Considering Vista won't support OpenGL?

X will come out the same time windows longhorn does. so i predict around 2006, if i was a betting man.

Message sent. via that email thingie on your profile. My version is legal, and don't assume i'm thief or something, i know where this is going.

I wasn't referring to mastercam or mentioned it in my last reply, i'm merely stating that "you pay for what you get" doesn't always apply to everything.

That may be the case for electronics, cars or equipment, but not for software.

I can list many examples where free or low cost software is better or equivalent than their higher priced counterparts. For example linux, mozilla firefox/thunderbird, paintshop pro.

Imo expensive software has one thing in common, there all bloated, offer lots of new features, buggy as hell and always price gouge their customers since they usually have some sought of monopoly. Lets not forget they charge you for patches/upgrades.

well if your going to get 4 or more licenses of cadcam software, i would rather not go the expensive route especially when i don't like the whole concept of maintenance fees. Much cheaper to got with a low cost cadcam seats.

Do a search on google for onecnc.

The mousepad supplied with mastercam is a POS. i threw mine away, it must have been made in china, since the surface of the mousepad is cloth, which is just awful becuase it attracts all the oil, grease and dirt from the shop.

For a quality mousepad, check out www.func.net

www.cnctrader.com

www.industrialsales.com

www.emachinetool.com

www.pyramidmachinetools.com

These aren't necessarily canadian links, but check them out anyway.

Wow you guys have a computer tech guy, what a waste of money. Anyway i've run SP2, and so far i haven't had any problem with it or with mastercam.

Actually i like most of the security features sp2 delivered, especially the pop-up blocker.

nevermind.

edit

I got 41 out of 30, guess i'm way to smart for everyone here.

we usually outsource all complicated cad files to industrial designers. THey usually charge us $50-70/hour.

Saves me alot of headaches of creating some complicated piece.

Mastercam X is vaporware, i don't think it will ship before longhorn.

I have a solution for you, tell your kids to get jobs and support you, so you don't have to work. Since you supported them while they were growing up. lol

How about we just ban you Cadist. OT threads are good because they break the boredom of reading the same old topics which deal with mastercam. we need variety, otherwise i doubt anyone would visit this forum anymore.

Congrats on making it to the Big 50.

So how many more years do you think you'll work, before retiring? just curious

Whats wrong with using it as bathroom reading, thats one of the advantages of having printed material. lol

First thing that i thought about this was, What a bunch of cheap mofos.

I guess cncsoftware must be really hurting for money, if they can't afford to print out newletters and mail them.

I agree with everyone else, stay save, and stay away from any suspicious looking al-qaeda nuts, especially those who like chopping heads off.

ALso lets not forget, that if the machine is broken down and customer needs his parts asap, he'll most likely take them to another job shop, unless his loyal.

But then is there such a thing as a loyal customer anymore?

Thats the only thing i hate about CNC's, when they break down, it costs an arm and leg to fix them.

So how much did the new servo motor cost, just curious?

Just wanted to add , we hired this one guy, for running and setup up the vmc. Now this guy is real smart, he's a fast learner, you show him something once, and he'll never forget it.

So we let him work overtime, its not like any of us want to work overtime. So one day we come in the morning, and find the Zaxis waycover on one of our vmc's dented, looks like a tool or something hit it.

Anyway my employer later finds out this guy has been taking part time cnc programming courses at a trade school and he's been practising his G-code skills on our cnc machines. He was fired the next day when he tried to pin it on one of us.

The only aptitude test we do for new job applicants is they have to know how to cut threads/ and taper on a manual lathe. Now days any body can be a button pusher, even my grandma. It seems like the new guys coming out of trade skills only want to work on a cnc, they hate working on manual machines.