Astrological Software

I have the Winstar Plus program and wonder what others in the group use. I bought Winstar four years ago because I heard good comments about it and have been very satisfied. I have no idea what else is good, and am curious.

What program do you use?

Well now

Really new to astrology, I've been trying to make up my mind what to get. Sometime ago I downloaded Astrowin which is a very high quality program that is completely free. Hank Friedman (?) on the Mountain Astrologer gives it a good review. It doesn't give you interpretations though and is fairly basic graphically.

Then I tried Winstar Express and really liked that too. Was going to actually purchase Winstar Plus when I discovered something called Janus, made in New Zealand, and downloaded it yesterday.

This is version 2 but it's a fully functional and really user friendly software package and the trial period is for 60 days as opposed to 30 for Winstar Express. Beautiful graphics too and I think the interpretations are a little bit more spot on than Winstar.

Version 3 is available an fairly well reviewed by Hank Friedman although there are few things that could be improved. I think the competition in this field is quite strong.

Having some software does make a difference, doesn't it?

Moongold

I use AstrolDeluxe report writer which is the professional version of Astrowin - it has virtually the same user interface but can handle much more poweful stuff like AstroCartography, Arabian Pars, midpoints, advance synastry, etc. There are also a number of interpretation modules for it. I think this is the version Hank Friedman reviewed in the Feb/march issue of last year.

I like the power of the calculations but to be honest I don't like interpretation modules, no matter how good they are - I need to practice my own interpretations and letting the computer do it simply makes me lazy. The good thing about the report writing side of the program is that it's fully customisable so you can set up your own interpretations rather than use those that come with the software.

When I bought it was a toss up between this and Solar Fire - but Solar Fire is more expensive (though probably better equipped) and I went with the Hank Friedman review. I've not been disappointed.

I agree, the astrological software field is highly competitive. I don't use the interpretative features of my software (Winstar Plus) so I haven't a clue if it's any good. IT comes with about 300 charts and tons of features, (various synastry charts, relocation charts, progressions, returns, transit searches, etc....probably all the professional level software has this.)

The nice thing about having a program like this is the ease of creating so many charts and instead of getting caught up in the math, having a lot more time to study the charts themselves. My math skills are decent, but I always worry about mistakes, and my software gives me confidence that I'm looking at the right chart (we all know that software doesn't make mistakes!)

Thanks for posting this. I have no intentions of switching, but am always curious what's out there, what people use.

I hope others in this group who use astrology software will also post your software of choice. I really am unfamiliar with other programs and would like to look them up online and learn more about astrology software in general.