Well, thanks to absolutely NO HELP from MTU support, other than copy and pasting a support document in a half hearted attempt to appease me I ended up having to uninstall from Vista and install on a virtual (vmware) windows XP. And yes, I have installed all updates.
For those of you that encourage a full reinstall of an OS just so MTU can run, that is ludicrous! No other application out there would dare suggest that course of action and points to improper QA testing of the product if you have to resort to an OS reinstall to get it to run.
Admin Note: Kuurus is highly technical, proven by his running VMWare and other sophisticated components. He is able to keep his computer OS up to date, error free, and virus free. He also is not aware of the hundreds of Tickets that MTU has received out of thousands of support requests that, after diagnosing with the customer, it becomes clear that the computer OS is damaged. It happens with many users, and it has nothing to do with MTU or our products. In some cases, we are aware of more technical fixes, but the user can't execute them. The easiest fix for those customers is to reinstall Windows.
Ddouglass just retired as a Technical Support expert with the Air Force in San Antonio, TX. He "recommends" reinstalling the Windows OS, with MTU's blessing because of the reasons I state above that he too is aware of from his years of supporting users.
From my 38 years with MTU, 30 working with Microsoft, I am confident from the feedback I read and hear that Windows gets damaged. There are even a handful of proven instances where an automatically downloaded Windows Update caused the damage, and within a few days another Upgrade fixes it. Customers demand a fix from MTU, even when the problem is Microsoft.
We know a number of users users who reinstall Windows monthly as a routine act. Our security years ago would not accept reinstalling Windows, and its new Serial Number you receive (unbelievable that Microsoft does this). We updated our security to allow this "often done" task. We think monthly reinstalling is unnecessary and do NOT recommend that practice.
However, on some computers for some users, the only answer is reinstall Windows. The hundreds of times this HAS solved the problem is clear proof that it is not the MTU software that was the problem.
For those of you trying to run Microstudio on Vista 64, dont waste your time. It won't work and you will get no support!
Admin Note: This is a typical response from a highly technical person with a problem we can't solve. We DID answer one-on-one all Kuurus's support tickets and even had our Senior Staff Programmer review the problem. Our support has been completely professional and responsive. The problem is in code that requires upgrading to run on Vista 64. PERIOD! We know it, we can't fix it instantly, and have it scheduled to be upgraded during August. This user simply can't accept that answer and chose to insult MTU instead.
We refunded his purchase price since we can't meet his needs.
For anyone else with Windows Vista 64, please do not purchase Microstudio now to run on Vista 64. We will make it clear when Microstudio is upgraded to work with Vista 64. 