Friday's Random Thoughts

Random Thoughts

In the May issue of PC Magazine on page 87 there is an article telling how to revert a Windows Vista install to Windows XP. As of right now the article is not on the website so you have to pick up the magazine to get the details. According to the article XP is noticeably faster than Vista on the same hardware. And with the upcoming release of service patch 3 XP will be even faster but the same can’t be said of service patch 1 for Vista. So if what I’m reading is true you might want to consider staying with XP until Microsoft makes Vista better and if you already have Vista installed it is good to know that there is a way to revert back to XP.

What do you think of the Open Office Suite? I loaded it on a PC that I was rebuilding for a friend and the new version looks great. It would appear to do whatever I would need to do with an office product including Microsoft Office compatibility. What I’m wondering and hoping that someone has an answer for; is whether or not the Calc product can be made to work with SolidWorks like Excel does now. This is the only reason I can think of for me to have Microsoft office on my system. Surely someone has researched this... When a company is looking to replace twenty five PCs with new ones the cost of MS Office is substantial!

Speaking of SolidWorks; I used the Pro/E translator for the first time yesterday. It actually worked fairly well once I had the originator of the file remove all the fillets on the part. There were two features that the converted could not handle, a simple revolve and a rib but the sketches were converted so it was easy to correct.

28 days and counting until Matt makes his appearance at the WNC/Asheville SolidWorks User Group Meeting. Thursday May 15 is the night. I think Tom Wilson will be firing up the BBQ to provide us with ribs or chicken but the real highlight of the evening will be Matt’s presentation. Plan to be there!