what is the main difference between MicroStation V8 and MicroStation J?
Great list Inga. I thought I'd add a purely subjective (and possibly divisive) appraisal of each item in your list
BAD| | |X| | |GOOD - File Preview
BAD| |X| | | |GOOD - Windows dialogs
BAD| | |X| | |GOOD - File Protection
BAD| | |X| | |GOOD - Digital Rights
BAD| | |X| | |GOOD - Digital Signatures
BAD| |X| | | |GOOD - File Icons
BAD| | |X| | |GOOD - File Properties
BAD| |X|X| | |GOOD - Save As enhancements
BAD| | |X| | |GOOD - Bring to Front
BAD| |X| | | |GOOD - Text Styles
BAD| |X| | | |GOOD - Dimension Styles
BAD| |X| | | |GOOD - MultiLine Styles
BAD| | | |X| |GOOD - AccuSnap
BAD| | |X| | |GOOD - RPC support
BAD| |X| | | |GOOD - MultiSnaps
BAD| | |X| | |GOOD - AccuDraw enhancements
BAD| | |X| | |GOOD - Integrated Feature Modeling
BAD| | | |X| |GOOD - Clip Volume and Clip Mask tools
BAD| | | | |X|GOOD - Models
BAD| | |X| | |GOOD - Drawing Composition and Layout tools
BAD| | | |X| |GOOD - Reference enhancements
BAD| | | | |X|GOOD - Visualization enhancements
BAD| | | |X| |GOOD - DWG Interoperability
BAD| | |X| | |GOOD - DWG Audit
BAD| | |X| | |GOOD - Dimension Audit
BAD| | |X| | |GOOD - MrSid support
BAD| | |X| | |GOOD - Standards Checker
BAD| | |X| | |GOOD - Data Cleanup
BAD| | | |X| |GOOD - Batch Converter
BAD| | | |X| |GOOD - Batch Processor
BAD| | | |X| |GOOD - Saved View enhancements
BAD|X| | | | |GOOD - View Groups
BAD| | | |X| |GOOD - Message Center
BAD| | |X| | |GOOD - Fence enhancements
BAD| | | |X| |GOOD - Pattering/Hatching enhancements
BAD| | |X| | |GOOD - Dimensioning enhancements
BAD| | |X| | |GOOD - Packager
BAD| | |X| | |GOOD - DWG Recover
BAD| | |X| | |GOOD - Named Groups
BAD| | |X| | |GOOD - Display Sets
BAD|X| | | | |GOOD - Level enhancements
BAD| | | |X| |GOOD - Raster Manager enhancements
BAD| | | |X| |GOOD - PDF support
BAD| | | | |X|GOOD - 3D PDF support
BAD| | | |X| |GOOD - DWG interoperability
BAD|X| | | | |GOOD - Popset
BAD| | |X| | |GOOD - Unlimited design plane
BAD|X| | | | |GOOD - Unlimited levels
BAD| | | | |X|GOOD - Direct editing of cells
BAD| |X| | | |GOOD - Text enhancements
BAD| | |X| | |GOOD - Measuring enhancements
BAD| | |X| | |GOOD - Element manipulation tool enhancements
BAD| |X| | | |GOOD - Design History
BAD| | |X| | |GOOD - PowerSelector enhancements
BAD| | | |X| |GOOD - TTF (True Type Font) support
BAD| | |X| | |GOOD - SHX font support
BAD| | |X| | |GOOD - VBA
BAD|X| | | | |GOOD - Level Filters
BAD| |X| | | |GOOD - Design Libraries
BAD| | |X| | |GOOD - Annotation Scale
BAD| | | |X| |GOOD - Live Nesting
BAD| | |X| | |GOOD - True Scale
There's no qualification assigned to each rating so that's a bit unfair but for me it comes down to how well something is implemented, what if anything it is the solution to, and was the previous solution actually better.
Cheers,
Andrew Novinc.