upgrading from Ventura to ID: Windows...

We are a small non-profit, wanting to upgrade from Ventura (dont laugh!) to InDesign for our scientific journal. We have virtually no IT support. Would it be better to operate InDesign in our existing Windows XP environment or switch to Macs? Our IT guy says that if we get Macs, well need to keep our PCs for Outlook email. (And, no, we cant get new IT support)

If this is the wrong question for the forum, please excuse the posting.

Thank you!
upgrading from Ventura to ID: Windows...
Makes no difference...the application is practically identical on either

platform.



Bob
upgrading from Ventura to ID: Windows...
Are your current PCs up to the task of running the software? If so you'll save a bundle by sticking with the PC version since you won't need to buy the hardware. If not, go with what makes your users comfortable.



As Bob says, the applications are virtually identical on both platforms, but be sure to read about potential problems on both sides before making a final decision. There are/were some issues with Leopard on the Mac side.



Peter

i upgrade from Ventura (dont laugh!)



No laughing here, I weep for your lost productivity and cheer your move to an up to date platform!



As Robert says, the app, like most Adobe apps and other major-provider cross-platform apps, runs identically on either platform. If you're using the workstations for any other task, though, be aware that there can be considerable disparities between ''lesser'' PC and Mac applications. Unless you're making a completely free-and-clear choice for your graphics/publications workstations alone, you might want to tilt towards new or upgraded Windows systems that can run all of your existing other (business, etc.) apps with no conversion or compatibility problems.



You really can't go wrong with either one unless you box yourself out of some current functionality.

%26gt; well need to keep our PCs for Outlook email.



Outlook isn't the only email program. If you move to Macs, you'll still

be able to get your mail.



FWIW, I'm running Ventura 3, Ventura 8, three versions of Indesign,

three versions of Quark, Framemaker, Illustrator, Photoshop, and a whole

lot more on a Win XP box. I switched from Ventura and Quark years ago,

but I still come across the odd job here and there that is more easily

produced in the old program than it would be converted to the new

program. I would keep the PCs you're using now even if you move to Macs.

Actually, I would just keep the PCs and skip the move.



--

Kenneth Benson

Pegasus Type, Inc.

www.pegtype.com

At the risk of having the voluble, dedicated (dare I say fanatic? probably not, but then WE don't mass-fret over Bill Gates' health...) Apple legions... if you're expertise and experience and software base is all PC, there is no good reason to move to Macs.



The notion that Macs are somehow ''better for graphics'' is about ten years out of date. Each platform has small strengths over the other, but the fact is that Mac remains a niche solution for niche users.



Stay with the PCs - as-is, upgraded or replaced.



(Straps on a layer of old Ventura floppies to ward off flames.)

%26gt; The notion that Macs are somehow ''better for graphics'' is about ten years out of date.



That's the first utterance of that phrase in this thread.



%26gt;Mac remains a niche solution for niche users.



Horsepoo.

Thanks to all for your replies! I used a Mac in another job for many years, a PC for just the past year and don't have a strong preference.

But the IT guy here is strictly Windows.

He had tried to make CS/InDesign work on an old machine--ignoring the hardware specs that we had given him from the Adobe site--and declared that InDesign couldn't work in a Windows environment.

I now have ammunition.

%26gt; and declared that InDesign couldn't work in a Windows environment.



That's a total crock. Try running it on an old Mac and you'll come to

the conclusion that InDesign won't work in Mac environment, either.



%26gt; I now have ammunition.



Only for new machines, certainly not a case to switch platforms.



Bob

%26gt;and declared that InDesign couldn't work in a Windows environment.



I wonder how I've been doing all my work these past seven years.



No question you need a powerful machine to run any current ID version.

Scott, I have no intention of opening a MvPC argument here. I'll simply stand by all the statements here that for all practical purposes, it makes no difference which platform you use for Adobe products. The advantages Macs had at one long-ago time - which were referenced, if indirectly, above - have long since vanished.



I will also note that any OS/platform that has existed for 25 years and has less than 10% of the user base - some reliable analyses put it below 5% - is, by definition, niche.



Macs are wonderful machines. With some differences, I would have preferred them to take the big share of the user base. But Apple's policies and market preference make them a niche solution for a specific niche of users. Note carefully that I am not defining ''niche'' as ''limited.'' Ferraris and Lamborghinis and LT1 Vettes are niche products, too. :)

FWIW, I, too, and sadly, I admit, had to make the move from Ventura to InDesign last November. Ventura 10 is still a great program and under other circumstances (owners) could have been a market contender.



But that's neither here nor there. ID CS4 is great. There are still some things that Ventura can do that I don't seem to be able to readily replicate in ID, but then I'm still in the learning process.



There is no reason, as others have noted, to switch to Macs to run ID. I certainly didn't for our machines. Windows XP works fine. But one recommendation for the switchover: buy a copy of InDesign CS4 Visual Quickstart Guide by Sandee Cohen (ISBN 0321573579) and keep it handy. I have found that I still think in Ventura terms and Cohen's book is a great reference for figuring out how to do in ID CS4 what came naturally (as a result of years of use) in Ventura 10.

Richard,

Thanks so much for the book recommendation. We will definitely buy it.



I've used Quark, InDesign, and most recently Ventura. And there are some things that Ventura does better than the other two: even column distribution for our multi-tabbed scientific charts, for example.

Catherine, quite some time ago when I was tasked with switching a large library of documents from Ventura (old Ventura, not the Corel horr... version) to FrameMaker, I found the best path was to write an increasingly elaborate set of Word macros to process each text markup file into something that FM would import cleanly, and then tidy the format. This largely ignored the other component files of the Ventura document.



I haven't worked enough with the later versions of Ventura to know if this approach would even work, but if you're facing a large conversion project, you might consider it over the ''complete, one-step'' conversion options that often choke. Working with XML and direct modification of the XML files before ID import might also save time in a mass conversion effort.

The best thing is to go with whatever your users prefer. And ditch the IT guy if what the users prefer is Mac.



That being said, if the users have no strong preference, there's really no reason you should switch from Windows to Mac.



Also, while Macs may be a niche, one of their strong markets is professional publishing. Macs are still the majority for high-end pro publishing. (Not saying whether it should be so, just saying that is the way it is.)



Cheers,



T