Orchid Whiz, and Orchid Plus on a mac..

[goodgollymissmolly]

You can load OW on two machines, but they are supposed to be owned by the same user. Will that trip you up? It could. Orchidwiz is pretty protective of its software license. I ' m not going to tell you can because legally you cannot do what you are asking. She can absolutely load it on both her machines. And she can loan one to you. No one can prevent that.

You can do the same with AQPlus. AOS is not as sophisticated in their protection of the license, but again she can absolutely load it on her two machines.

You cannot load Parallels or Fusion on two machines. Each machine requires a separate license. It just will not load onto two different machines. Windows is the same. It is registered to a particular system chip. You will need two copies of Windows.

I suggest XP if you are only going to use Windows to run these applications. You can usually find a cheap and legal copy on e-bay that was intended to be installed on new computers. It works and is supported by MS. Remember that MS intends to quit supporting XP in 2013 so if you have plans to do this long term it might pay to get Windows 7 instead. It's going to cost you a lot more, but it might be worth it. Again remember if the AOS software is your real aim, you won't need Windows long term so investing in Win 7 might not be wise.

If you really plan to use OrchidWiz long term, get Win 7 because I know of no plans for an OSX version. I'm not sure what you think OrchidWiz really is, but before paying a lot for it I suggest you get to know. It has no current AOS award data and never will have. The species nomenclature data is straight from KEW and is free on the KEW website. The hybrid data is straight from RHS and is free on the RHS website and is included in summary form in AQPlus anyway. So I guess I'm scratching my head about what is in OrchidWiz that you would be willing to pay for since it's all free from the sources anyway.
Some people will say that the Baker data is included and is not free anywhere, but it's nothing but statistical data from the nearest weather station site to the reported location of the species in question. Since weather stations are not common in wild areas, the data is frequently not valid for use with the plant. There are numerous web sites with suggested cultivation data that is just as good free. Again what are you paying for?

I' ve nothing against OW. It 's a slick program, but it's just a user interface for stuff that's free from the original sources. And it ain't cheap. Listen $80 for Fusion is nothing versus $300 upfront and $80/year for OrchidWiz.

[goodgollymissmolly]

Melissa, the problem with OrchidsPlus (what you're calling the online version of AQPlus) is that it doesn't have all the older data loaded. It's also buggy to use (it is still a beta program).

The AQPlus (what you're calling the disk) has all the data up until sometime in 2011, but the new data is not loaded and apparently won't be.

AOS just informed judges that they will need to use both sources in the short run in order to be sure to get all the data for judging purposes.

I agree with you Parallels runs Windows just fine even though I prefer Fusion. Both are very acceptable and I've been using Fusion for a long time. It can be run a mode that makes your Windows application appear to be running on OSX. You never even think of windows being present.

[shadytrake]

Thanks Molly. Like you, I feel the cost of OW did not warrant the purchase when I keep my own excel file for my orchids and I want the AQ/OrchidsPlus awards data.

I grow my orchids to show and to enjoy so having the award data was more important plus the lower cost was the deciding factor.

Lastly, having the information from OW ultimately available free online (granted - in multiple sources) doesn't bother me because I love surfing the 'net for orchid data. I'm a research junkie. To me it is fun.

Thanks for the info on AQ/Orchids Plus. Now I have a reason to load the discs.

[Arenalbotanicalgarden]

I wouldn't use it if they paid me. Same reason I never belonged to AOS. If these clowns cared about the hobby it would be freeware and multi-platform.
&^%$%#-'em.

[goodgollymissmolly]

OK...sounds good to me. Everyone can have their own opinion and their own other thing. I just hate it when people get the two confused.

I just threw out some facts. What you do is your business. I guess we now know your thoughts. Thanks.

[got ants]

Molly, my intentions on getting OW was to have the significant photo database that the AOS system doesn't have, as I've been told. If this is not true, then its a mute point.

So if I get the AOS system I can use the online part, and not need to load the discs?

My purpose for any of these is not only to know if I should bring a plant to a sanctioned judging, and by this, I mean that I think it has better merits than what has already been awarded.. which still doesn't guarantee an award, but I also want to know about hybrid history, and if I can improve on what's already out there, or make something new.

As much as it hurts me to say this, I might even condier getting a PC solely for these programs...

I gotta weigh the costs of the software, against their system requirements, and see what are the best options for us.

BTW, the lady I work for and I are basically partners. She providing the funding, with me doing the grunt work. Our goal is a business venture soon in the future, beyond being hobbyists. So in essence, we are one... RQ Orchids.

Again all, thanks for the help in this matter.

Brady Mitchell

[Discus]

OW does have quite a lot of photos, but they're not necessarily of awarded plants; most are "volunteer" images that people have donated to OW. There has been in the past (I'm not sure if that functionality still works or AOS/OW wars preclude it at the moment) the option to pull in all the AQPlus imagine into OW - but you need licenses and copies of both for this to work. Most people say the OW interface is much nicer than the AQPlus one, but I've never seen AQPlus.

wrt licensing on a Mac, you have the option of either using a dual boot machine (boot camp or similar) or a virtualisation solution like VMWare Fusion or Parallels; I've seen both of those on OSX and they both work OK. There are free virtualisation programs, but they're usually not quite as slick. You will need a licensed copy of both your virtualisation program *and* windows per OSX machine you want to use it on; the license restrictions on AQPlus I'm not sure of, but OW allows two installations per license (theoretically two of your own machines).

Hope this helps!

I always find it terribly amusing when people buy a Mac and then spend ages (and even more money) figuring out how to get windows apps to run.

[goodgollymissmolly]

"So if I get the AOS system I can use the online part, and not need to load the discs?"

That is correct....but read what I wrote again. Not all the awards are in the OrchidsPlus (online program) at this very second. Many of them are but not every single one. It is good enough for most purposes as long as you accept some of its idiosyncrasies that still need to be resolved. It does contain the pictures for all the awrds that are included.

Now ..pictures and Orchid Wiz..yes it contains many amateur pictures and some are very good. But they are small files. Personally I would not pay $300 to get them. Flickr has just as many pictures and includes large files so you can view details. Again, most are good. Not every single one, but Flickr is the home of some of the best orchidists and orchid photographers worldwide. The few really good photographers on OW also have Flickr albums with larger pics than OW can reasonably include. Flickr is free (unless like many you want store unlimited pictures of your own as many of us do). In that case it's $25 per year. You can view it and search for pictures completely free. Once you find a photographer you like, you can make yourself a contact and all his pics will show up without you having to search the whole site. You can have unlimited contacts and you are free to contact the photos via Flickr mail. This is a much better (and free) way to get access to some of the best orchid photos anywhere. You can also sign up for "groups" that interest you. For example you can join a "Phal" group allowing you to go straight to Phal photos. There are hundreds (thousands maybe) of groups to choose from.

If you want orchid photos, Flickr is the place to go. BTW checkout the group "Orchid Photo of the Week". That's a group set up by Greg Allikas to collect photos for use on the AOS web site as the Orchid Photo of the Week. This really distills down your search needs because the pics in this group are the very best available anywhere. Again you get access to large files.

All this stuff is free, man! It's amazing. Don't waste your money. Incidentally, the AOS programs AQPlus/OrchidsPlus are only $50 per year. As Shadystrake mentioned she has been getting by just with the online piece of it. That means you don't have to mess with a Windows program at all. Just remember it isn't 100% complete yet...but apparently ST has been satisfied with just it and it will be completed sometime this year.

Let's see I saved you $300 for OW, $100-300 for Windows, $80 for Parallels or Fusion or alternately $500 for a basic PC plus I put you onto better pictures and the official (and free) sources for hybrid grex and species nomenclature information. So depending on how you mix it, you saved $500-800 and got better pics and info. Maybe you should put me on your Xmas gift list. You Think?

[goodgollymissmolly]

Discus, you can not pull up AQPlus photos with OrchidWiz. You could for a while, but the photos are copyrighted by the photographers and many did not approve of that specific copyright infringement.

I agree the OW user interface is superior to the AQPlus interface. The HTML based OrchidsPlus program is slicker than either. It just is not complete yet.

Yeah I have Macs. I am an IBMer so I was stuck with PC's for years. I got got tired of lousy hardware and went to Mac. The only reason I have Fusion and Windows is AQPlus. When orchidsPlus is finished there will be no slow loading Windows on my Macs.

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by Discus

I always find it terribly amusing when people buy a Mac and then spend ages (and even more money) figuring out how to get windows apps to run.

Mac conceitedness works OK in the home but it gets in the way of productivity if you need to interact with a majority Windows world.