“Maintenance mode…”
One of the reasons I allow “pingbacks” (links to blogs that link to Dezignstuff which show up in the comments) on this site is so I can see when other blogs link here. And another good one just came in.
Evan Yares from 3D CAD Tips wrote an article that all SolidWorks users need to read. Evan and I use different language and different tone, but I think we are saying the same thing. He described SolidWorks 2013 as the start of “maintenance mode” for SolidWorks. I called it “SP5 for the entire SW program”, “embalming”, and “mummification. Anyway, I just thought it was important to point out Evan’s article. And the idea that it’s going to be years until V6 is ready to take over from SolidWorks.
Evan says “you don’t need to worry about DS SolidWorks forcing you to transition”, and that is probably literally true. But whether they literally force you or not, they are going to try to sell you the transition. Maybe that’s just toying with words – force/sell. It’s not a big scandal, it’s just a fact of life. SolidWorks will die, is dying, and like I said previously, may have died already. Jeff Ray’s words come back in paraphrase, “when the pain of staying on old stagnant software is too great for them to bear, they will switch to another software”. Whether they switch to Catia Lite or some other package altogether is what remains to be seen.
Make me to Understand
Well after such articles it is a definite place for some caricature stuff. Here is what could be if The Watchtower has published a special issue on our questions:
[img]http://www.dezignstuff.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/SolidTower_001.jpg[/img]
Inspired by this image (thanks to Watchtower Society):
[img]http://www.dezignstuff.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/orig_1.png[/img]
Just could not stay away from this topic 🙂
Seems to have gone unreported here but Autodesk have picked off another 3rd party app.
I guess users aren’t the only ones thinking SW is in maintenance mode… 😉
@John Layne
You can get what’s called a PSL from solidworks and buy direct. We’ve got one with 125 seats of software. I don’t know what the lower limit for the number of seats is.
@Paul Salvador
Didn’t know buying direct was an option, probably isn’t for us in the Antipodes.
@Josh… sure, for those of us who will NEVER use a VAR.. we buy DIRECT through SolidWorks Corp.. ONLY the software.
And, maintenance or annual subscription is directly applied to SW Corp development.
Paul
Maybe not remove the VARs but let me decide who I want to buy the software and get support from. That way I can make sure I get the best and not stuck with one that can’t support me.
@Devon.. ;^)
@Neil.. hey, I had more coffee than normal. ;^)
That image does say a lot, kind of funny bonish with a sad reality too it. 8^/
..btw,.. reminds me of something I forgot to add,.. how much I think VAR’s ARE USELESS!!!
..Hey, SW Corp.. (I know you guys read this)… remove the VAR cancer and $ell the software direct!
Gee that has to be the longest post I remember seeing Paul make….
Dont know where he finds these bits but they are always classics. 😉
>No change whatsoever… The unwritten Solidworks policy for responding to their customers.
@Paul Salvador
Hilarious!
I have no problem with a subscription upgrade which has new features and for my subscription period (maintenance) to resolve and fix issues with the product I purchased… the concern is with unresolved problems (bugs and regressions) over the period of YEARS which fall under a seemingly acceptable and endless maintenance cycle. (that is BS!)
IMHO.. maintenance has become BetaWorks,.. using a carrot and stick business model, is wrong!!!.. UNLESS,… the users get a discount or perks for being on beta. (that’s fair)
Otherwise, it’s a choice of weighing the subscription (or maintenance) value over time and your tolerance with unresolved issues.
The maintenance model.. as it is,.. does NOT work imho,.. and most of us rely on competition to help drive or fix/make tools needed for this industry.
.. I’ll add,.. what I see interesting about this maintenance question,.. is for you guys who have invested $$ and years around SolidWorks.. and knowingly accepting that your $$ is being invested into “V6″… (lot’s of unknowns) and the inevitable reality which brings most all of us to accept there is a fork at the end of the SolidWorks road. I can’t help but imagine,… that both paths have dazed lemmings on them.
http://teaguenc.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/lemmings-cropped.gif?w=320&h=185
Discussions about the DASSAULT SYSTEMES/SolidWorks business model, i.e. Subscription Maintenance/Service Packs, have been on going for at least 14 years that I know about.
The result? No change whatsoever. Save your breath, just sayin’ 😉
Cheers, Devon
PS I won’t repeat my opinion anymore, why bother?
@R.Paul Waddington
Well, that’s why it’s called extortion.
Maintenance mode?
Correct me if I’m wrong please, remind me why we are business or simply consider the following to contain purple text;
I have bought a car/machine tool/fridge etc.; they are now in “maintenance mode”. Running cost and repairs are the continuing requirement of their operation. Faults are fixed as part of the paid for warranty.
My CAD software has been paid for and it has come with faults. If it is not to be given any NEW features (the potential cost related reason to subscribe) and, the faults I have paid for continue, in use, to cost ME, are now going to be fixed. Tell me, why is it that I would be paying for this?
Surely subscription is an “investment” in the future: not a fund to be used to, in effect, have me pay more than once for a product/feature supplied with faults.
If indeed the software product has “transitioned” to maintenance mode then I can see no sensible business reason for continuing subscription (if there be no other return on the investment) but: I do believe I should still receive the fixes for that which I have already paid or is that just being un-reasonable?
Maintenance mode 😉
imho,.. since the beginning.
I thought it’d been in maintenance mode ever since 2009? 🙂
Maintenance mode would be a considerable improvement. they migh fix some bugs instead of adding new bugs.