X5 and Windows 8??

[HumbleChief]

I am looking to purchase a new computer with a better video card and have a choice between windows 7 & 8 after reading this post I still am not sure which way to go.....what would most people do if this decision was sitting in front of them?
Thanks all.

To me the look and feel of an OS is of very little importance as I do my work in the software app not the OS and I can quickly adapt to any new OS interface.

For that reason I would choose Win 8 because the technology is just another notch above Win 7. Win 8 uses less resources than Win 7, is more secure and has a very clear future mapped in front of it.

The technological differences may not be dramatic in every day use but 8 will be an OS that should last for many, many years.

On the other hand if a new OS GUI is going to distract you and cause you to be less productive then Win 7 will be very familiar and comfortable despite its slightly lesser technology.

And please remember anything that will run Win7 will run Win8 with no problems, there's no good reason to get a new computer to run Win8 if the one you have now runs Win7, unless you're just more comfortable doing so and have extra money to spend on unnecessary hardware.

[johnnyprc]

I've found that even if new isn't better, its nearly always "better" to stay new - in the computer world. Problems start to arise for people who try and stay with what they are comfortable with when the rest of the known world moves on.

My partner still likes to use AutoCad 2000 on XP. The rest of the office has had to work around him and its caused a major problem.

Like many people, I am waiting to upgrade to Win8 - as I am buying a new Windows Tablet first to see how I like it.

[kiwideziner]

the 39.00 dollar UPGRADE to win 8 is just that an upgrade so will not free a win7 license.
At least if it is the same one we are being offered here.

[HumbleChief]

the 39.00 dollar UPGRADE to win 8 is just that an upgrade so will not free a win7 license.
At least if it is the same one we are being offered here.

Thanks for the heads up Graeme but come to think of it I've never been denied the use of software I've upgraded 'from'. Maybe this is different and it's not a big deal because I have 5 or 6 XP licenses as well and the upgrade is good for XP users as well. Then I can install my Win7 license on any machine I want.

[Doug Park]

I just spent part of the last 2 days upgrading my beta version of Windows 8 to the release version and am probably going to try to make it my primary development system.

My impressions so far are mixed.

Most of the UI is mainly just a step sideways, but there are a few very nice improvements, like the task manager has not only prettier graphics, but more useful information.

The big annoyances for me at first have been getting to the control panel, application list, and shutting down/restarting the computer.

It is clear that the UI is centered around supporting tablets, which MS really had to do to remain competitive, but at the same time it seems like they kind of ignored the desktop market with the design.

So far I'm not unhappy with it as it seems like everything is still there and works. There is definitely a bigger initial learning curve than with older OS upgrades, or at least it seems that way to me.

Chief is working pretty well on Windows 8. We have one known issue where the wait cursor shows up if you let it sit idle for awhile. This is more an annoyance than a problem with chief. As soon as you move the mouse it goes away.

We will probably have a fix for that in the next update.

Other than that I'm not aware of issues with Chief. Our testing department has been looking at it for awhile.

I'm hearing a lot of the same comments about not upgrading to Windows 8, and honestly I wasn't all that motivated to do so either. If I didn't have a need to do so I probably would have put it off for awhile longer.

I don't see Windows 8 as being significantly incompatible with software, like Vista was, so I'm inclined to think that adoption of this OS will perhaps be better than the naysayers are thinking, but probably not as fast as Windows 7.

Because of the change in UI I suspect that Windows 8 will tend to make migration to a Mac more attractive.

We will not be supporting the ARM Windows 8 processors at this time so most of the tablet options won't run Chief. We will likely move in that direction in the future, but that depends on availability of libraries that we use and demand. Currently the demand is pretty much non-existant and we have some significant libraries that are missing.

In short Windows 8 is appears to be a solid option for Chief so if you want to move in that direction I don't anticipate any significant issues.

[Dave Pitman]

We will not be supporting the ARM Windows 8 processors at this time so most of the tablet options won't run Chief. We will likely move in that direction in the future, but that depends on availability of libraries that we use and demand. Currently the demand is pretty much non-existant and we have some significant libraries that are missing.

Doug, perhaps you could elaborate on this point.

I'm fairly certain that some of your current users are going to purchase a tablet running W8, and could be disappointed to find that Chief will not work on the one they get.

[HumbleChief]

Thanks for that in depth review Doug.

[a9284456]

"Because of the change in UI I suspect that Windows 8 will tend to make migration to a Mac more attractive"

With a native version of Mac and Chief ???

[kiwideziner]

Doug
thanks for the information it was very enli9ghtening. However you state that demand for a tablet application is pretty much non-existent. Have we been asked whether we would use it if available?? I haven't, and probably would be very keen if it were available.

[Dave Pitman]

Doug
thanks for the information it was very enli9ghtening. However you state that demand for a tablet application is pretty much non-existent. Have we been asked whether we would use it if available?? I haven't, and probably would be very keen if it were available.

Graeme,

I think that Doug is referring to demand by software developers for programming libraries. Not demand for Chief on tablets.

[Doug Park]

Currently the demand for Chief on tablets is almost exclusively for iPad.

We expect that to change over time.

At this point we are focused on making a Mac version of Chief that also makes it a lot easier to move to other platforms. Once we have that version we will be focusing more effort on seeing what we can get running on tablets. Look for a beta of our Mac version next fall.

Our efforts will be focused on the larger markets first and then the smaller ones.

Currently the Windows 8 ARM market is almost nonexistent in comparison to other markets, such as iPad and Android, but we do expect it will grow. We just don't know by how much it will grow and our availability of libraries to run on ARM is currently a limiting factor.

Our goal is to be able to move to any of these new platforms very quickly, but we still have quite a bit of work left to get to that point.

Eventually I expect that we will support the Windows 8 ARM platform. But I think we are at least 2 years out on that. We need to finish our Mac effort first.

[dshall]

.....................
At this point we are focused on making a Mac version of Chief that also makes it a lot easier to move to other platforms. Once we have that version we will be focusing more effort on seeing what we can get running on tablets. Look for a beta of our Mac version next fall.....................

WOW!!! Unexpected but great news. I am all MAC except for my PC which is used for CA.

[DefinedDesign]

At this point we are focused on making a Mac version of Chief....

Greetings Doug,

I'm ready to invest in the newly released Macbook Pro 2013 and I have saved funds to purchase Chief Architect. I'm apprehensive to purchase Chief for Windows fearful that within a couple months a mac version will be released.

Could you give any indication when the Chief Architect for Mac will be released? I really don't want to partition my new Mac and then pay for Windows OS just so I can run Chief.

I love my Mac and I love Chief, dreaming of the day these two will marry and create beautiful designed buildings all over the world!

Eagerly awaiting your reply.

[Architex]

Greetings Doug,

I'm ready to invest in the newly released Macbook Pro 2013 and I have saved funds to purchase Chief Architect. I'm apprehensive to purchase Chief for Windows fearful that within a couple months a mac version will be released.

Could you give any indication when the Chief Architect for Mac will be released? I really don't want to partition my new Mac and then pay for Windows OS just so I can run Chief.

I love my Mac and I love Chief, dreaming of the day these two will marry and create beautiful designed buildings all over the world!

Eagerly awaiting your reply.

They say it will be the first quarter of 2014. So look for it around January/Feburaryish.

[a9284456]

Exciting....A Macinchief in my future.