jallen-bgcbc

I'm absolutely positive that this has to be a problem with the NVidia card. The common denominator appears to be the graphics card. This is entirely logical because I am having problems in SketchUp as well. I suggest we flag them to Apple for resolution. I have started a thread dealing with this in the Support forum here:- http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1829118&stqc=true Feel free to add your comments.

Actually, as a Mac fan, I disagree. There have been a number of studies that have debunked this. The argument that is often used is the fact that iLife is preinstalled and compares the cost of equivalent Windows apps. This is actually irrelevant. It's a bonus feature. The idea is simply to compare the hardware. I did this when I bought my MacBook and was dismayed at the results. I don't think that any debate over XP vs OS X is going to be won by claiming that there is no cost difference. It is simply down to quality IMO.

Ray, I can get the latest patches, I just can't install them. It is true that the installation requires validation, but validation for the updates is different. It doesn't work. This is stupid, if installation works with online validation, why doesn't the update process? Actually I really don't see why it should be necessary for our IT people to change our security policies for NNA. There is no good reason for validation of these updates. There are pirated versions with updates applied available on the internet. This will always be a losing battle for software developers. At very least, there really ought to be an alternative solution for people in my situation. An integrated install with the latest updates already applied is an easy solution. Microsoft can do it, NNA can. It would be easier for me to download a pirated version of VW2008 with the updates. By doing things properly and legally, I am worse off. Go figure.

Okay guys, let's not stray into the PC vs Mac debate, because that is surely the road to hell. I used PCs for nearly 20 years and switched to the Mac almost a year ago. I also used OS/2 for a little while because well, Windows has certain drawbacks that we all know about and it isn't worth debating. I find OS X superior, and it took a lot of swearing to get there but well, that's just me. I have had *far* fewer problems than with Windows. Yes Macs are more expensive, but so are some Sony Vaio machines and they really aren't worth the money. A bit like B&O hifi equipment or comparing an Audi or BMW with a Ford Mondeo. You don't see people getting excited about the number of people driving unnecessarily expensive cars. Not many 'normal' people anyway, so I think that's dispensed with the cost argument. I bought my MacBook Pro on eBay and saved around ?500. It was still expensive, but comparable with a reasonable PC laptop. I didn't want to spend (and couldn't really afford) that much money, but after years of having to go without stuff and spending all my money on my teenage kids, I finally thought, "Enough is enough!". My expenditure profile is now back to what it was, but the laptop really was worth it. This is just my view and experience, if you are happy with your Windows machines, great. VW2008 certainly works better on it, so I can't exactly criticise. Back on topic - VW2008 worked perfectly on OS X, apart from a bug which prevented dwg export. The subsequent SP3 supposedly fixed this, but I can't apply any maintenance releases for VW because it contacts Nemetschek over the net for validation to complete the upgrade, and our IT security policy blocks this. A bit like Acrobat Reader updates. Nemetschek, if you are reading this (unlikely) isn't the stupid dongle enough? Can't you release a version of 2008 with the latest update integrated into it? Spending money on broken software is disappointing, but being unable to fix it, when solutions exist is very annoying indeed. Updating your software because you have a problem with the previous version, and finding the new version even worse is making my colleagues think I have Tourette's syndrome. So it's safe to say that I'm 'eager' to get a solution to this. [Edit: Oh yes, I forgot that VW2008 usually crashes when I try to display the class edit dialog which is the more important reason I upgraded]

I haven't run 'disk utilities' after install. Is this a VectorWorks 2009 utility from the installation DVD or do you mean the OS X 'Disk Utility' application? I have never run anything like this after installation before, is it something I ought to be doing on a regular basis? So far this is the most problematic application I have yet found on the Mac. [Edit: I contacted UK Tech support first - no response yet]

Has anyone else had problems with pixellation and gaps in display update when zooming and panning? Turning antialiasing off and on shows no improvement. Turning Quartz imaging off looks awful, and still doesn't fix the problem. This is really annoying for me and it makes VW 2009 almost unusable. I have an 8 core 8Gb RAM Mac Pro with an Nvidia 8800 graphics card and the latest OS X 10.5.5. Everything else works fine but VW2009 just sucks. SketchUp 6 running under XP with VMWare Fusion works just as well, and that is slow. VW 2008 works great, and if it wasn't for the fact that dwg export is broken (I can't install the latest SP update) I would use it instead of 2009. To put it bluntly, this is rubbish. I have tried changing display options, restarting the system, but nothing makes any difference. This is a really basic issue.