How old is your software?

[coyote]

Carol, I don't have Flexi but if you open an old GA Plot file in Omega, do a "save as" Gerber 2.5 and then import? I am not at work, but I am thinking that is an option. Just a thought.

Woohoo: finally figured out how to do a quote!
thanks Nancy: I used to work at a friend's shop and he let me do some side jobs-I have them all as old PLT files on diskettes (speaking of OLLLLD software or hardware.) I will have to go back to his shop to change the file format, I suppose. I'll try that and put them on my flash drive....
Carol

 

[Clear Choice]

I upgrade when I have to...but I hate upgrades. Why do they move things around and hide stuff??? Slows down production getting used to the new and improved bells & whistles.

As a print shop I have to keep the MS Office programs up to date because customers are constantly bringing in files for copying or printing. I don't use MS Office myself but have to be able to output them. MSPublisher is a good base program for customers to design their own flyers/brochures/newsletters as long as they don't want process color.

I'm still using CS1 but have had a couple people bring in files in AI-CS2.

Corel I like better than AI and upgrade every other time. Have X3 now and don't see any reason to jump into X4 unless it offers something great.

VISTA - well, my tech guy said to wait....and he is still saying that. Plus many older programs & hardware won't run on it. Went from Win98 to XP and skipped the rest.

 

[Richard Flint]

We have 3 workstations. The oldest is really dated.....lettering quills, 1-shot paints, etc.
The other two are running Flexi. The newer version is on a PC and the other is an older version on a Mac.

 

[Mark Fair]

I have 2 workstations. One with XP and one with windows 98.
Illustrator and photoshop are on the XP platform. I am still running the antique Composer 6 on the windows 98 machine.
These machines are linked to each other for file sharing.

 

[mystysue]

My computer at the shop has all the newer adobe upgrades and works on XP. but we have alot of older equipment at the shop also.. so it kinda depends on what you are using..
We have one computer that runs on windows 95 that we use for our engraver.. (it actually works out of dos) and my older graphtec works on a windows 98 computer with signlab 5 and corel 5.. lol..
The new plotter and versaccamm work off windows xp machines. ..

Some programs i dont upgrade too.. we upgraded versaworks one time and it blew my harddrive.. lol.. so that is one program we just leave as it is..lol

 

[activitydude]

It's very interesting getting to read all these posts about old hardware and software and when to update, etc.

As software suppliers we face the quandry of providing upgrades that rival our competitors but at the same time not getting our loyal customers mad at us for too much change. It's getting so we don't make as many changes now but improvements to the basic program. Sometimes that does mean moving something around but that's part of programming.

None of us intentionally put bugs in our program but sometimes we get in a hurry to get it out.

Anyway, just thought I'd put my 2 cents in.
Thanks

 

[Flame]

I upgrade when I like the functions or HAVE to upgrade. Running X3, CS2 and 8.0v2.

Happy with them.

 

[Jillbeans]

My sign computer has never been hooked to the Internet. It was a Win95 with GA 6.2. I upgraded to Win98SE about 6 years ago I think. It has Corel 9 too.
Got a new computer specifically with XP last summer and upgraded to Corel 12.
I still cut vynull and pounce patterns on a 1989 4E.
My design system is a 1962 Catholic Girl.
Love....Jill

 

[Goatboy]

I run corel for about everything. That being said Adont has been making my life "uncomfortable" with the compression encoding involved with the CS3 suite. Generally I upgrade every version of Corel mainly for the import/export filters. Since I cut straight from corel and use wasatch for my print rip this is the main drive for upgrades. That being said anyone running Corel 12 or less should at least make the jump to X3. X4 isnt really huge..Very steady some nice subtlr changes on the Draw side ...WAY improved color engine and Photopaint finally got some lovin...all runs well on Vista as well (this seemed to be the engineers at Corels main priority during beta imo) It really depends on your software I would guess...I always hated that gerber charged for every lil fixit they put out so I rarely ever upgraded it. Scanvec products are nice for production but really lack imo a way to give a client a visual "nap & a sandwich" type design. Adobe has the market for digital but I think its a monopoly of a company and refuse to use it for more then open export close. Long of the short..if you dont know what your missing ...but if you miss enjoying what your doing then by all means

 

[artsnletters]

So far, I'm probably running the oldest copy of flexi Ver 5.5 on an older yet beige Mac G3 that just keeps plugging along. Newer Macs run flexi 7.5, but i still like the older version better. It seems the more upgrades you do, the more problems arise. And like some of you...i still have brushes & airbrush.
Tim

 

[Big House Signs]

I ran flexi 6 up until last november then upgrade to 8...which I do love. At the same time I got cs2..and now dam cs3 is out? One year later? got my first cs3 file today and had to ask them to down save it...ugggg! And I'll have to be kicking and screaming to go to Vista. When we did the major upgrade last year i was thrilled to get my ioline classic to work with everything...and then to get the mimaki cutter and printer to all work on Vista? FORGET IT!

 

[Ken]

Yes, I tend to wait for a significant upgrade. I have X3 now, doubt I will spring 200 bucks for X4.
XP SP1is working for me..I hear about of a lot of peripherals wont work with Vista, but they now also have an SP 1..maybe it's better now?
Ken