Will SW become Windows-compatible soon?

Discussion created by Dietmar Rempfer on Dec 31, 2006
Latest reply on Jan 4, 2007 by Andrew Carter

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Is there any word as to whether, at least with the upcoming Vistaversion, Solidworks will finally adhere to Windowscompatibility requirements? I have just installed SW 2006 SP5.1,and I had a hell of a time modifying the installation to teachSolidworks to run for a Limited User account.

Frankly, Ithink it is an outright scandal for any major software developer tocontinue selling products for Windows that violate compatibilityguidelines that have been out for about a decade now.

Heck, evenAutoDesk has by now managed to sell Windows-compatiblesoftware...

So, now that Microsoft finally sets up user accounts as LimitedAccounts by default in Vista (the way they should always have beenset up, by the way), will SolidWorks provide software that canactually run for such users?

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John Burrill Jan 2, 2007 2:09 PM
http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~...1/pubs/vista_cost.txt
You'll find out in February-along with whether you'll be able to run Solidworks at Greater than 640x480 with an HDMI device connected to your computer.
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- Dietmar Rempfer @ John Burrill on Jan 3, 2007 12:30 PM
  
  Originally posted by: John Burrill http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~.../pubs/vista_cost.txtYou'll find out in February-along with whether you'll be able torun Solidworks at Greater than 640x480 with an HDMI deviceconnected to your computer.
  
  Apart from being mostly nonsense, see here, this really has nothing whatsoever to do with what I wasasking. The issue I am talking about is whether the next versionof Solidworks will be properly designed from aWindows-compliance point of view, or if it will still assume thatit runs on a system in an MS-DOS-like environment, stripped of allprotections afforded by modern operating systems. If the latter,I'll take my business elsewhere.
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  - Stefan Hamminga @ Dietmar Rempfer on Jan 3, 2007 5:04 PM
    Since you seem to know what is wrong with SW you could post your changes and have them included in SW?
    That way you would be productive instead of just bitching about something that perhaps has had a lower priority than delivering a good functioning CAD package.
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    - Dietmar Rempfer @ Stefan Hamminga on Jan 4, 2007 12:14 PM
      Well, the issue is that right now we have a CAD package that doesnot function at all, if you are interested in running yourcomputer in an even remotely competent and secure configuration. Wealso have a software package that will not run for the default userconfiguration in Vista. Good functioning? Not in my book, no. Iwant to make one thing very clear: Microsoft has set outrequirements that a user-mode application needs to meet in order tobe considered Windows-compatible. This happened roughly 10 yearsago. SolidWorks does not meet these requirements. Caseclosed.
      
      As far as posting the necessary changes, if it were that simple.First of all, including the necessary modifications in theSolidWorks install would be a trivial matter for the developers,but it requires a very significant amount of competence on the sideof the user to change the installation after the fact. It cost me acouple of hours of work with various debugging tools,decoding and sorting the hundreds of access violations SolidWorkswould generate on startup for a Standard User account. After havingidentified the issues, you need to be comfortable editing theregistry, and adjusting ACLs for both the registry and the filesystem. Finally, it appears that some of the issues aremachine-dependent, so what works for me may not work for someone ona different computer. So, no, I cannot simply post the necessarychanges, but there is also no need for me to do that. Thedevelopers of SolidWorks are well aware of the issues, and theycould easily fix them if they chose to.
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      - SolidAir @ Dietmar Rempfer on Jan 4, 2007 1:24 PM
        Dietmar,
        
        Have you contacted SolidWorks (or your VAR) about this issue?
        
        SA
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        Dietmar Rempfer @ SolidAir on Jan 4, 2007 1:33 PM
        Yes, I have submitted this to SolidWorks. No response, so far.
        
        P.S.: Of course, this is not a new issue at all. SolidWorks hasbeen aware of this for years, as evidenced by a SW KB documentdetailing some of the steps necessary to allow the software to runfor a limited user. However, that document applies to an olderversion of SW, and does not help much with current versions.
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        Andrew Carter @ Dietmar Rempfer on Jan 4, 2007 4:23 PM
        I too feel your pain.
        
        Since SW2004, I created an inno setup script to make all the changes so we can run with limited accounts. It is a post install script that I run after installing SW, it changes ACLs and sets all the default document paths to our shared network locations.
        
        I will hapilly share it with you if interested, but would prefer the software to just work properly straight out of the box!
        
        Andy
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Will SW become Windows-compatible soon?

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