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FusionPro - Mac vs Windows


Pierhouse

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I currently use FusionPro on a Mac to process my VDP requirements and I was wondering whether there are any main advantages/disadvantages of using the Mac version rather the Windows version.

 

The most important factor I would like to know is whether FusionPro would create my VDP pdf's quicker on a Windows PC rather than a Mac.

 

Yes, yes I know it depends on the spec of each machine but assuming they are the same (or as near as possible) does FusionPro work inherently faster on a Windows platform?

 

The reason I ask is that I do not beleive you can download FusionPro as a trial version and I do not particularly want to purchase the full Windows copy to do the testing if it is not going to be any faster?

 

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

 

G :)

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I do most of my FusionPro stuff on a pc and only occasionaly on a mac. The mac seems to be faster in chewing through the data to make the output files. My pc is new this year and the mac is a couple years old. I use the pc because it works and plays better with the Web-to-print end of things which is most of what we do, not just the vdp printing.

 

That's my opinion for what its worth.

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I also use both Mac and PC for template creation. We use them both through FusionPro Server and as desktop stand-alones for shorter runs. Both the Mac and PC files seem to work fine and just as quickly when compiled through FusionPro Server, but I do agree with Brian that the Mac seems to run them a bit faster using the desktop version. It may have something to do with the memory usage on the Mac over the PC - not quite sure. I have a newer PC and an old G4 Mac, and the Mac still beats the PC.

 

I am able to open my PC files on the Mac and visa-versa. The only problems that I run into when I do this are font issues and the fact that sometimes I can't see what I'm doing in the Mac version Text Editor since only the PC version has a screen magnify option when you are using smaller font sizes.

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I agree with David when it comes to opening templates on different platforms. I don't have any problems except the fonts. The font differences between mac and pc are a tremendous headache, at least for me.

 

The FP interface is a little different between the 2 platforms too. Easier to do some things on one or the other. It all works out about even.

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Looks like you got your answer, but I think others may benefit from some benchmarking I've done with a standard test job. This is roughly a 2000 record postcard that I've composed on various systems and version of DL-100/FusionPro. The basic results are that for whatever reasons the Mac is substantially faster than the PC, often 3x faster plus.

 

Approx Composition Times (in minutes:seconds):

8:03 - Intel Core2 1.8 (desktop)

6:15 - AMD Opteron 1.8, Intel Xeon 3.4 (desktops)

4:13 - Pentium M 1.7 (LAPTOP)

2:09 - MacBook Intel 2.16 (LAPTOP)

1:30 - PowerPC 2.1, Intel Core2 2.8 (desktops)

 

Note that at 1:30 the PowerPC had FP 3.2 and the Intel 2.8 had FP 5.0. Upgrading the PowerPC to FP 5.1 dropped the comp time to 2:02.

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Looks like you got your answer, but I think others may benefit from some benchmarking I've done with a standard test job. This is roughly a 2000 record postcard that I've composed on various systems and version of DL-100/FusionPro. The basic results are that for whatever reasons the Mac is substantially faster than the PC, often 3x faster plus.

 

Well, this is interesting, but since you say you're using "various systems and version of DL-100/FusionPro," I have to say that it's all (pardon the pun) apples and oranges. This data would be eminently more useful if you were comparing the same version(s) of the software on multiple systems, and not just because there have been some speed improvements in later versions of the software. Exactly what version(s) are you using for these comparisions anyway?

 

Also, if you're only composing in FP Desktop, please be aware that there can be significant performance gains on Windows by composing in FP Server instead. (This distinction does not really apply to Mac, since there's no "batch" Server composition mode there.) So you may want to consider upgrading to FP Server or FP Direct if you want to harness the full composition power of FusionPro. Contact Sales for an evaluation.

 

Furthermore, exactly what constitutes a "standard test job" is open to a huge amount of interpretation. To which output format are you composing? How many JavaScript rules? What kinds of graphics? Are you using Imposition? Drop Shadows? Copyfitting? Text on a curve? Etc.... The reality is that FusionPro supports so many different kinds of inputs, outputs, composition features, and workflows that it's almost impossible to define a "standard" job.

 

And of course, while we endeavor to keep the interface to FusionPro consistent between Windows and Mac, the underlying system APIs, as well as the compilers used to build the composition executable code, are so radically different that it's extremely difficult to optimize the code the same way on all platforms.

 

That said, maintaining consistency in composition speed and accuracy between multiple versions of FusionPro, on multiple platforms, is one of our primary concerns. If you're seeing a significant speed difference between different platforms using the same version of FusionPro, or if you see a speed degradation in a new version, please feel free to send us your job for analysis.

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  • 1 month later...

Dan,

 

I'm considering switching to a PC because of no MAC support.

Can I download the PC version of Fusion Pro and do away with the MAC version then apply my serial number to it?

 

Will my setups change?Any Font issues I may run into? Who can I contact?

 

Thanks,

Tony

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Hello Tony,

 

You mention in your post that you would like to switch to the PC because of "...no MAC support". I'm not sure I understand what you feel is not supported on the Mac as we do currently have both a Mac and Windows release of FusionPro that is at version 5.8 which have 99% equivalent functionality. If there's something specific that you are looking for which you believe is on the Windows version but not the Mac, please let us know and we'll be sure to look into it if there's an issue.

 

You can certainly move your license from the Mac to Windows if you would like. As each serial number for FusionPro Desktop allows for 1 activation, you would need to deactivate your serial number on the Mac first. This can be done by simply uninstalling FusionPro Desktop from the Mac.

 

After you deactivate the software on the Mac, you can install the Windows version with that serial number. If you run into any issues with the uninstall or deactivation/reactivation process, please contact support and they will assist you with this.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Sorry Dan, I didn't realize I wouldn't get further notifications on additional post replies!

 

I understand what you're saying about the different FP versions, but then in the few cases where it is the same version then there may be arguments about how equivalent a PowerPC 2.1 (which was 1:31) is to an Intel Core2 1.86 (which was 7:33, both with FusionPro 3.2P1k). As far as the versions, on the same machine FP 3.2 was 1:31 and FP 5.1 was 2:02.

 

As far as the Server or Direct version, what is the cost of either product? It looks like Direct is going for $3000. It doesn't seem reasonable to spend that kind of money to get performance equivalent to $600 on a Mac.

 

By standard test job I meant to say the comparison times were based on the same job, not different jobs with similar characteristics. Output is to PDF. JavaScript has two basic rules, one IF to add a hypen and one that combines 4 fields. Graphics are just the PDF background, though they are solid colors and seem to be mostly vector. No imposition, no drop shadows, no copyfitting, no text on curve. Nothing too fancy really. I mostly do mailings and this was a test meant to represent the vast majority of that work. Just putting an address block on a postcard (yes, life in the fast lane).

 

I would be happy to do further testing for better comparions (and for my own curiosity), but we have had licensing problems in the past. Per another post, if I uninstall FP from a Mac or a PC that will free up the license and allow me to install that on another machine? Are there any restrictions as I may want to try several machines within a day or two.

 

-CC

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I understand what you're saying about the different FP versions, but then in the few cases where it is the same version then there may be arguments about how equivalent a PowerPC 2.1 (which was 1:31) is to an Intel Core2 1.86 (which was 7:33, both with FusionPro 3.2P1k). As far as the versions, on the same machine FP 3.2 was 1:31 and FP 5.1 was 2:02.

Like I said earlier, please feel free to send us your job files for analysis (via Support). If there's a slowdown between versions, believe me, we want to know why it's happening as much as you want to. But we can't do anything but speculate without the job.

As far as the Server or Direct version, what is the cost of either product? It looks like Direct is going for $3000. It doesn't seem reasonable to spend that kind of money to get performance equivalent to $600 on a Mac.

Well, it's up to you to decide what's worth spending your money on. I happen to think that $600 is a pretty good deal for a product like FusionPro, but I'm biased. And I'm just a developer, so I don't have any say in pricing anyway. But I can tell you that the upgrade to FP Direct gives you more than just faster composition speeds; it allows you to compose jobs on a dedicated server so they don't tie up your design machines running Acrobat.

 

In fact, one of the things that makes "interactive" compositions under FP Desktop faster on Mac is that, unlike on Windows, where the composition takes place in the executable space of Acrobat, on Mac, the composition occurs in a dedicated, standalone Server executable. (The reason that this architecture is different between Windows and Mac has to do with historical memory space limitations on Mac OS, going back to OS 9.) On Windows, only FP Server and Direct have this advantage over Desktop. So again, while we strive to optimize composition speed under all configurations, there are definite performance gains in FP Direct and Server on Windows, in large part due to FP Server simply being a dedicated "batch" composition application.

 

So, I would humbly suggest that the fact that FP Desktop on Mac enjoys some of the speed advantages of FP Server should not be considered a sign of any deficiency in the Windows product; rather, I would think of it as a bit of a bonus for our Mac FP Desktop users, and a sneak peek into the full power of FP Server and Direct.

 

Oh, I can also tell you with a high degree of certainty that the composition speed differences between Windows and Mac were more pronounced back in the days of FusionPro 3.2 than they are now, because we've made a concerted effort to match the optimizations between platforms, with the explicit goal of speeding up compositions on Windows, especially in FP Server and Direct. So I would expect that FP Server 5.x or 6.0 on Windows will at least give the same version of FP Desktop on Mac a good run for its money speed-wise, if not compose (figurative) circles around it. Again, though, a lot depends on the particulars of the job.

 

I'm sure that Sales would be happy to send you a temporary trial license for FP Server or Direct so you can take it for a spin and see for yourself.

By standard test job I meant to say the comparison times were based on the same job, not different jobs with similar characteristics. Output is to PDF. JavaScript has two basic rules, one IF to add a hypen and one that combines 4 fields. Graphics are just the PDF background, though they are solid colors and seem to be mostly vector. No imposition, no drop shadows, no copyfitting, no text on curve. Nothing too fancy really. I mostly do mailings and this was a test meant to represent the vast majority of that work. Just putting an address block on a postcard (yes, life in the fast lane).

Sure, but another customer's idea of a "standard" test job may different. Again, we'd be happy to look at the job and analyze differences in composition speeds between different versions of FusionPro. But as I noted, the fact that it composes at different speeds on different platforms (Mac vs. Windows) in FP Desktop is not necessarily something we'd consider to be a deficiency.

I would be happy to do further testing for better comparions (and for my own curiosity), but we have had licensing problems in the past. Per another post, if I uninstall FP from a Mac or a PC that will free up the license and allow me to install that on another machine? Are there any restrictions as I may want to try several machines within a day or two

As Mark noted, with FusionPro 5.0 and later, when you uninstall, your registration is automatically removed from the machine, and freed up to register on another machine, of any platform. Or you can run ProdActivate and click the "Deactivate" button. For earlier versions of FusionPro, you'll have to contact Support to transfer your registration to another machine, although I'm not sure what the current Support status is for FusionPro 3.2.

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We switched to a variable program that was resident on a Mac specifically because of font selection. There have been issues in the past when we'd get a newsletter in InDesign or Quark that used Mac fonts which were not available on the PC. We'd have to compose the files with a "close enough" font on the PC-Only variable program that we were using. Since most of our electronic files come in as Mac, it made sense to switch platforms to be able to give the clients the best match possible to their work. I don't know if there's any difference between the Mac & PC versions of FusionPro.
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We have done testing as well on both mac and pc platforms. Without a doubt on FP Desktop, Mac wins as far as speed. We don't see issues with fonts but it may be because we are using Linotype explorer ( Font loading utility, which is Free)

 

http://www.linotype.com/2631/freedownloadmac.html

 

It handles pc font without much issues. You will definitely need to load them using the FP font loader to make them available.

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  • 4 months later...
In response to Mac vs PC versions of Fusion Pro there significant performances differences. In that on the Mac it uses the OS to compose and output the files, while on the PC side it uses Acrobat. In my projects, I compose documents in sets of 1000 records 2up on a sheet. The PC takes 10 minutes to compose a 1000 records while the Mac takes 2 minutes. Though on the Mac fonts are a big headache. It seems as though Fusion Pro does not like True Type fonts on the Mac, but handles Open Type fonts just fine. Therefore I am having to convert PC True Type fonts to Open Type fonts just for Fusion Pro. Also be careful on the Mac in your file name lengths as it can cause errors and problems in the composition process.
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