@nickelessryan said:

So now I'm running a Dell Precision T1600 with Intel Xeon E31245 @3.3GHz with 8GB RAM.

We have the same Dells here and they do fine. What graphics card do you have in yours? I spec'd the 1GB Nvidia Quadro 600 in our T1600s.

Lightworks is open source and has a free version that often gets overlooked.
http://www.lwks.com/

@unknownuser said:

Wow! All they really need now is a slick plugin that makes it easier to model the structure onto the surveyed land... maybe there is someone working on something like that...

slick plugin = landscape architect and/or civil engineer

I just caught the news on slashdot this morning and had other things to do before seeing what was going on in here. I've been a member for long enough but I don't ever post obviously. I felt I had to pass along what I've indirectly experienced with Trimble in the past. It seems that most people here have no experience at all with this company.

Let me start by saying I am trying my best to be optimistic and I have faith in the dev's given the fantastic software they have built. There is nothing better for the task of 3D modeling IMHO. I hope that dealing with a large company like Google has given you the savvy that you need for Trimble. I agree with many here that I don't see a good fit though and I've added R&D for other modeling apps to our Strategic Planning. That said here's my story:

Trimble's current software portfolio has a CAD product in it named Terramodel. Try and find it on the website. (It's there) We were long time users of this CAD package back in the 90's. TM was initially developed by a small (compared to Autodesk) company in Atlanta GA named Plus3 software back in the day. It was billed as their 'flagship' product. Developers listened to us and it had features that were more suited to Landscape Architecture and Engineering than AutoCAD and we felt it was far superior. (R14 days)

Any of this sounding @familiar?

Then they were bought out by a company named Spectra Precision. Basically they made surveying stuff and were not interested in taking the software in any direction other than their core business. (fair enough) We decided to move to Autodesk shortly after Land Desktop hit the scene and it was clear SP was not going in the direction we wanted with Terramodel. Not long after that Spectra Precision was acquired by Trimble. When we left Terramodel for Land Desktop around 02-05 (can't remember exactly) Terramodel's version number was 9.7. It is version 10.6 today almost a decade later. What are they going to do with SU? My Network Admin's reaction was 'kiss of death'. I hope he's wrong.

D.E.

I purchased an upgrade to our network licenses last week Monday and got the auto-reply and no auth code yet. (I've been checking the junk email folders.) Our serial number ends in -ALW. I contacted sales through the web page yesterday and got another auto-reply.