UPDATE: I finally went ahead and got that new Windows 8 computer, as I've noted in previous posts. And I have to report, so far things are working just fine. Gerber Omega Composer installed just fine. My Gerber fonts moved over just fine. The program opens faster than I've ever seen it open. The only glitch I've seen so far is that the little purple USB fob couldn't be found on the first try. I unplugged it, and plugged it back in once, and since then all is well.
I can't speak to compatibility with plotters, routers or digital printers, because my home business is design-only. But other good news was that the CorelDraw X5 Graphics Suite seems to be fine, even though I was warned it might not be compatible. And I got an alert from Corel right after install that provided a service pack, without me having to go look for it! Further, I was able to install Microsoft Office 97, no joke. I pared it down to Excel, Word and PowerPoint, but all seem to work just fine. Now, if I could just find a replacement for Windows Live Mail. My biggest problems to this point (even after running Windows 8.1 Preview) are just adapting to the Windows 8 environment.
ORIGINAL POST 04/03/13:
I know this is an oddly specific question to pose to my blog audience, but truth is, when these articles ping to search engines, it may trip the answer from somebody out there in the vast internets, so I figure it's worth a try! If you have no knowledge of the sign industry or software, just scroll on by. Thank you.
Okay. At my sign company, we have four workstations that run Gerber Omega software, specifically Composer, all version 2.6.1. While Gerber Scientific makes Omega version 5.0 these days, we're still back on the earlier version, mostly because of the Great Recession. We're running on mostly
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| Ours aren't this old, but some are close! |
But we can't even really get started, because we don't know if Omega 2.6.1 will run on a Windows 8 computer, particularly with a 64-bit processor. We have two Windows 7 setups, which both run the software just fine (though the Braille Interpreter must be run from Virtual PC on the 64-bit computer*). Our shop does use other software to run the laser cutters, and I do some designing in CorelDraw and other programs, but if Omega won't run, we'd be completely hobbled. I'm hopeful that since the ISA sign show is here in Las Vegas this week, that there will be some Googling on this subject going on, and somebody out there can answer me. So here is the question, clearly as Google bait:
Will Gerber Omega Composer 2.6.1 run in Windows 8 on a 64-bit Computer?
Here's hoping! Thanks, everybody.
