Orchid Wiz...worth it?

[richardb]

The last I heard was that the AOS is in legal dispute with Orchid Wiz over copyright of AOS information. Anyone know the latest on that?

[DavidCampen]

Originally Posted by richardb

The last I heard was that the AOS is in legal dispute with Orchid Wiz over copyright of AOS information. Anyone know the latest on that?

That was a couple of years ago and the latest Orchidwiz still has all the AOS award data so they must have settled their dispute.

[DavidCampen]

Originally Posted by tucker85

When you open Orchid Wiz there will be a list of orchid genre on the right side. Double click on the genre you want, for instance ‘cattleya’. ...

Thanks. I wasn't clear on what I am looking for. I want a list of "intergeneric genera" such as Potinara, Clowesetum, Fredclarkarea etc. with abbreviation and component genera. I thought someone had said that there was a list like that in Orchidwiz.

[DavidCampen]

Originally Posted by tucker85

... The section for tracking your own orchids is useful but I haven't put very many orchids in it. I prefer my other programs like Word or Excel for tracking my orchids. ...

That is a missing feature - I would like to be able to add additional fields to the catalog entry for each of my plants and then be able to search and sort on those fields. Like a field to indicate if a plant has been virus tested, another field to indicate if a plant is deceased etc.

I may write my own code for this. I have been learning to write Windows applications using the WPF framework and using LINQ/XML for databases. I have code now to import Excel .xlsx data into XML and also code to manipulate XML data using LINQ.

[fishmommy]

Thanks for all the input. I think I might have to give it a go.

[silken]

Originally Posted by DavidCampen

Thanks. I wasn't clear on what I am looking for. I want a list of "intergeneric genera" such as Potinara, Clowesetum, Fredclarkarea etc. with abbreviation and component genera. I thought someone had said that there was a list like that in Orchidwiz.

I haven't searched too hard so I don't know if there is a list. but when you open the main page of OW and click on search on the upper left hand side, a drop down menu lets you choose Cross, Cultivar, Exhibitor, Genus etc. If you choose Genus and then do a full or partial search it will for example pull up Fredclarckeara just by typing Fred under partial. Then it will tell you what makes up Fredclarkeara. It also gives the abbreviation and any other genus that start with Fred such as Fredschechterara (who knew)!

I wouldn't be without OW either and use it for all the things others mentioned. I really like it to find out the size of blooms because photos of just the bloom can be deceiving. All the awarded plants say average number of blooms per spike and average size of bloom.

I don't think they are adding new photos of AOS awarded plants but the current ones remain and they have agreements with Taiwan and I think Australia and possibly other parts of the world to include all of their award photos. I have every single plant entered in OW and add notes and use the journal for when I re-pot and really like the Baker culture sheets. I also add photos as mine bloom and have a wish list in it.

[tucker85]

Originally Posted by DavidCampen

That is a missing feature - I would like to be able to add additional fields to the catalog entry for each of my plants and then be able to search and sort on those fields. Like a field to indicate if a plant has been virus tested, another field to indicate if a plant is deceased etc.

I may write my own code for this. I have been learning to write Windows applications using the WPF framework and using LINQ/XML for databases. I have code now to import Excel .xlsx data into XML and also code to manipulate XML data using LINQ.

Thanks to the comment by Silken, I found how you do it. Click on 'Search' in the upper left corner. Click on 'Cultivar'. There's a box called 'Genus' and a box called 'Abbr:'. You can use the pull down menu to find 'Potinara' in the Genus box, or 'Pot' in the Abbr. box. The program will list all the Potinaras. I also checked the 'Begins with' box but that might not be necessary.

[Oscarman]

I love O/Wiz and use it very often. Don't use the plant catalog feature though, as I prefer a spreadsheet done in Excel. I built it with all the information I need and generates a listing anyway which I want it.

If you are unsure if you need to have O/Wiz - try the 30 day free download trial of OrchidWiz Express. It is the scaled down version, but will give you an idea of what the full version is like.

[isurus79]

When I had a PC, I had OW and loved it for all the reasons already listed. Its not compatible with Mac though, so I will have wait until I dump the Mac and get back to a PC.

[trdyl]

Originally Posted by isurus79

When I had a PC, I had OW and loved it for all the reasons already listed. Its not compatible with Mac though, so I will have wait until I dump the Mac and get back to a PC.

Steve, Actually no you don't have to dump the Mac. A very good friend and member here, Becca, has it running on her Mac. You should PM her and see how she got it working.