I'm getting a Mac as a combonation Christmas/graduation present. I simply cannot take Vista any more.

I really haven't used a Mac consistantly since the G3's came out. My questions:

1. What software do you recommend?
2. How well does VMWare Fusion work? (I still have some Windows only programs)
3. Has anyone contacted companies regarding moving licenses from Win to Mac? Is this expensive?

glad to know ya switched back. 1. graphicconverter, bbedit, cs3, poser7, carrara6pro, cheetah3d, vlc, visualhub, UVX, tidyup!, macpar deluxe, macjanitor, appleworks, simpletext, unison, arbaro, Data Rescue, Fugu, RTEJava, StuffIt, The Unarchiver, SuperDuper!, et al. 2. I dunno. 3. I haven't.

I was never a Mac enthusiast... Pre OSX really just bugged me a lot. Now that it is basically BSD I feel a lot better about it.

Is "downgrading" to Windows XP an option? For me, Poser 7 works well under XP Pro 64 bit, except sometimes when V4 is in the picture. Othert time V4 is fine.

I develop for Linux in my day job but use Windows frequently. My personal opinion is that XP is not only better than its predecessors but also so far its successor. There's probably a reason why Microsoft extended the time you could buy XP from 2007-12-31 to 2008-06-30 or thereabouts.

Edit: s/it's/its/g, I have to learn to spel.

Quote - Is "downgrading" to Windows XP an option? For me, Poser 7 works well under XP Pro 64 bit, except sometimes when V4 is in the picture. Othert time V4 is fine.

I develop for Linux in my day job but use Windows frequently. My personal opinion is that XP is not only better than its predecessors but also so far its successor. There's probably a reason why Microsoft extended the time you could buy XP from 2007-12-31 to 2008-06-30 or thereabouts.

Edit: s/it's/its/g, I have to learn to spel.

I can downgrade to XP 64, but I know too much about the Microsoft life cycle to be really be happy with that solution. XP 64 has major driver problems and it will get worse as time goes on.

Jumping ship now seems like a good thing to me. Vista SP1 is not due out until Feb 2008 and who knows what other bugs will come along with that.

Welcome to the mac! I switched almost a year ago, and get irritated whenever I have to sit behind a windows box. I used to love linux, but it is so unpolished. There are a few things that I wish would be ported over to mac- kdevelop being one, but for the most part, I am very glad I finally took the plunge.

I am very happy with Poser 7 and Vue on the mac.  Daz Studio works really well too. I am starting to find that it is actually a much better program than poser, but there are some important features that need to be added before it can really replace it.

Check out Xee for image viewing. It's a nice light weight browser. Perfect when you have lots of subtle variations on the same render that you want to look over. (it's free)

BetterZip is a winzip like program. Much better for extracting stuff than any other I've found (shareware)

I have iWork, which I think is a great deal, if you do any sort of document creation. Much better than anything else I've used.

I am using fireworks for my postwork. It's not quite as complete as photoshop, but I don't need anything it's missing. And it does all the nice little vector stuff I need for prgramming stuff.

I use parallels at work, but the program I use it for is visual Studio (the newest resource hog version). I hate having to load  it, because it's so slow. I'm not sure about vmware's stuff. I've heard they are about the same. If you use windows inside your OS-X, be sure you have lots of RAM- since windows will need 1 or 2 to run reasonably smoothly. Not the VM software, just the nature of computing.

I paid for another license for poser. It was on sale, so I didn't mind. My version of vue was really old, so it gave me an excuse to upgrade. I've heard that some companies will let you use your serial number, though. So you might go ahead and send a inquiry so you will know what to do when the machine is in.

There aren't too many downsides to the Mac.  Some software will never be on there (3DSMax, AutoCAD), some may be eventually, but most are.  The biggest problem is ubiquitous support.  For instance, my plugins and software always support both Windows and MacOSX.  But others do apps that are only targetted at Windows.

As Miss Nancy noted,  there are plenty of apps that have counterparts on MacOS (including Daz|Studio, Maya, Cinema 4D, Adobe et al).  One problem is side-grading licenses.  Cinema 4D requires separate purchases - which hurts for plugin development in my case as it requires double upgrades.  Some companies take this type of situation into account for license transfer but not enough in my opinion to make it financially feasible.

If you can go back to Windows XP Pro or XP Pro x64, that is the best bet.  I've already been flooded with problems using my Cinema 4D plugin on Vista.  Not a single machine here has it (three computers at this time).  When I purchased my laptop recently, I specifically required that it not have Vista.  When I purchased my current main system, I specifically wanted XP Pro and XP Pro x64 dual boot.  Vista is a consideration for maybe two years from now.  There are too many issues to 'protect' users that are not worth the upgrade (driver support, schmiver support - bah, I want an OS that doesn't make me jump through hoops every five seconds - Vista is the OS that has miles of hoops).  The Mac commercials may be caricaturish but they pretty much sum up the current state of affairs.

Quote - 2) How well does VMWare Fusion work? (I still have some Windows only programs)

I'm using it since their beta version and it works perfectly. Windows XP in a window, Windows XP 64 in a window, Solaris in a Window, Ubuntu in a window...perfectly. Note that you will not get to use hardware 3d acceleration for applications running inside VMWare. If you plan to use Windows software that relies heavily on the graphics card, I recommend using Boot Camp.

o.k., thx fr the tip, stefan. there was a free VMWare offer at one of the mac resellers, but they are bundling it with a vista package for $380 american :crying: they said that the advantage with VMWare was that bootcamp requires rebooting.

I am going with XP 64 / XP 32 dual boot for now.  I'm taking a wait and see posture on the direction that Windows will head over the next couple of years.  If MS blows it with Windows 7 (or whatever it's called when it comes out) -- then I might begin to seriously look at alternatives like the Mac.......the caveat being that as a heavy AutoCAD user, I'm not sure that switching to an OS other than Windows will ever be a feasible possiblility.

Don't forget there is always the possibility to install Windows on an Intel Mac. I have opted not to go this route, but I still keep Windows boxes around when I need to do something that isn't supported by the OSX. I side graded Vue Infinite and Renderman at no additional costs (the Windows licenses were dismantled). Contact the vendors in question to see what their policies are.

Yea! Congrats on the Mac! ^^ Good programs I use on the Mac are: Poser 6, Vue 6, Wardrobe Wizard 2, Blacksmith3D, UvMapper OSX, Modo 1, Hexagon 2, ZBrush 2. Photoshop Elements. That pretty much covers mostly everything I need for 3D. My only wishes are for UvMapper Pro in OSX, and for Zbrush to hurry up and release Zbrush 3 for the Mac. >< On an Intel Mac, you can add XP and/or Vista, and boot-up they programs. A free app from Apple let's you do it, BootCamp. If you want to run XP or Vista programs without rebooting, there are several app you can buy for that. Anyhoo, have fun! ^^ If you have questions, just ask. bB

I am a new mac user and I am running VM ware I really love it. I seem to be running into a problem actually with my Mac. I am trying to get something to work that need to use Macconvertor and Mac won't use it because it needs classic view and it's not used any longer. If anyone has any suggestions for me I would appreciate it. Thanks

Quote - they said that the advantage with VMWare was that bootcamp requires rebooting.

I'd say use both. I have a Boot Camp partition with Windows XP that I can boot into when I need to give Windows full access to the machine, but I can also boot VMWare from the same partition from within OS X for smaller stuff without rebooting.

Quote - 1) What software do you recommend?

Safari works okay, though Firefox feels better to me. Definitely get Thunderbird for email. Both are free and come from the same place. check out Versiontracker for all your cheap/free OSX toys. > Quote - 2) How well does VMWare Fusion work? (I still have some Windows only programs)

You're better off with Parallels, IMHO. I use VMWare products @ work daily (the free server, ESX, Virtual Infrastructure, etc etc), and it's not exactly as friendly for average users as PArallels is. > Quote - 3) Has anyone contacted companies regarding moving licenses from Win to Mac? Is this expensive?

Depends on the program. Poser is pretty good about flopping the license key over at no cost, but I dunno if SM would charge you for it. D|S should work w/ the same # (otherwise it's free too). Your Poser content will work just fine w/o conversion in most cases. For the sloppy merchies who don't build icons right, you can use FPMorgan's Poser Mac Converter (he has a free version on his home page). HTH, /P

Quote - > Quote - 1) What software do you recommend?

Safari works okay, though Firefox feels better to me. Definitely get Thunderbird for email. Both are free and come from the same place. check out Versiontracker for all your cheap/free OSX toys.

I need to be able to sync my BlackBerry, and from what I read I can't sync it to Thunderbird. Has anyone tried syncing a BlackBerry to a Mac successfully?

Quote - > Quote - > Quote - 1) What software do you recommend?

Safari works okay, though Firefox feels better to me. Definitely get Thunderbird for email. Both are free and come from the same place. check out Versiontracker for all your cheap/free OSX toys.

I need to be able to sync my BlackBerry, and from what I read I can't sync it to Thunderbird. Has anyone tried syncing a BlackBerry to a Mac successfully?

Never mind, I got it working. :)

Quote - I am a new mac user and I am running VM ware I really love it. I seem to be running into a problem actually with my Mac. I am trying to get something to work that need to use Macconvertor and Mac won't use it because it needs classic view and it's not used any longer. If anyone has any suggestions for me I would appreciate it. Thanks

There is a OSX version, I think it's for sell here in the Renderosity marketplace, but I don't have it.
I use Macconvertor.  

OS9 is on the 2nd CD that came with your operating system. Just install it, then when you double click on the "Macconvertor" icon, it will bootup Classic (OS9) and you're good to go. ^^

bB