Moving FM9 to New Computer - Deciding on OS

Wed Jan 5 17:28:39 PST 2011

I am not knowledgeable of the specific question you asked - about whether FM 9 will work in XP Pro 64 on a new computer (with today's hardware).

But:

	Have you considered that the new computer may not work (from a _hardware_ perspective) with XP Pro 64? You may find that it has new hardware elements for which there are no XP Pro 64 bit drivers - including video drivers or disk drivers, etc.

And these possibly _never_ will be provided ... that OS is way too old for most manufacturers to support now for new hardware. And, this is likely to be a bigger show-stopper than an old application not running under Windows 7!

	Why do you need an extra $1000 in upgrades? In almost all the cases I know of, the application programs that run under XP Pro should work just fine in Win 7. I am running very reliably on a new laptop running Windows 7 64-bit on all my old and new applications - absolutely _nothing_ failed to work!

	Also, my son's two systems (one is 5+ years old and now runs Windows 7 32-bit, and the other is a few weeks old and runs Windows 7 64-bit) handle his old graphics-intensive video games, designed for XP, just fine too!

	And, if you do have any problems with any given application in Windows 7, you can set XP Pro SP3 compatibility mode to the specific executables that are of concern. Your IT department should know how to do this easily.

	And, finally, there is something new in Win 7 (an add-on from Microsoft) called "XP Mode" that can run other old apps too, if you have problems with just setting compatibility mode.

So ... most importantly ... have you tested the specific other apps you are concerned about, in Windows 7, to see if the upgrades are indeed required? 

Bottom Line (IMHO):

XP Pro is simply too old an OS for many newer applications ... whereas older applications can generally be tweaked to run fine under Windows 7. In your shoes, I would move to Windows 7 and figure out how to bring the older apps along to it. But, without actual testing, I cannot say this with certainty in your case.

So, my suggestion would be to load the Windows 7 64-bit, load the applications, see how they do, and then see if you need to go _back_ to XP Pro on that new system. Yeah, you might waste some time perhaps, but the end outcome is _likely_ to be just fine!

Regards, 

Z

-----Original Message-----
From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Alison Craig
Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2011 4:39 PM
To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Moving FM9 to New Computer - Deciding on OS

FM 9 Version: 9.0p255
Unstructured
Current OS: XP Pro with SP3 (32 bit)
New OS: ?????

I'm about to get a new computer and have already had to rule out moving to Windows 7 as that would require an extra $1000 in software upgrades (among other programs, I run Adobe CS2 Premium which does everything I need at the moment).

None of the spec details on Adobe's site state whether or not FrameMaker 9 will run on XP Pro 64 bit - although they do include the Vista and Windows 7 64 bit OS. I haven't been able to find anything specific on Google. And the entries I've found on this List speak to Vista and Windows 7 64 bit, not XP.

Can anyone tell me if FM9 will run *reliably* on XP 64 bit? If there are "issues", then I'll have to stick to 32 bit - or convince the powers that be that an extra $1000 for software is a bargain ;-))))

Alison

Alison Craig, Technical Writer
Ultrasonix Medical Corporation
130 - 4311 Viking Way
Richmond, BC  V6V 2K9
Tel: (604) 279-8550, ext 127
Fax: (604) 279-8559
E-mail: alison.craig at ultrasonix.com<mailto:alison.craig at ultrasonix.com>

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