Gee, I dono, we people in Oz love to have a dig at our brothers and sisters over in NZ but I almost feel ashamed posting this one [but I can't resist] . The good news is that sheep aren't mentioned even once in this story.
http://livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/03/28/MateA_wombat_raped_me_and_gave_me_an_Aussie_accent
Mike, before you go out and get yourself an AirBook why not look at a lappy that is actually usable and with something approaching 2008 specs.
http://www.cnet.com.au/laptops/laptops/0,239035649,339286831,00.htm
[You would remember how to use a Win. machine....wouldn't you?] 
Phil,
A good point and one I was about to make...the guys organising this forum have done an invaluable job and I would much rather have more than I need, rather than nothing at all 
And like Juan, I do miss the the old SU forum which, at its peak, had a vitality and a slightly out of control chaos that is just impossible to reproduce. And at its best I think it had 3 or 4 sections, in all. Towards the end though it was starting to get,IMO, somewhat boring and bloated...so there is no going back.
But I certainly am finding it tiresome trying to navigate this forum at the moment and in the end just get sick of all the clicks on this sub-forum or that.
Stu
I used to be an advocate of keeping things simple....but not any more!
I love this forum now with its neat sections and sub-forums....very democratic...there is a place for everything...or at least almost everything.
I think there are still many groups or sub-groups that aren't catered for.....it would be very easy to break some of the sub-forums into sub-sub-forums and maybe some of those could have links to extra special interest groups.
I mean if you are an under 28 Kerkythea user you could probably feel a bit left out! And what about the visually impaired SU users? Why couldnt they have their own BIGPRINT and BIGPICTURE forum?
How about the 'weekend Podium renderers' forum?.....Why not a 'clay renders' forum?.....A Win95 users forum?...the list goes on!
My guess is that there must be a lot of people out there feeling very, very unrepresented!
Lets get with it! and make this a place for EVERYBODY!!!
Vista SP1 is finally downloadable from the MS site.[This is for the 32 bit version]
Dont D/L the standalone version [unless you are sure you really need all 430Mb of it]
Scroll down to 'DO NOT CLICK DOWNLOAD IF YOU ARE UPDATING JUST ONE COMPUTER' and click 'Windows Update'
OK, I updated...It knocked my wireless internet connection out.....after much frigging around I restored the computer to pre-update settings and the connection is fine now 
There are reports of all sorts of problems but some upgrades seen to be fine... so be aware.
Tom, well you have to stay ahead of the pack....as is were..... if you stand still you are actually going backwards
No idea what is next....but I'm sure it's just around the corner!
I do still drop around here but don't actually get involved much anymore.
An exercise using Podium and the free clipmapped images from OzBreed http://www.ozbreed.com.au/3DGraphics.html
These were produced by Andrew from Enviro Graphic who also puts out some great SU oriented plant images http://envirographic.com/Sketchup.htm
ProgeCad Smart seems to work well...but before anybody thinks this is too good to be true, it IS for non-commercial use......and a watermark on printed output says exactly that!! 
Well Lewis,
Just like groundhog day, its on again...this time remember to smile
Nah, sorry Fred, it started off full of junk, and now its just getting junkier [with the odd stellar exceptions]
@unknownuser said:
most of the time programs don't follow the guidelines for windows programming and on update of OS they fell apart.
Tavi,I can see your point but what I cant understand is why, for example, quite recent releases of AutoCad become useless on Vista....surely it would be possible to write in some backward compatibiliy for what is a signifigant application.
I think you might be right Jon.
Its truely pathetic isn't?.....Vista SP1 is supposed to fix the mess it created in the first place.....and then it blocks that obscure, esoteric application that nobody has heard of or uses.....Zone Alarm Security Suite!!!!
Paul, maybe a hint where to look?
That glitch with opening SU, was, I understand, fixed by Google.
Yes, Vista certainly won't party with older versions of ACad.
Any conspiracy theorist worth his salt would have MS and AutoDesk in bed over this one.
But the expected forced upgrades of AutoCad could be delayed for a while with most people sticking with XP
Tom,
Looking at it again, I actually feel the second image is fine....without the need for much [any?] filtering.
[I find all those flat roofs interesting....obviously not a lot of snow in Kansas 
]
Wow Mate!
That's beautiful work!
Very impressive!
Hello Durant,
Nice to see you are still breathing/lusting/creating....sorry about Sam, but I'm not that surprised.... at least you have the Queen now...she should keep [and you] out of trouble
It wouldn't seem so Juan.
Actually it's the fantastic Ruby work that is coming up that is putting Google's efforts to shame.
Why is it that some guy [for example] working between classes or after the kids have been put to bed can come up brilliant SU innovation while Google's best effort in a couple of years seems to be, the rather dated, 'sketchy edges'?
Maybe Google should give SU away altogether and go open source and leave it to the people who could really make a difference.