Making The 64-Bit Vista Move With Solidworks

More and more people are starting to use Vista and are discovering they like it.  After listening to Bob their cousin for so long who doesn't know a thing about computers, but somehow is an expert on Vista because he listens to Leo Laporte on a weekly basis, times are changing.

I have been using Vista Ultimate on my desktop at home, and my Dell M90 laptop since late last summer.  My one complaint was that Microsoft simply offered to many choices.  I dare anyone reading this to name off in your head how many versions they offer!  They simply should have offered a basic home version, and then the full blown Ultimate package.  To further confuse matters, consumers were also made to choose between 32 and 64 bit platforms, unless you had the basic $99 version of Vista that lets face it, barely runs on a calculator.

I am going to assume that most people reading this understand the differences behind 32 and 64 bit operating systems.  For this article, the main factor is the ability to expand a computer systems memory limitation of 3GB, to pretty much unlimited.  Aside from having the correct video card, Solidworks benefits most from more ram.  Luckily for us, RAM is cheap now a days.  Imagine having 8, 16, or even 32GB of ram on your Solidworks machine!  You would feel like superman!  Microsoft currently lists the memory limitation of 64 bit Ultimate as 128GB+, meaning it seems unlimited.

So whats the tie in with Vista?  Well 64 bit Vista is unique in one way in regards to security.  Everyone loves to babble on and drool over Apples supposed impenetrability to security breaches.  Well there are two easy explanations for that.  First is the simple fact that not enough people use their operating system for hackers to waist their time creating malicious code for it.  Second is the fact that you as the owner of that hardware are only allowed to install software that Apple has approved for you to use.  So much for innovation huh?  By keeping a strangle hold on the software side of their products, Apple has been pretty successful in keeping hackers at bay, with the exception of a few recent problems surrounding the iPhone, their Quicktime software, and even the new Leopard OS.

Vista 64 bit uses a system of requiring all hardware and software drivers to be digitally signed by Microsoft.  Do you see where this is going?  By using the tactics that Apple has used, Microsoft can now build the most secure operating system in its history.  Now you may think its odd for me to chastise Apple for the practice, but then say its OK for Microsoft.  Well there is one huge difference.  The shear popularity of the Windows platform means that way more manufacturers and software developers will try to obtain certification for their product to run on Vista, than they will for Apple.  Everybody wins, not just Steve Jobs.

So what does this have to do with Solidworks?  Well when Solidworks releases service pack 3.0 next week for 2008, it will fully support the 64 bit Vista operating system.  This is nice news for myself, and many others who made hardware purchases over the last 6-8 months with this in mind.  I for one will finally be able to use that one extra GB of ram that been sitting in my laptop, but as yet unused.  I plan on doing a complete reformat of the hard drive (which is not as easy in Vista as it was in XP), and then install Vista Ultimate 64 bit.  The only part I'm dreading is having to download the entire Solidworks files for 64 bit, since I imagine DVD based copies are some time off.

So keep tuned, as things start to happen, I will be sure to let you know how things go for me.

Comments

[Lord CNTezer]

Well technically a hacker just does it to hack so they can learn. So then we should be using the term cracker then, since they actually make stuff and release it to cause harm to people's PC's. Well that's what I'd be worried about, but semantics since most use the term hacker instead.

Mac OS X is not as secure as you think. There are a lot more people still hacking, "cracking" on windows machines and will be for awhile.

Now with many younger people buying Macbooks that will be going up for sure.
Don't have links but read Slashdot a fair amount for many years (not that "they" know everything).

[Robert]

While the information that you post on your blog is generally excellent, you really missed it with this statement: "First is the simple fact that not enough people use their operating system for hackers to waist their time creating malicious code for it."

As another poster notes above, that is simply a myth. First, it is simply not true that Apple computers are less vulnerable because they suffer fewer attacks. They are inherently more secure than Windows-based systems. And, second, the fact that they are more secure makes them more of a target for hackers. As the person above notes, many hackers do not target systems because the systems are more popular; they target systems for the challenge. And, since that is the motivation for many hackers, Apple computers are more of a target rather than being less of a target.

Regards,

Robert

[Paul T. James]

Hi Mike -
I'm pretty much a novice at all this computer talk but I find it fascinating...!
I'm a Solidworks user and I'm purchasing a seat of SW2009 for my laptop. I just recently purchased an HP Pavilion DV9700 with 3 GB of ram and running Vista 32 bit OS. Through some of these blogs, I'm a bit confused on some of these issues...as you can see, not everyone agrees with everyone else. What I'm trying to find out is: Will I have problems trying to load SW2009 on this laptop...? I realize I may have to update my video driver (Nvidia that supports WMMD), but other than that...are there other skeletons in the closet I will encounter...? If anyone can help, please contact me and thanks...!

[zo]

I have the sp4 update for SolidWorks, but my SolidWorks 2008 sp0 won't install on my Vista - might it be because it's 32-bit? Though I have no idea why 32-bit app can't run on my 64-bit Vista. I am confused - I was really looking forward to this too.

[Bob George]

WRT security of operating systems, both of your points are invalid.
Point 1: "First is the simple fact that not enough people use their operating system for hackers to waist their time creating malicious code for it."

People who create viruses and such do so for kudos not because there are a lot of machines around to run things on. We could debate this for hours, but sufficed to say the windows security model is horrible, yea sure you can lock down the computer but then it is impossible to install software, some of which may only run as administrator.

Point two: "Second is the fact that you as the owner of that hardware are only allowed to install software that Apple has approved for you to use." As the owner of the hardware I can install any software i please. Whats more as Apple freely distributes the software development tools I can easily write new and useful software as I see fit.

Please don't even get me started on the various flavours of Vista.

[Josh]

I'm looking forward to this Mike, I've had several questions about Vista on laptops.

Devon has a good suggestion about harddrive replacement. that will save you a ton of time, especially if things go bad.

[Devon T. Sowell]

Of course, any "change" my void your Dell warranty. Also, make sure Vista 64 drivers are available for your laptop.

Devon

[Devon T. Sowell]

Hi Mike-

One idea you might want to consider is this; rather than "format" your hardrive, just replace it. Just remove the existing hardive and replace it with a new blank one. Hardrives are really cheap these days, see newegg.com.

If there is a "fubar", just reinstall the orginal hardrive.

I've used this method a few times on a couple of laptops.

Oh yea, don't forget to "transfer" your SolidWorks license BEFORE you change the O.S./Hardrive.

Cheers,
Devon