Zend Studio: stay with 5.5 in Windows, or upgrade to 5.5 on Mac, or 8.0 on Mac?
I have been considering an upgrade from Zend Studio 5.5, but am in a quandary as to which version I should upgrade, or whether I should upgrade at all. Here are my choices:
1. Stay with 5.5 running in a VMware VM with Windows XP. There is nothing that is wrong with this development environment and I am completely happy with it. "It just works!" The motivation to change is primarily to reduce dependence on VMWare and go to a native version. Secondary motivations are some of the newer features of 8.0. However, these would be "icing on the cake" only.
2. Move the 5.5 on the Mac. If the functionality is equivalent, this would be a relatively easy path. However, there is a severe bug due to the Java support being broken by Snow Leopard, which requires retrofitting a Java 1.5. I have not done this yet.
3. Move to 8.0 on the Mac. I have a long experience with evaluating and rejecting the Eclipse-based platform. So far, "it just does not work." That is, it is quite gnarly to get it to work.
I have documented my tale of woe in another question at https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/26912782/Long-time-Zend-Studio-user-finds-Eclipse-based-versions-unusable-6-x-7-x-8-x.html. In that I give detail on my experiences with 6.2, 7.1, and 7.2 and why I decided not to take those upgrades.
For 8.0, I have hacked my way past two show stoppers so far: (1) the inability to debug was solved by a simple tweak to the default parameters; (2) the inability to connect to a mysql server via another simple tweak to parameters. However, it was frustrating to have to fight these fights, and I am therefore expecting more such fights. For example, in getting SVN to work.
So I am envisioning a lot of pain in this environment. I have to weigh value of the new features against the downsides of the learning curve plus the heavy burden of "bloat" from irrelevant features.
In addition, searching the web does show a lot of comment from people who seem to feel the same way as I do regarding their satisfaction with 5.5 and their dissatisfaction with the Eclipse-based versions.
So I am looking for additional advice. In particular, comments from those who have said they have either migrated to the 5.5 mac version, or the 8.0 mac version, and that the upgrade frustration and pain was worth the effort.
1. Stay with 5.5 running in a VMware VM with Windows XP. There is nothing that is wrong with this development environment and I am completely happy with it. "It just works!" The motivation to change is primarily to reduce dependence on VMWare and go to a native version. Secondary motivations are some of the newer features of 8.0. However, these would be "icing on the cake" only.
2. Move the 5.5 on the Mac. If the functionality is equivalent, this would be a relatively easy path. However, there is a severe bug due to the Java support being broken by Snow Leopard, which requires retrofitting a Java 1.5. I have not done this yet.
3. Move to 8.0 on the Mac. I have a long experience with evaluating and rejecting the Eclipse-based platform. So far, "it just does not work." That is, it is quite gnarly to get it to work.
I have documented my tale of woe in another question at https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/26912782/Long-time-Zend-Studio-user-finds-Eclipse-based-versions-unusable-6-x-7-x-8-x.html. In that I give detail on my experiences with 6.2, 7.1, and 7.2 and why I decided not to take those upgrades.
For 8.0, I have hacked my way past two show stoppers so far: (1) the inability to debug was solved by a simple tweak to the default parameters; (2) the inability to connect to a mysql server via another simple tweak to parameters. However, it was frustrating to have to fight these fights, and I am therefore expecting more such fights. For example, in getting SVN to work.
So I am envisioning a lot of pain in this environment. I have to weigh value of the new features against the downsides of the learning curve plus the heavy burden of "bloat" from irrelevant features.
In addition, searching the web does show a lot of comment from people who seem to feel the same way as I do regarding their satisfaction with 5.5 and their dissatisfaction with the Eclipse-based versions.
So I am looking for additional advice. In particular, comments from those who have said they have either migrated to the 5.5 mac version, or the 8.0 mac version, and that the upgrade frustration and pain was worth the effort.
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