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Should I buy virtual pc for printshop?

F

faithfulFrank

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 31, 2003
114
25
Central Florida
Hi. I am a newer convert to the mac world, my son and many church friends are avid mac users. I have had my imac almost a year,(after my PC blew up!) and love it. Saying this, I have one frustration.
My wife and I used Print Shop all the time for years on our pc, and people told us macs were known for great graphics work, etc. I first bought Print explosion for osX....very disappointed..among other things ,no search. Then I bought Printshop for Mac, os9....years behind the windows version and I did not like having to be in classic mode. I patiently awaited the new Printshop for osX...bought it and found it was not much better then the os9 version, and is AT LEAST 5 years behind the current windows version. For instance 12 thousand graphics compared to 310 thousand graphics....windows version$39.99, Mac..$50......
I find the same thing with Turbotax, and other software.
I do not want to sound like a complainer, but why is there this huge gap in quality graphics software? I should not have to go back to a pc just to have a decent graphics program. I love my new mac, and would not give it up, but is virtual pc the answer here, or do I lower myself in allowing a pc back in the house? I look forward to any helpful advice. Thank you.
 
You're probably going to have to get out of the $30 range for good graphics software. I don't do graphics like what you're talking about, but I'm sure some recommendations will follow...

If you're thinking of dropping a couple hundred bucks for Virtual PC, why not spend some of that on quality stuff, that was written for the Mac natively?

Speaking of native, make sure you look for software that's native to OS X, not Classic.

Sorry you wasted so much money on junky software. Most software that I've seen has some sort of free trial period, so you can avoid the stinkers.

Oh, yea. Don't get VPC to run graphics stuff. It's painfully slow, just running Internet Explorer, and simple stuff.

Good luck.
 
Thanks Bubba. I think I will avoid virtual pc for now...unless someone out there has actually used it with printshop. Printshop is #1 in this type of software, so I guess that is my main disappointment, that the mac version is so lame compared to the windows version. Macworld hailed it as "2003's best in show".....how could they do that when anyone could see it was years behind the windows version?
I may just have to look out for a cheap pc just to do printshop. Too bad. I guess then I could also pay half as much for the windows version of turbotax come taxtime. I guess I just think I should not have to. I look forward to hearing any other options...thank you!
 
so what's the actual difference in the two versions of Printshop (mac | pc)? is it just the amount of clip-art/stock images???

you that you can buy CDs for that crap.

the mac is a creative machine. people who do print work create there own graphics/images or spring for some high quality stock CDs. Printshop is a program for newsletters and booklets (and very overused) where Photoshop and Illustrator (or there Macromedia counterparts) are professional graphics programs.

I now nothing of low level graphics programs...macs are known for the people who create 'graphics' using professional programs...not Print Shop.

sorry, im not any help.


peace.
 
Re: Should I buy virtual pc for printshop?

Originally posted by faithfulFrank
I do not want to sound like a complainer, but why is there this huge gap in quality graphics software?
Click to expand...

There isn't really a gap in quality graphics software. Quality graphics software, as made by Adobe and Macromedia, is just about identical in quality and price on either platform.

It sounds like (and correct me if I'm wrong) you're not using software to create graphics, rather you're creating documents (newsletters, banners, etc) using somebody's graphics. This is desktop publishing and AppleWorks/Microsoft Office will do that. If you need lots of clip art you can buy CDs packed with clip art.
 
I guess I stand corrected. No, I am not a seasoned professional "graphics designer", just an average person who has used printshop for years do make newsletters, banners, bullitin boards, etc. I do not disagree with all of your replies. I do own Office, photoshop elements, appleworks, etc, and am slowly learning to use them better everyday. I guess I misspoke. I should have used the term "desktop publishing" to describe what I have done.
I'm sure that Printshop does not impress most of you that are seasoned graphics people.....but it has proven , at least to me, to be a very useful program for the average Joe who does this type of thing.
I still stand by my opinion that between the Mac version and windows version, there are years of differance in almost every area, which is wrong for versions that have come out within a month of each other. That is all I am saying. I love my mac, and will live with this "mac-gap".
My original question is moot, I guess, because I am now told that MS is coming out next week with version 7 of virtual PC, so in any case, I would be wise to wait to see the ratings of this new version 7.
Thank you.
 
thats to bad Print Shop is very different between platforms...who makes it?

most programs are exactly the same (sans the GUI and performance). have you reported your comments the Print Shop people...maybe they just don't have the demand for a better version on the mac side of things. I know that Flash is like this...it sucks on the mac.


peace.
 
I have used Appleworks for basic desktop publishing before and found it to be adequate for newsletters and such. The trick is knowing how to use it well. Buy an inexpensive clip art collection or two if you need it. If you have more serious requirements perhaps QuarkXPress will suit your needs. Here is a demo you can try.
 
Thanks guys, You have been helpful. To Neut's question, Brouderbund makes Printshop, but it is a bit complicated. The new Printshop for mac has "Brouderbund" on it, but when I talked to them months ago, they actually told me some suprising things that I'm sure the person telling me would get in trouble if "the boss" heard.
She actually told me that the company was against the ropes and could not spend money anymore for "mac stuff" since it had such a small market share, and told me to go buy Print explosion.
Actually, a company named MacKiev seems to be taking popular windows software and redoing it for mac, and this is who put out this new mac version of Printshop. I have actually had e-mails back and forth with the president of MacKiev, who was interested in our experience with printshop and offered to send us a beta version of his product. He never did, so we ended up buying it. I applaud what MacKiev is doing, I was just disappointed that their end product was do dated compared to the current windows version. I sent them a few e-mails about this, but have not heard anything back.
I know most of you would not be interested in what I just wrote, and I apologize, but Neut asked, and so I felt compelled to answer. Happy New Year.
 
"Print" apps for Mac

Frank,

I understand and agree with you that programs like print shop are VERY handy for quick and painless project work using stock artwork. Indispensable for home users where Office and Appleworks aren't really practical since you have to do all the set-up work.

As a user of multiple variations of these kind of programs on different platforms, I recommend that you try sticking it out with Print Explosion. Nova has gotten the product better although you will still find that the artwork library managemtn is not nearly as good as the printshop or printmaster products on windows (shame on you Nova!) Other than that, it allows pretty good manipulation of graphics and text and does a bang up job with printing. really a nice solid product that keeps getting better. I would expect a library manager soon (crossed fingers) finally, nova is dedicated to the Mac platform and had libraries of 500000+ graphics for very reasonable cost.

One last thought, yes, turbotax mac costs more ($10-$20 for comperable version, depending on retailer), but it certainly isn't enough difference to justify virtual PC IMO. I mea, you could say the same thing about Quicken which is practially free for the PC but i would never consider running a PC version when a mac version is available. Bite the bullet and pay the "Mac Tax" :)

Good luck!
Frank
 
Thanks Whiskeybravo,
You are right. I guess I was blowing off steam....Some people here have mentioned buying software that have tons of more graphic in them...I have seen them, but at the risk of sounding stupid, just did not really know if they worked, or how they worked. I know that sounds stupid, but remember, I only got my mac a year ago, and before that in the windows world, I was burned too many times buying software for windows that just did not work and being stuck with it.
If print explosion had a search, or some better way to find graphics I would like it more....or if there were some awesome website out there that had graphics to use...(perhaps there is, I just do not know about it.) I should look more at those graphic library software packs....especially since I use and am always looking for graphics that would be considered "religious" or "christian", seeing that much of what I do in desktop publishing is church related. Thanks again.
 
I was somewhat surprised when Brøderbund re-issued PrintShop. I looked at the requirements and it ran on Mac OS 8.x and above, but was not Mac OS X compatible. It looked liked they took the same version they had in the mid 1990s and re-packaged it.

MacKiev promised more but the first time through might still be a test to see if anyone will buy it to fund a really new version.

Nova recently introduced Greeting Card Explosion but that seems to be $10 than Print Explosion and that software also does greeting cards.

You might check for a freeware/shareware application to do the same thing

Also, you may be able to use your included graphics fromt Print Explosion and PrintShop in an AppleWorks Draw document or even those of TextEdit.
 
According to the website, Printshop is both OS X compatible and can integrate with Apple's iApps and Address book, so I don't get where people are saying it isn't OS X capable. Just check out the page http://www.broderbund.com/Product.asp?OID=4154797&SC=1959455&CID=659

Also, I don't get why people are ripping him up about Printshop. He isn't looking at $300-500 professional printing software, just a nice package and Printshop is really nice. I grew up with my parents always buying the latest version of Printshop for our PCs and they have always been awesome at making cards and posters and stuff. I recommend if he wants Printshop, then he should get it. I personally found it to be really good, I haven't used the Mac version, but it should be just fine and if he needs more art images, you can buy CDs with 100,000's of images for real cheap. Either way, it is a good program and for people who want something like that, Photoshop and other higher end programs just aren't the same.
 
Thanks Powerbook. At the risk of beating a dead horse, I'll clarify what printshops are currently out there for mac. There is a little confusion, partly due to many places still selling the "older" printshop for mac that is really for os8.1 and higher, but works on osX only in classic mode.....not really a native osX application. That sells for around $69.00 still, as it has for the last year or two. It is still widely sold as "the latest printshop".
A few months ago, MacKiev, under the broderbund name, came out with a native osX version, called the same thing...."the printshop for mac", Mac os X edition 1.0. , which strangely sells for $49.00. This one is not as widely found yet, but is on the Apple store website. It is better than the first one, but still quite behind the current windows version. My apologies to all those out there who are well beyond using printshop.
 
that's interesting. it sounds like broderbund had completely stopped development, and mackiev has taken over and is completely rewriting the software (i say that because it's a ver 1.0.) since it's a version 1.0 it will probably get a lot better pretty quickly, assuming that development continues. good luck. i hope you find what you need. i'm not an advanced graphics software user, either, but i'm pretty good at formatting and whatnot with MS Office.
 
I use Print Explosion sometimes. I agree that it is a little hard to find the images you want sometimes. I use the manual that came with it to locate the images I want (pages 593 to 609 show all the religious images) and then I get them off of the CDs that came with Print Explosion.

Hope that helps you. :D
 
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