Details on 20 18?

[PVA - Admin]

3 minutes ago, RussU said:

Love it or hate it, this is where the Adobe model excels. Bug fixes and upgrades are rolled out as they occur.

A big source of frustration was waiting until many fixes were collected into a service pack. I agree that the autodesk million updates and billion hotfixes are insane, but that's only when they're down to the user to download/discover. The auto-check / download and patch adobe style makes life nice and easy.

This will naturally increase customer satisfaction enormously.

 

Also... that's where beta tools could be launched. Perhaps an opt-in user choice. so those of us with patience can try the new things out, and those that need ultimate stability can stay only on gold released items.

This is exactly the direction I would like to see us go.

[zoomer]

It is nice that there still is a yearly release and a non VSS way,

for freelancers and hobbyists for changing financial reasons

or for offices that won't interrupt their productivity.

 

But somehow that full yearly release cycle does not work anymore.

Everywhere, not just for VW.

Some bugs introduced with a new release will no more be fixed until

the end of that release. You have to hope for the next release.

 

Modo went to 3 release cycles per year.

That way, teams that did not match the deadline with their project don't

have to wait another year to release their stuff, just 3-4 months.

Plus advantages for software stability.

And this years first 11.0 release consists of many but bug fixes only, or better

improvements of existing features. After too many complained about quality.

("Negativity" on forums, as Apple calls it)

There are of course voices that complain about why paying for bug fixes but for

professional users or businesses that helps more than feature releases that

may or not be needed.

 

They still have a perpetual license model if you quit your (a bit cheaper) yearly

maintenance fee at one point. You leave the software exactly at the point your

maintanance cycle ends at the state Modo has at that time, no more SPs.

They fix of course these typical unavoidable after release bugs from time to

time but there are no more official Service Packs as it was in the past.

 

So I think also VW could still extract yearly release packages if the leave the yearly

release cycle for VSS users.

 

 

Test phase for WIP features - optionally - is a great idea.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 26, 2017 by zoomer

[line-weight]

Well, the somewhat bullying approach of the pricing scheme has worked as I've just renewed my VSS without knowing what 2018 will actually provide.

 

Effectively the message was that if i waited until after the release of 2018 to decide whether to upgrade, then if I did I would be penalised to the tune of about £375 compared to renewing now.

 

[Rossford]

As to the VW summit, well worth going. My sense is VW knows most of us would like to go, but can't afford an every year deal.  Every two years seems too far apart to maintain momentum, so they settled on 18 month intervals.

 

As to bugs, etc., I don't know other software, so if they compare better on new releases, I can't comment. But in general, I like to remind folks that most products do improve over time, and some of these requests seem like you would have demanded the Wright Bros. come out of the gates with the 747......in real life business and new developments, it just doesn't happen that way.  VW (and others) have to sell something to keep coming out with new and improved products.

 

I know it can be frustrating, but sometimes, we expect too much.  When I start turning out perfect drawings, I will critique the software more.  Or, it is usually the shooter and not the arrow, no?

[line-weight]

I don't think any of us expect everything to be perfect and without any bugs.

 

But when headline new features, advertised in marketing material, are literally unusable and remain so through all subsequent SPs - expecting better than that is not expecting too much.

[barkest]

1 hour ago, Rossford said:

these requests seem like you would have demanded the Wright Bros. come out of the gates with the 747.

 

Not at all but I would expect that the plane flies before I strap myself in. Being told that the fix will be in SP2 as I hurtle to my death is not going to cheer me up.

[RussU]

1 hour ago, Rossford said:

I know it can be frustrating, but sometimes, we expect too much

There's been some very very silly errors slipping through the net.

One particular one, was if you had a beam aligned left of a control line in top/plan. when you went to wireframe it jumped to the right (and back again)

It was a very schoolboy error that slipped through.

40 minutes ago, line-weight said:

literally unusable and remain so through all subsequent SPs

We can all tolerate buggy and unusual behaviour. If it's predictable and manageable, then even better. Progress happens over time. As designers we always release iterations and amends, it's only natural.

Drawing number co-ordination bug was acknowledge as "fixed but not implemented" in SP2. didn't come in sp3 or sp4. Most likely as it wasn't fixed properly or had knock on effects to other parts of the software. What's annoying though, is that it's likely to be left in 2017 now, with the fix being implemented in 2018 instead.

[barkest]

Interesting that VWs 'sister' company Maxon feel the need to Blog on the coming update and talk directly about their subscription and annual updates

 

https://www.maxon.net/en/news/maxon-blog/article/the-maxon-service-agreement/

 

I guess it is a hot topic given that the president felt the need to blog and defend their approach. Not a million miles from this thread