8.0c and 8.1 - Hmmm

Robert W wrote on 9/12/2008, 3:28 PM

i have not mentioned this before, but it has been troubling me a little recently, and today from what i am reading I think my suspicions about Vegas Pro's development path have been revealed.

What has puzzling me is that Vegas 64bit has been referred to as 8.1 and the Vegas 32bit update as 8.0c. I thought they may develop them in parallel for some time but it seems obvious now that the 8.0 series will be the last that is compatible with 32bit systems. This is probably part of the reason why the codebase has got so entirely shoddy. This is also probably the reason they invented the "Pro" tag, but I think it would have made more sense to hold it back for the the full 64 bit release. I would guess that Movie Studio will start to pick up some of 32bit Vegas features. But I simply can not see Vegas Pro being issued in a 32bit version again.

That is not necessarily a bad thing, but I would have preferred it if they had been open about it and actually made the final 32bit series solid. It does seem weird that two successive releases come out on the same day. Is 8.1 a progression of 8.0c or is it from the same basic codebase with parts compiled for the different environments?

Confusing.

Comments

dibbkd wrote on 9/12/2008, 5:08 PM

Vegas Studio 9 has been out for a while of course, and it's 32 bit.

But I would personally think that the Studio versions would come in 64 bit versions too.

I'd bet that more personal computers will sell as 64 bit than business computers, and personal consumers will be looking for 64 bit versions. If Vegas doesn't do it, Pinnacle (yuck) will, and *some* people will buy that just to get the 64 bit.

Sony will have to sell 64 bit Studio versions too keep up with the competition if not anything else.

Robert W wrote on 9/12/2008, 5:51 PM

Yes, as I said I think Movie Studio is going to be the only 32bit platform they will develop, and they will move some features from Vegas Pro 32bit into Movie studio. The new dividing line between the 32bit Movie Studio and Vegas Pro 64bit will be the 64bit compatibility.

Remember, most machines sold at the minute are 64bit, but the version of Vista they are running is 32bit. I can not see them developing a 64 bit version of a consumer product like Movie Studio. Consumers are generally not going to be running 64 bit versions of Windows. Not at least until the next version of Windows comes out, and that is assuming that the basic versions will require 64bit processors.

dibbkd wrote on 9/12/2008, 6:14 PM

Actually, when you buy a PC from HP or Dell's website, for personal use, they all offer 64 bit Vista (for the same price as 32). I know a lot of personal PC's are 64 bit now, if for gaming if nothing else.

And the uneducated consumer will also see a choice of 64 bit or 32 bit, which do you think they'll take? The 64 bit, just like they'd rather have more hard drive, more GHz, they'll want more "bits", if they know what it means or not.

My opinion anyway.

Harold Brown wrote on 9/12/2008, 6:31 PM

I am seeing 64bit the past month or so in the stores where before you never saw it.

rmack350 wrote on 9/13/2008, 12:12 AM

I don't really see any indication that Vegas is going to go solely 64-bit any time soon. Neither do I see an indication that it won't, but programs like Vegas and PPro largely rely on the consumer market to make a profit. SCS will probably drop the 32-bit version when the 32bit/64bit OS ratio inverts.

Rob Mack

Grazie wrote on 9/13/2008, 12:48 AM

32bit/64bit OS ratio inverts.

As it was with WinMisery or Win2000 or Win98.

I will keep a weather-eye open this time. I was caught out by going down the WinMisery route. I AINT gonna do THAT again.

Grazie

Robert W wrote on 9/13/2008, 3:33 AM

Why would they develop a bottom of the market application like Movie Studio to take advantage of a 64bit operating system with all the hassle it entails when they are struggling to do it with the "Pro" ap? It won't happen while Vista is the primary platform. Most consumers do not understand the difference between 64bit and 32bit processing anyway. I would expect the minority with a Vista 64 to be happy with Movie Studio in 32 bit.

But I still can't help but think that Vegas development is in total disarray. The common sense approach to developing Movie Studio would be to develop Vegas Pro first and cut the features to create Movie Studio. They seem to be getting it all backwards. Vegas in 64bit seems to have been developed from a much earlier version of the 32 bit program than 8.0c. Maybe that suggests that there has been a disorganised isolated trickle of development since the start. They certainly seem to have had a remit that hovers between straight porting of a 32bit release and adding new features from the 32 bit implemented since the start of development. It seems to be a bit of a mess really.