Customer Reviews

Starry Night Enthusiast 6.0 Win/Mac

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I just installed this software yesterday on a computer running Windows Vista Home Premium. I was nervous about purchasing it because of the other reviewers who stated that it does not run on Vista. Before running the software, I downloaded and installed the version 6.2 upgrade from the Starry Night website. I am also running it with Vista's User Account Control turned off. Under these conditions, the software runs beautifully! The only problem I've had is that on 2 occasions, I've received an error message requiring me to quit out of the software and re-open it. I imagine these minor bugs will get worked out with future Windows updates and patches to the Starry Night software. For now, it's a minor nuisance, but not such a problem that it detracts too much from my enjoyment of this great software.

I am posting this review in case there are others out there who are wary about purchasing this product for Vista. My installation CD (purchased from Amazon) was clearly labeled for XP/Vista, and it installed and runs fine. If your CD is labeled only for XP, there are instructions on the Starry Night support website for installing the software on a Vista machine using XP Compatibility mode. I didn't need to do that, since mine installed just fine straight from the disk.

I am an astronomy novice, but have always been interested in learning more, so I bought this software for that purpose. I have only used it for a few hours thus far, and I have already learned an enormous amount! It's amazing to be able to explore the universe, zoom in on objects, have information about each object right at my fingertips, be able to see the orbital paths of various objects, have all the constellations in the sky labeled so I can learn them easily, view the sky from anywhere on earth (or in the solar system and beyond, for that matter!). The possibilities seem as endless as the universe.

For those having problems with Vista, I'm truly sorry. This wonderful program has run absolutely fine, without a single hic-up, on all 3 of my (and my wife's) Macs for the last three years.

As for what it can do -- it is amazing how much detail is included; it is an essential part of our viewing. Highly recommended!

The previous review tagged "Enthusiast" with a single star, understandably because the owner couldn't get it running on Vista, but Vista must share in the blame - since its release, there have been all manner of compatibility issues. I'm successfully running it on a Mac with OS X, and it's truly remarkable. If you're interested in astronomy, this is a fabulous program that lives up to its advertising copy. I am amazed at what it brings to your desk/laptop for such a relatively low price.

I got this program hoping that it would help me better learn the sky and help me locate deep space objects. It does that adequately, albeit through a clunky interface with non-intuitive menus and glitchy navigation. It works but it takes some working to get it to do what you want.

It has an event feature that lets you know what is going on the sky which I use. I use it to predict viewing times of planets and helping visually identify galaxies and nebula. Overall, I'm glad I have it I just wish that it had been laid out a little better for the price.

I bought this to use with my 8-year old son. He has mastered the space and time navigation tools and he loves zipping around as if he were piloting his own space ship.

We use it to identify things we're curious about when we go outside at night and also to know where to point our telescope (alas it doesn't point itself) when we take it out.

Great piece of software that brings families together for a change... and runs well on our iMac.

Works flawlessly on my Mac Leopard system. This program is absolutely essential for all beginning and intermediate people with an interest in astronomy. I have an 8" Celestron Starhopper and this software really helps me star hop and locate deep sky objects am I searching for. Some much information is in this program. Get it!

I've been running Vista for several months. The major problem I've had with it and which affects Starry Night is User Access Control (UAC). When I try to start up Starry Night, I must click on Allow every time even if I am running as an administrator. The only other option is to turn off UAC. This also affects other programs in the same way. Outside of this, it's great software - much better than RedShift which I used before.

I have Mac computer version 10.4 and 10.5.8 and it works just wonderful. It is a really amazing product and I am most impressed with it. You can find anything that is catalogued in the universe with ease. This is a must to have for any star gazer of the night sky.

I have a brand new computer with Windows Vista but have not been able to get Starry Night Enthusiast Version 6 to run since I bought it about 2 weeks ago. I downloaded the upgrade to 6.0.6 and tried all the other suggestions from the website support without any success. My emails requesting help have also gone unanswered. I hope that Imaginova can soon live up to their claim of Starry Night Version 6 being Vista compatible.

Updated 15Mar2008:

I did finally get a response from tech support awhile back, and on my desktop computer I can now run Starry Night, but only from a USB flash drive. It appears that Starry Night is incompatible with some hard drives! So I had to go and buy a 2GB USB flash drive, install the software there, and I leave it in my desktop to run. I do have a new Gateway computer with a hard drive from a major manufacturer, so I don't understand how it cannot be compatible, but it is.

Also, I recently purchased a laptop where Starry Night does run fine, but I can't re-open saved files. If I save a .snf file, close, and re-open, the file is severely distorted and unusable. I emailed tech support a couple of weeks ago, but got no response from them.

As of 15Mar2008, I have applied the 6.2.3 update, updated to the latest Java version, Quicktime version, Microsoft patches, and the extra patches for Vista on the tech suppport website, but these problems persist.

I like the software, but if you want to run it on Vista be prepared for a lot of headaches to get it to run, and even then it may still not run properly.

Be very carefull when ordering any version of StarryNight Version 6.x. It may not work under Vista regardless of what is mentioned on the software compatibilities list. It does not work on my new Vista system.