ConceptDraw PRO
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In searching of alternative to MS Visio for MAC and PC with ConceptDraw PRO
Many of us are acquainted with such a software product as Visio, which beyond any doubt, is a powerful and multifunctional tool. However, there may occur instances when this program turns incapable of meeting certain users' requirements; and then, the most optimum solution is quite difficult to find. But there is always an alternative. ConceptDraw from CS Odessa Corporation has been developed to satisfy all your needs as an alternative product to Visio.
What are the advantages of ConceptDraw PRO over Visio for you to prefer the former to the latter?
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Cross-Platform Compatibility
The main advantage, of course, is that ConceptDraw PRO is a cross-platform software. That means it can be run both on PC, and on Apple Macintosh! Lately many people have faced difficulties with sharing their documents among Mac users. With ConceptDraw you will not have such problem anymore, because you will be able to work on Macintosh with a document created on PC and vise versa. To run Visio on Macintosh you had to install a virtual machine to emulate PC, which made work difficult and slow a great deal. Now many users find ConceptDraw PRO the best analog of Visio for Macintosh. If you prefer working in Macintosh environment, then ConceptDraw PRO is your choice. |
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Reasonable price
Another factor of no less importance in choosing software is its price. Here ConceptDraw PRO turns more beneficial at the price $299 for Professional version versus $499 for the similar version of Visio.
Furthermore, Licensing Policy for ConceptDraw products is very flexible. It allows single user to install software on both Macintosh and PC, or on computer with cross-platform environment. This is crucial factor for people who need to use laptops along with a desktop computer for their business purposes, and often computers have different operating systems. |
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Import & Export
Another ConceptDraw PRO peculiarity that is worth stressing upon is export to PDF and PowerPoint formats. Now you can easily design presentations and print your documents. |
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Numerous specialized shape libraries
ConceptDraw PRO users, as well as Visio users, have an opportunity to work with numerous external libraries; with their help you can create various documents with no need to search for the necessary elements for your diagrams in other software products. With ConceptDraw you can create your own objects and expand libraries to cover your needs. |
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Built-In Script Language
The next point to be considered is the in-built language in ConceptDraw PRO. It is ConceptDraw Basic. Unlike VBA language used in Visio, ConceptDraw Basic is much simpler to learn and use. Using ConceptDraw Basic doesn't require additional studying to use it, which will also save you time and budget. |
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MS Visio Support
A specific feature of ConceptDraw Products is their intercompatibility. Thus, once created with the help of any other CS Odessa product, your document is fully compatible with ConceptDraw PRO. For instance, you can brainstorm ideas for new network development project, using ConceptDraw MINDMAP. Your MINDMAP documents can be used in ConceptDraw PRO for further work at your project. |
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Import Visio files
In case you used Visio before and now decided to switch to ConceptDraw PRO, here is another good news for you - ConceptDraw PRO supports import of Visio files, using XML format. Therefore changing software products, you can keep all your documents, created in Visio. The transfer process will be very simple: - Export of your documents from Visio to XML format.
- Import of these documents to ConceptDraw PRO.
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Free technical support
All ConceptDraw PRO users, unlike those of Visio, get professional technical support free, which is quite a nice and useful extra point to all the ConceptDraw PRO features. |
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In addition to the above material, we would like to give opinions of some users who have already switched from Visio to ConceptDraw PRO:
I choose ConceptDraw PRO because it was the closest to Visio on the Mac side. ConceptDraw PRO has all of the features I need and can output as a Visio file if needs to be... - says Kris Rockwell, Hybrid Learning Systems
The main reason I switched is that I moved from a PC to Mac and currently there is no version Visio for Mac. And installing virtual PC etc. etc. was just too much of a hassle... - says Randolph Jacinto
Visio has become quite complicated and it turns out that UML diagrams are easier to create with ConceptDraw PRO. Visio has some strange behavior that, I think, is related to integrating with modeling tools such as Rational, etc. I just want a diagramming software and nothing more!
Another reasone is I like the Apple OS X operating system very much. I've been a long-time Window's user (and software developer) and I'm tired of the same old thing, I suppose. In general, the software for Apple platform seems nicer and easier to use... - says Andrew Joseph
The main reason for the switch is my switch from a PC to a Mac computer. I have tried Graffle Pro and found that it wasn't the perfect replacement. I am still playing with the ConceptDraw PRO draw capabilities. One thing that Visio does extremely well ( better than any other diagram product that I have seen) is that you can cut and paste the diagram into a Word.doc and it looks perfect. That is not true of Graffle Pro and quite frankly not really the case with ConceptDraw PRO from what I can tell. ConceptDraw PRO does have some nice templates and useful features. I will continue to use it and evaluate the capabilities. The ability to go back and forth between PC and Mac and Vision and ConceptDraw is an important capability... - says John Latham.PhD, Managing Partner, GENITECT LLC
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Operating Systems:
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Macintosh® (Mac OS X 10.4.10 or later)
Microsoft® Windows® XP /VISTA
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| Price: | ConceptDraw PRO Professional |
$249 |
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