tjon Posted April 7, 2001 Share Posted April 7, 2001 Supposedly VW9 is a more stable program. But one has to question how NNA can roll out 3 or 4 new idustry applications at approximately the same time that are relatively bug free. It seems to me they had a hard enough time when it was just VW When you divide the hours NNA states they have tested over 3 or 4 applications it doesn't seem (in my opinion) to be overly tested. Any comments welcome. Quote Link to comment
Guest Posted April 8, 2001 Share Posted April 8, 2001 VectorWorks 9 is the foundation of the 9 Industry Series products, such as VectorWorks Architect, VectorWorks Landmark, etc. All the testing done for VectorWorks 9 helps to provide a more solid base for the Industry Series. It doesn't make any sense to "divide the hours NNA states they have tested over 3 or 4 applications" because there's only one filing system, only one graphics engine, only one object info palette, only one VectorScript interpreter, etc., and these parts are all exactly the same in all the Industry Series products as well as in VectorWorks 9. If you find that VectorWorks 9 does a good job importing an AutoCAD 2000 file, for example, you can be sure that your friend who uses VectorWorks Architect 9 will have the same experience. You could build a somewhat stronger case for your argument by considering that there are two versions of VectorWorks 9 - one for Macintosh, and one for Windows - and asserting that the number of hours of testing should therefore be divided by two. But that's incorrect too, because the bulk of the code in VectorWorks is cross-platform code that's common to both Mac and Windows versions. What's more, VectorWorks 9 takes advantage of MFC on Windows, and PowerPlant on the Mac. These are the application framework libraries that are widely used in hundreds of commercial products, and that means that much of the platform-specific code in the Mac and Windows versions of VectorWorks 9 has received extensive testing which isn't even counted in the hours claimed for testing VectorWorks. Caleb Strockbine caleb@nemetschek.net Quote Link to comment
tjon Posted May 30, 2001 Author Share Posted May 30, 2001 This sure sounds like a very defensive reply. Reading the latest postings I believe there is some truth to my concerns. It is a monumental task to roll this many apps at once. Quote Link to comment
laldenj Posted May 30, 2001 Share Posted May 30, 2001 This "party line" defense misses the point. THIS RELEASE FEELS CARELESS AND RUSHED. Most users can overlook a few obscure file translation bugs or the ever present(at least in the Mac world) inter-app. extension conflicts that attend any major new program release. What is galling about VW/ARCH 9.0 is that many of its probems seem native to the program itself and, rather than being irritants to its use, are disabling: ie: can't succesfully print/plot; can't manage memory, can't render properly, can't even convert back to 8.5.2 without corruption. Users are not merely inconvenienced by occasional workarounds. Users are losing their work! My impression was that the old Diehl organization featured a value-based program seemingly built by users for users. Amid the splashy gaphics and nifty marketing, NNA, on the other hand, is stressing "spin" over substance. It's a disconcerting shift of emphasis. Quote Link to comment
Speedy Gonzales Posted May 31, 2001 Share Posted May 31, 2001 Here, hear to laldenj's comments and observations; my sentiments exactly! I bought MiniCAD and VectorWorks for its value-based approach to CAD and 3D design melded together over ArchiCAD and other Mac programs. To have VWA 9 falter so miserably after so many "hours" of development to improve a reliable (albeit imperfect) product only to have it create many times more the problems stated in laldenj's response is excrutiatingly frustrating. I can't tell you how many "hours" I have spent with Tech support at NNA and HP just to get me back to square one in being able to print alone! My problem is that VWA 9 has made great strides in improving the software and including a lot of the wish list items we've asked for, but at what loss to the overall productivity given the numerous bugs? Bring on 9.1 (skip 9.01). Get it working right, right now?PLEASE! Quote Link to comment
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