap. Never install both a Norton and a McAfee product on the same machine, ever, even if they do different things.... each views the other's definition library as a virus and the combination will bring your system to its knees as the two duke it out for supremacy.

 

One more post to agree with what Tom and Matt said. Also run AVG, ZoneAlarm, and AdAware here. All three are efficient applications that have served me well.

I strongly recommend against both Norton or McAfee -- these started out as good programs, but have grown so bloated that in honest truth I get 5x more calls because of a problem caused by McAfee or Norton than by spyware, virus, or worms combined. And both Norton and McAfee seem to bog down even a fast computer an unbelievable amount, more than the other software actually running on the system.

Also XP should be much more stable than 98 -- one thing that I really dislike are the pre-loaded builds that come on HP/Compaq/and even Dell now (and many others I'm sure) that are so poorly done that the systems are noticeably slow and glitchy right off the shelf, when a clean install is a night and day difference. I got a Dell laptop last spring and the first thing I did was to load a fresh lean version of XP without all the junk apps loading it down.

I tend to work with my LCD's brightness turned way down to 25% (viewsonic in my case), but really enjoy the sharpness and lack of distortion across the entire screen. At first I wasn't sure, but I still have a 17" sony and I can't go back now - it seems blury in comparison and causes more strain on my eyes than the LCD.

 

Did the same thing to my Toshiba recently after getting sick of such things as the entire USB bus crashing, the audio driver rebooting the system, etc, etc.... and my considerable experience with Dells has me convinced that they are 10 times worse. So yes, fresh load with the actual windows CD. It makes a huge difference. (If you didn't get one.... check to make sure it ain't pirated, because Microsoft usually insists on the original CD being the only valid one except with a couple of manufacturers who have special deals.)
Another tip that's sped mine up a helluvalot- kill off everything in msconfig>startup and HKLM>run that isn't essential, Spybot's Advanced mode has a great graphical interface for doing this that lets you take out all the speed launchers and autoruns that various apps put in, can cut two minutes off your boot time and cut RAM usage by a third in some cases by doing this.

 

I forgot Spybot in my list. I brought it up and checked out the advanced mode. Good Tip this will make it a lot easier, and maybe I won’t accidentally snuff a program that I shouldn’t.

 

I can't vote for any of these options as I run on Macs and all the CAD software I need (TouchCAD and VectorWorks) already runs on Macs.

 

For me, the stability of a system is paramount. It needs to work all the time. A machine that only boots sometimes would be a problem for me. My need for a windows machine comes from running Rhino and ArchimedesMB. If McNeel and co. ported to Linux I'd stop using M$ Windows instantly.

You tend to find that where serious uptime is concerned, you'll find Linux. It also makes life easy when you come to running any number of machines in parallel, even hundreds of machines.

Tim B.

 

Indeed, Tim.... friends of mine have had Linux running for 200+ days straight; Unix-based servers and supercomputers can in many cases run indefinitely so long as there's power. The HPCVL supercomputing cluster, distributed over several Ontario universities, is Unix-based with thousands of parallel processors. Then again, the most reliable Windows XP machine I've ever used only went one month.

 

I had a Windows 2000 machine up for 8 months (not connected to the Internet, only a LAN, so no windows updates to force reboots)

 

I started back in the Windows 3.1 era. Now up to XP, Microsoft always writes their software "bigger" not more efficient, they exist on the fact the memory is getting cheaper all the time and hard drives bigger, processors faster. etc.
From what I have seen Mac os10 could allready do all the stuff Windows is now touting with Vista.
I have found XP more stable then Win 98 and yet "98" when it was new it was stable, so what happens? I think Windows writes new versions of stuff biased to favour their latest OS and as a result as we do updates and downloads our older OS gets more shakey.
My mate owns a 5yr old Mac and he has never (ever) had a system freeze or crash.
As to virus checkers I used to run an Australian program called "Vet", it was great and customer service was top rate, later they either got too big or too overbudget and combined with an american company called CA. Customer service became rubbish and one day I got a virus it would not clean, tech support was slow and useless. On a recomendation I downloaded AVG free, which really is free. Problem solved so I stopped renewing my updates with VET/CA.

Mychael

 

Sorry for multiple posts.. Bill Gates revenge.. lol. It wasn't me.

Mychael