Sage - The Book-keepers Forum (UK)

sally-anne · Veteran Member

Sage

kjmcculloch83 · Expert

Version 10 was a 2003 product. Given that windows 7 was released in 2009 it will be. You may need to set it to run in a compatibility mode, but it's just a click of a button. As long as your laptop meets the software spec, which I assume it will.

Kris

semsley · Guru

Kris I'm not sure it will. Sally-Anne if you have Sage Cover, Sage should be able to point you to updates or some other techie way of it working - course they will also try to sell you a brand spanking new version which is compatible.

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

Hi Susan,

C660's not a bad machine at all and from an excellent manufacturer. Hope that you get many years of happy computing out of it.

Anyway, back to the question. It works for me. (just loaded up my old version of Sage Line 50 V10 financial controller then overlaid my system spec for you to compare against your new machine). see below.

The issue that you will have is with getting it to integrate with later versions of Excel as 2003 and earlier versions of Excel won't work with Windows 7 and Sage V10 won't work with 2007+ versions of Excel so bit of a catch 22 there!

Of course, I can't guarantree that it's going to be compatible on your machine as I've got software that runs on my Windows 7 machine that won't run on my sons. They're both Dell XPS's but mines an AMD processor which seems somewhat more user freindly than the Intel I7 that he has in his.

I think that this answer comes down to. It should, it does for me but it might not when you try it!

Sorry it's not a more conclusive answer,

kind regards,

Shaun.

sally-anne · Veteran Member

Hi Guys

Thanks for your replys

My processor on laptop is Intel (R) Core (TM) i3 CPU M380 @ 2.53 GHz 2.53 GHz Installed memory RAM 3.00 G.B (2.86GB usable. System type 64.bit operating system. Kind Regards. Sue PS use excell 2003 version.

-- Edited by sally-anne on Friday 17th of February 2012 10:07:58 AM

kjmcculloch83 · Expert

Shaun, I have to disagree a bit (see what I did?) here. 32 bit applications will run on 64 bit operating systems. It's not the memory access that is the problem for applications not running but the O/S itself. Not to teach my granny to suck eggs but just a bit on what 32-bit and 64-bit means. It is the size of chunks of the memory which can be accessed or pointed to at the same time. 32-bit could point to 4gb of memory at once or 2^32. 64-bits can potentially access 16 exabytes of memory at once or 2^64.

The way I think about it is like building. If you think that there are 3 levels in a computer, at the lowest is the CPU, then sits the O/S and on top of that the applications. If you build a tower with a small base and a huge top it won't work. So a 64-bit O/S needs a 64-bit CPU to run, but the top level, the application can be less. A 64-bit O/S will not run on a 32-bit CPU though. Most CPU's are now 64-bit and have been for a while now.

Having said this, you may need to use compatibility modes on the O/S.

Kris

-- Edited by kjmcculloch83 on Friday 17th of February 2012 01:54:54 PM

kjmcculloch83 · Expert

You're right, Shaun, in the main we do agree. I was disagreeing with the sometimes in reply to Bill. He asked: Am I right in thinking that 32 bit programmes will work on 64 bit machines but not vise versa. In which case the answer is simply Yes as long as the O/S in between is 64-bit too. Its the O/S and not whether it is 32 or 64 bit that will determine whether a particular application will run on a 64 bit processor and 64 bit o/s. I was simply explaining what these terms meant for those who may not be familiar with them. This is a memory access term so it is fundamentally about memory.

Kris

p.s. I'm not saying you don't understand it, but not everyone reading this thread will. When we answer bookkeeping questions we fully explain points even if the last poster may understand some of it for the benefit of others who may not, why should this be any different?

-- Edited by kjmcculloch83 on Friday 17th of February 2012 02:52:43 PM

GJRobbins · Senior Member

Excel 2000 onwards does work with windows 7. We use it when testing the Optegra applications for compatibility.

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

GJRobbins wrote:
Excel 2000 onwards does work with windows 7. We use it when testing the Optegra applications for compatibility.

Hi Jeremy,

Not on any of my machines or any of the machines of the others that I know that bought new machines for W7 rather than upgrading.

Do you use the 32 rather than 64 bit version of the operating system?

My eldest boy got it working but only because he upgraded from XP to W7 rather than having a completely fresh operating system which seemingly has half the files that Excel needs missing. (If you upgrade the old operating system is still there so all the files that Excel needs are still there).

The version of Office that we tried putting on the machines was Office professional 2000 plus Visio and MS Project 2000.

Non of them worked so we had the option of upgrading to the next level of W7 operating system where XP can be replicated in the W7 environment of moving to Office 2007.

We took the latter option as we were getting a lot of documents sent to us in the newer DOCX format which of course older versions of Excel cannot open but newer versions can still open the old documents,

We have kept the XP versions of Visio and Project on a couple of XP machines.

To my mind you need to be testing based on :

W7 home edition 32 bit - Upgrade

W7 home edition 32 bit - fresh install

W7 home edition 64 bit - Upgrade

W7 home edition 64 bit - Fresh install

W7 Professional (same 4 tests)

W7 Ultimate (same 4 tests)

My money is on that you will get it working with 32 bit upgrades, the professional and ultimate but not with the home edition which of course is what the majority of new computers / laptops come pre installed with.

With so many different combinations of getting to W7 good luck with testing your product for compatibility. I really don't envy you in this mamoth task (been there, done that, got the T shirt, writing the book!).

Good luck with the testing,

kind regards,

Shaun.

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

Hi Susan,

it's a great little processor, superb build quality and excellent for what you need it for.

I'm not a big fan of the keyboard on this model as I'm a bit of an animal when it comes to typing and this one feels (but probably isn't) a little too delicate for me.

I'm sure however that it will be perfect for your fingers and if not there are plenty of USB's on this model to plug external keyboards and mice into (I always use external mice as I'm a real hater of touchpads).

See the above discussion for why I'm not in agreement with Jeremy over Excel 2003... By all means instal it on your machine and if it works that's fantastic.

Personally I don't think that it will work with the 64 bit home edition as it doesn't for me but I'll keep my fingers crossed for you (which may stop me damaging keyboards for a short while!) that it's just something peculiar to my setups that stops my office 2000 working.

kind regards,

Shaun.

Wella · Expert

Hi Shaun

Am I right in thinking that 32 bit programmes will work on 64 bit machines but not vise versa.

I am thinking of upgrading my PC for an i7, W7 (Or 8, if I wait a bit smile ) 64 bit professional but wasn't sure how VT Final Accounts will be with that.

Bill

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

Hi Bill,

not that simiple. You need to throw the word sometimes in there!

The bulk of 32 bit programs will work quite happily on 64 bit machines although I've had issues with Microsoft 32 bit products not working on their newer operating system... Now wonder what incentive that they had for that one!!!!!

Microsoft products aside I'm pretty sure that I've got every peice of software from my 32 bit XP machines (that I was allowed to transfer) working on the new machines. Some software took a bit of playing around with the combatability settings but only MS Office actually beat me.

I thought of transferring the missing files from the old operating system to the new machine as if they don't exist it must mean that the operating system didn't need them and only the software (i.e. Excel) needed the files. However, on the other hand I'm also sure that I would just be setting a ticking timebomb which one of the very regular operating system updates would set off so I walked away from that idea.

VT final accounts works fine on my machines which run W7 and office 2007.

The only program that I had a problem with Excel 2007 with is Sage (V14) that always told me that there are compatibility issues on startup of Excel. However, it was just a message and doesn't seem to effect anything else. Anyway, I've removed Sage completely from the machine and upgraded to the far better coded VT (like the way that I put that!).

All in all, VT accounts works perfectly with W7 and Excel 2007. And VT+ works perfectly with W7.

All the best Bill,

Shaun.

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

Hi Kris,

Not actually sure what your disagreeing with.

I'm not talking about memory at all so I think that you are actually reitterating what I've said about the issue being with the operating system.

There are files missing from the 64 bit version of the home edition of the operating system that earlier versions of Excel need. That's basically all that the issue is and to my mind it's a Microsoft sales ploy to sell more copies of newer versions of office OR more versions of Operating system upgrades to the version that will run a full XP mode.

As you'll see from the above image, my processor is a 1035T six core which is a 64 bit processor (Neils got me jealous in that his rigs got a 1090T core... Must repeat to myself... My machines fast enough, my machines fast enough... Don't need to spend another £250 on a replacement processor).

All the best,

Shaun.

P.S. I understand machine architectures. Don't understand how my previous messages led you to believe that I don't.

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

Hi Kris,

no probs, thought that it was something that I'd written incorrectly as quite often I can have translation issues between my brain and my fingers but when I read my posts I tend to read what I think that I've written rather than how other people view what I've actually written! (hope that makes sense).

GJRobbins · Senior Member

Hi Shaun

All our PC's, laptops and tablets are windows 7 64 bit from new - no upgrades. One is on Ultimate, majority on professional - Cant say if any are on home but I doubt it so cant comment on if it works on home edition....

We run excel 2000 and 2010 (32 bit) on all of them to demonstrate & test our applications.

We have never encountered any issues with any version of sage not being compatible with any version of Excel on Windows 7

I know it detracts a bit from the original question but just wanted to point it out..

Thanks

Jeremy

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

Hi Jeremy,

this is likely to be an issue restricted to missing system files in the 64 bit home edition then.

unfortunately a lot of PC manufacturers (Dell included) still ship with the home premium edition as default.

All of my XP machines are Pro editions but when I bought W7 machines I was prepared to format them and install XP on the machines if it proved to be another travesty of an operatring system like Vista.

As such I didn't pay for the upgrades to the professional edition of W7 as the O/S on my machines may have been transient.

I've been very pleasantly surprised by W7 and with the setup I have everything that I need to work does so I'm not going to upgrade the O/S on these machines but when I get more I will have Dell put W7 Professional on them.

Actually, I think that this thread may have been really useful to you as it's highlighted a version of W7 where your software might have issues so at the very least you could change your system specs to state W7 Pro+.

So, where exactly should I send my invoice wink

(Sure I'm going to get a reply now telling me where exactly to put my invoice! cry )

GJRobbins · Senior Member

Hi Shaun

I have just spoken to our techies. We do have one with Windows 7 home on it and Excel 2000 works fine with Sage..? As does Excel 2007 and 2010.

I was pretty sure we had tested it on all windows operating systems (32 & 64bit) and office suites (32bit only).

I am going to take a look myself now to confiirm 100%

As for invoice..... happy to throw in an extended trial of OptegraMRP instead!.. The best add on for Sage available..!

Cheers

Jeremy

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

GJRobbins wrote:
happy to throw in an extended trial of OptegraMRP instead!.. The best add on for Sage available..!

If only we used Sage...

originally this was the road that the business was going to go down but I discovered VT+ and VT accounts and that's the way that we've gone.

There's an awful lot more Sage shops out there though so sure you're not going to go hungry focusing on that market.

Wishing you all the best and a great future in these trying times for your companies product,

kind regards,

Shaun.

Wella · Expert

Shamus wrote:
....... another travesty of an operatring system like Vista.

I up graded last week from Vista, which came with my current PC (which I bought just after Vista was launched) to W7 Pro 32 bit. Mainly because my machine had become very clunky and slow, and i had done all the basic stuff, including additional memory.

All was fine 'till i started the download, and instead of installing the upgrade, it installed a full version, which had the effect of over writing the whole system, leaving me with a PC that only had W7 installed

Luckily I have a 1TB external drive (WD Passport) which quietly backs up all my data files. Two days of reinstalling software from discs, and restoring the data, and I am now an happy bunny , and the difference in performance is really noticeable. Had one real scare though, I thought my VT files were gone for good but luckily, they were still intact. I have triple redundancy backup (WD drive, 1 DVD removeable disc, and individual client discs) but I still nearly went into blind panic. Also had the one and only occassion to email VT support to get my activation code, which I had mislaid. I had a reply in less than an hour, all is well

Bill

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

Vista... The operating system that proves that 100 monkeys given 100 PCs and a year chained to 100 desks CAN write an operating system...

After that one, if I was Bill gates I would have gone postal in their development department.

p.s. For anyone who doesn't know what to go postal is it's a reference to American postal workers tendencies to turn up for work on a Monday morning with an M16 and enough ammunition to wipe out the entire postal department

Spamkebab · Expert

WOW so many posts and still very nearly on topic!

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

Spamkebab wrote:
WOW so many posts and still very nearly on topic!

Medal?

sally-anne · Veteran Member

Hi Guys

Well have just arrived home from work, have installed sage line 50 on laptop it seems to have loaded on ok, so fingers crossed I can do some work on it over the weekend. Just love it when things go ok. Kind Regards Sue

Spamkebab · Expert

Good luck Sue. It's nice when things go right for a change.

And that leaves the floor open........over to you Shaun lol

Neil