X5 and Windows 8??

[dshall]

This is very exciting news. My mind is spinning. I will be able to save all of my stuff on the ICloud instead of mozy pro. I will also be able to work at home on my home mac if I so choose. And no more of this win7 or win8 troubles. A much more stable OS.

[HumbleChief]

Not sure if I'm excited or bummed that the development efforts will now be split between 2 or more platforms.

I have absolutely no interest in a MAC anything but they're not developing for me. I would like a simplified version of CA for field work which would work on a pad of some sort. An iPad? To me that's just not exciting at all. But if it HAS to be on an iPad I understand that demand will drive these decisions, not my personal preferences.

And doesn't that necessarily mean that features will be put on hold as those company energies drift to develop those other platforms?

[lbuttery]

Larry:

I agree - hoping Mac development doesn't hurt windows development

Lew

[HumbleChief]

Larry:

I agree - hoping Mac development doesn't hurt windows development

Lew

...and what happens to the SSA members - do they just wait that much longer for an update because resources are being redirected - or are resources being added with no discernable down side for current users?

I KNOW these questions have been asked at the offices of CA and the best part of this news is that CA is doing well enough financially to consider such a move.

So far, I think, the company has treated its user base very well and I see no reason to think that will change - unless it changes.

[kellyh]

I've been using Win8 for about three weeks now (MSDN early access). X5 has been running great on it. Like Doug mentioned earlier, I've seen the wait cursor show up on occassion when I let the mouse sit but as soon as I move the mouse it goes away.

Other than that, I haven't had any issues with it at all in relation to Chief. Things have been very stable and VERY fast. The UI is a bit of a step sideways but it's not so bad that it can't be lived with. Some small annoyances with getting to certain places (like control panel) but it won't break the system for me.

[HumbleChief]

I've been using Win8 for about three weeks now (MSDN early access). X5 has been running great on it. Like Doug mentioned earlier, I've seen the wait cursor show up on occassion when I let the mouse sit but as soon as I move the mouse it goes away.

Other than that, I haven't had any issues with it at all in relation to Chief. Things have been very stable and VERY fast. The UI is a bit of a step sideways but it's not so bad that it can't be lived with. Some small annoyances with getting to certain places (like control panel) but it won't break the system for me.

Thanks Kelly

[Dave Pitman]

I would like a simplified version of CA for field work which would work on a pad of some sort.

Agreed Larry.

Chief, able to function in 2D with necessarily limited 3d on tablets, would be great for field work.

Unfortunately, I have a feeling that this will not be very high on the list @ CA.

[lbuttery]

Larry:

I agree about the SSA...

CA is aiming for a 12 month cycle

if that starts to slip to 18 - 24 months then SSA starts to lose value rapidly

Lew

[marty]

With a range of Windows tablets to be released at the same time as Win8 I think the demand for Chief to run on them will surge. I for one have been putting off buying a tablet in the hope that there will soon have one that will run Chief.

I know that historically there has been a call for Chief on mac but I think this new market will be even bigger. I also like the idea of running Chief on touch screen desktop.

It is interesting that we havent seen a poll to find out what the demand would be.

[Doug Park]

There have been tablets available that can run Chief for several years now. Just make sure they are Intel instead of ARM based processors.

The project of supporting Mac is also an overhaul in our user interface. The result will be improved toolbars, better support for multiple monitors and improvements to our dialogs to make them easier to navigate to name a few things.

We have also been keeping our development moving forward in other areas by increasing our staffing to support the porting effort.

[HumbleChief]

There have been tablets available that can run Chief for several years now. Just make sure they are Intel instead of ARM based processors.

The project of supporting Mac is also an overhaul in our user interface. The result will be improved toolbars, better support for multiple monitors and improvements to our dialogs to make them easier to navigate to name a few things.

We have also been keeping our development moving forward in other areas by increasing our staffing to support the porting effort.

Brilliant Doug,

Best of luck and looking forward to the New Chief in town.

[lbuttery]

Doug:

I'm hoping that with the re-coding effort that we can have full access to the API for Ruby scripting along with a script recorder

until then Ruby is of limited use

Lew

[CADD16]

I've been running Windows 8 with X5 since X5 was released. I have been running it on a Acer Iconia W500 Tablet. It works great, no issues that I have noticed. The new Microsoft Surface Pro tablet that is coming out in January will probably run Chief even better than the Tablet I'm using. Windows 8 is a great OS. It's basically a better version of win 7. It runs smoother and requires lesser hardware to run well than Win 7 does. Any program that can run on Win 7 should run just fine on Win 8. I've been using the beta versions of Win 8 and I really like it. Win 8 will take some getting used to for the majority of PC users but the features it has are excellent. Win 8 has a lot of really great built in apps. Personally, I like the new UI I think it's intuitive but will just take some getting used to. To me it would be a no brainer to upgrade to a new and better OS for $39.99.

[Doug Park]

Many, probably most, of the tablets that will run Windows 8 are based on the ARM instruction set. Unless the software you want to use is compiled to run on ARM it won't run on those devices.

Currently we have not ported Chief to run on ARM, but we will likely do so at some point.

I've been using Windows 8 for a short time and have found that it is a solid OS. It has some differences in how it works that are important to support tablet based computers. I actually am fairly impressed that Microsoft embraced the idea that tablet and desktop computers don't need different interfaces.

While I think they could have done a better job in a few places to make things easier to use or discover, Windows 8 is actually pretty good. Some things take some getting used to but are actually pretty easy to deal with once you figure them out.

Other things, especially for a very large screen, are harder to use and in some cases just plain annoying. However, for a tablet based computer the interface looks like it will work very well.

[Kelly K]

I have a windows phone that has a tile interface (7.5) and is supposed to upgrade automatically to 8. So I'm curious to see what changes I will see. Personally I like the tiles, and the price of the new release has me leaning toward upgrading my os from 7 to 8, something I would ordinarily not do.