World Wide Telescope

tileys · #1 13-05-2008, 06:58 PM

See http://news.smh.com.au/microsoft-wor...0513-2dnf.html for details.

I haven't looked myself yet but it sounds intriguing even if it does replicate some of what other s/w does e.g. Stellarium.

Steve

MikeyB (Michael) · #2 13-05-2008, 07:23 PM

WorldWide Telescope

Paddy (Patrick) · #3 13-05-2008, 07:28 PM

I had a look at the site and was disappointed to see that I'd have to upgrade my PC to use it. It wants a minimum 2GHz dual core processor and 1, preferably 2 GB of RAM. I think it must run some pretty whiz bang graphics!

Ian Robinson · #4 13-05-2008, 08:21 PM

Saw that.... I am not going to update to dual core.

Like I said elsewhere - PASS.

leinad (Dan) · #5 13-05-2008, 08:46 PM

Plenty of power here..
Downloading.

leinad (Dan) · #6 13-05-2008, 08:59 PM

Installed fine.
Very nice interafce.
Supports ASCOM
Watching visual/Audio Guided tour of Star and Planet formations in Orion

Sky Image loading quite slow. Not my cup of tea, but interesting none the less

renormalised (Carl) · #7 13-05-2008, 10:01 PM

I have dual core and more than enough power to run this but as with anything Microsoft, it'll probably be as buggy as all hell and will be a big hype job. I've known about this for quite some time and I'm not all that impressed. If it works, great. But I'm not going to hold my breath waiting.

Omaroo (Chris Malikoff) · #8 13-05-2008, 10:57 PM

Downloaded it to my 2GHz AMD Athlon64 running 1Gb RAM and Vista.

It actually runs very well. Installation was perfect - no glitches even when it updated my DirectX instance automatically. The interface is different, but quite comprehensive - smooth-as and actually very slick. Pretty good for a first effort and way better than Google Sky. ASCOM telescope control, location-based real-time views. Pretty quick and no more than 20Mb to download the core engine and basic graphics set.

I'm finding it entertaining to watch people complain about MS at every chance they get because they feel they must. Go boys!

It's evident that there's a mind-boggling amount of work in this, and I can't quite understand people's dismissive treatment of it just because Microsoft Research funds it. Give 'em a break boys - they've recognised astronomers for once and are spending money on us. I, for one, applaud their effort.

It murders Stellarium I gotta say.

skwinty (Steve) · #9 13-05-2008, 11:01 PM

But, wouldn't you rather go outside and actually look through your telescope.

Omaroo (Chris Malikoff) · #10 13-05-2008, 11:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skwinty

But, wouldn't you rather go outside and actually look through your telescope.

I think you've missed the point. It's cloudy out and I'm in the Southern Hemisphere. I want to have a tour and learn about the Polaris region. I'd have to say this is a pretty good tool to let me do just that.

skwinty (Steve) · #11 13-05-2008, 11:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omaroo

I think you've missed the point. It's cloudy out and I'm in the Southern Hemisphere. I want to have a tour and learn about the Polaris region. I'd have to say this is a pretty good tool to let me do just that.

Nope, I dont think I've missed the point. There are a million other things to do when the weathers bad. Besides, this just adds to an existing plethora of on line astronomy software and google whatsits.
But to each their own and let no one detract from that.

Ian Robinson · #12 14-05-2008, 12:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omaroo

Downloaded it to my 2GHz AMD Athlon64 running 1Gb RAM and Vista.

It actually runs very well. Installation was perfect - no glitches even when it updated my DirectX instance automatically. The interface is different, but quite comprehensive - smooth-as and actually very slick. Pretty good for a first effort and way better than Google Sky. ASCOM telescope control, location-based real-time views. Pretty quick and no more than 20Mb to download the core engine and basic graphics set.

I'm finding it entertaining to watch people complain about MS at every chance they get because they feel they must. Go boys!

It's evident that there's a mind-boggling amount of work in this, and I can't quite understand people's dismissive treatment of it just because Microsoft Research funds it. Give 'em a break boys - they've recognised astronomers for once and are spending money on us. I, for one, applaud their effort.

It murders Stellarium I gotta say.

It'll probably blow your ADSL download limits out the water if it's all just graphics and high res images...

Like I said .... Pass. Got better things to do with my time.

Omaroo (Chris Malikoff) · #13 14-05-2008, 07:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ian Robinson

It'll probably blow your ADSL download limits out the water if it's all just graphics and high res images...

Like I said .... Pass. Got better things to do with my time.

With respect, if you're going to complain about something, maybe do some research on the subject first? LOL! ADSL usage appears to be limited to how many objects you tell it to get the hi-res graphics for - i.e. your zoom rate. If you use it as a planetarium to find things you don't really need to communicate at all apart from running server-side catalogue finds. Pretty low-weight searches.

I understand that you have better things to do with your time. You keep telling us.

madtuna (Steve) · #14 14-05-2008, 07:44 AM

I'll give it a look-see! I use Stellarium every day and even though it's pretty basic I find it facinating and am learning all the time.

I must not have better things to do with my time....so I'll use that time wisely and learn

Babalyon 5 · #15 14-05-2008, 07:55 AM

Starry Night Pro 6 for me. Great program, ASCOM compliant. If a lot of the stuff I use for astronomy was available for Linux, it would be catcha Microsoft!!

Miaplacidus (Brian) · #16 14-05-2008, 08:12 AM

I think I will have to criticize it because I only have a Mac and it doesn't run. So naturally the only way I'm going to be able to come to terms with my personal inadequacies is to point out all its faults. Although admittedly that's going to be a bit tricky, given the aforementioned inability to run it. I suppose I will have to make up stuff. As usual.

Sigh...

renormalised (Carl) · #17 14-05-2008, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Babalyon 5

Starry Night Pro 6 for me. Great program, ASCOM compliant. If a lot of the stuff I use for astronomy was available for Linux, it would be catcha Microsoft!!

KStars......the planetarium program for the K Desktop Environment under Linux. It'll do everything Starry Night pro 6 will do and it's free. BTW it's ASCOM compliant and it will run all major brands of scope

You also have all your image processing software like The GIMP and IRAF and Linux will handle RAW image format natively. No more plugins. Also, if you have a video imaging CCD camera, it has built in software to control those as well.

What's more, it's pretty much virus proof and far, far more robust than Windows will ever be. If a program crashes it doesn't take your whole system down with it. And, it's also faster than Windows. Plus you can tweak it to specifically handle your machine's hardware so it runs even faster

programmer · #18 14-05-2008, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by renormalised

What's more, it's pretty much virus proof and far, far more robust than Windows will ever be. If a program crashes it doesn't take your whole system down with it. And, it's also faster than Windows. Plus you can tweak it to specifically handle your machine's hardware so it runs even faster

Hey renormalised, I believe your anti-Microsoft propagandist twaddle is off topic

BTW I started using Apples in 1982 and Linux in 1991 so don't start me up

I'm saying this with a

on my face ok.

By the way the WWT works fine on my non-dual core, < 2Ghz Vista laptop.

renormalised (Carl) · #19 14-05-2008, 09:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by programmer

Hey renormalised, I believe your anti-Microsoft propagandist twaddle is off topic

BTW I started using Apples in 1982 and Linux in 1991 so don't start me up

I'm saying this with a

on my face ok.

By the way the WWT works fine on my non-dual core, < 2Ghz Vista laptop.

Not really...Babs wanted to know about an MS alternative so I gave it to him

It's not propagandist twaddle, it's stated fact. How many viruses around can attack Linux??...very very few. Now, if you were to say backdoors or trojans...just about every computer is vulnerable to a well written piece of nasty

Now that takes me back!!!...The ol' Apple II and IIe, Commodore C64/128 and Amiga, IBM PC XT and AT...geez even the old "Trash" 80's!!! and Microbee's....great old computers

I loved the first up versions of the Mac. A great time in computing.

programmer · #20 14-05-2008, 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by renormalised

It's not propagandist twaddle, it's stated fact. How many viruses around can attack Linux??...very very few. Now, if you were to say backdoors or trojans...just about every computer is vulnerable to a well written piece of nasty

I'm not even going there

Quote:

Now that takes me back!!!...The ol' Apple II and IIe, Commodore C64/128 and Amiga, IBM PC XT and AT...geez even the old "Trash" 80's!!! and Microbee's....great old computers

I loved the first up versions of the Mac. A great time in computing.

How about a pc reminiscing thread? A sticky at that

Still have my Trash-80. 8kb and 0.8Mhz of throbbing level 2 BASIC power! Or something like that.
PS: I don't remember seeing you at the AUSOM launch of the Mac in '84... Or were you the guy who asked 'can it play games?'

(The answer is still 'no'

)
/off-topic