Software Bisque: TheSky 7 and Grand Tour at NEAF
- From: Davoud <star@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 09 May 2006 00:21:58 -0400
Software Bisque were demonstrating an early version of TheSky 7 at
NEAF, under the working title "TheSky X." It was a universal binary
running under OS X (10.4.6) on a 20" Mactel iMac. The Mac and Windows
versions will have identical functionality and user interfaces
(allowing for differences in the GUI's, of course.)
I had the opportunity to give the software an extensive going-over.
There is no device control yet, but since there were no devices --
telescope mounts -- available to be controlled, that was moot. While it
was evident that this is an early version, the speed, the ease of use,
and the appearance all bode well for the final release. The folks at
Bisque have been, in their own words, "astounded" by OS X. It is clear
that they have fallen in love with the Mac OS, and attendees of all
stripes agreed that Bisque's growing experience with OS X is exerting a
positive influence on their user-interface design. Incidentally, those
Windows users who (understandably) don't keep up with Mac developments
were absolutely blown away to learn that Bisque's iMac was also running
Windows XP Pro SP2.
Software Bisque is unable to provide a release date for TheSky 7. My
guess, and I have /no/ inside information, is sometime late this year
for a student version and 2007 for the pro version.
Software Bisque is in the early stage of not just an update, but a
complete re-write of their software for Windows and Mac OS; to be
specific, they are not simply updating the Windows versions and then
porting to the Mac. They are, in effect, writing entirely new software
simultaneously for both OS's. Emphasizing again that I have no inside
information, my guess is that CCDSoft will follow TheSky 7 and TPoint
will follow that.
"Grand Tour" for Mac and Windows has come a long way since I was an
Alpha tester this time last year. I don't have a release date for The
Grand Tour, either, but the version I saw at NEAF appeared to be
stable, full-featured (as near as anyone without full access to the
design objectives could tell), and quite polished looking. This will be
a beautiful and fun piece of demonstration software for amateur
astronomers and K-12 educators alike.
Davoud
--
usenet *at* davidillig dawt com
.
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