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pban
Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 1
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 Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 1:28 am Post subject: Engsw could annouce approx. date for PC8 |
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Engsw could and should now announce an approximate release date for PC8.
With the decision that PC8 will be Intel-only, the logic for not announcing a date no longer holds. The argument has been -- and it was a good argument -- that when a software company announces a release date for the next major upgrade, sales of the current version stall. With the Intel-only decision, this becomes irrelevant. Consider the two cases:
1. You are a PPC-user: The release date of PC8 will have no effect on your decision to purchase PC7, because you can't use PC8 anyway.
2. You are an Intel-user: Knowing that the first Intel-native version of PC is imminent, you'd be a fool to purchase PC7. You'll wait for the PC8 release.
In short, with the Intel-only decision the announcement of an approximate PC8 release date would have no effect on PC7 sales. It would, however, be helpful for those like me who would like to schedule/budget the purchase of an Intel machine. |
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Alfred Scott
Joined: 15 Apr 2004
Posts: 651
Location: Richmond, VA
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| Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 9:23 am Post subject: |
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pban,
The problem is that we actually never know with any certainty when we will ship. At any given time, we all have an idea of when we might ship, but then those things go flitting by faster than sexual fantasies about Hillary Clinton.
What nobody can anticipate are the mysterious problems that sometimes show up on your door step. Last spring we were getting ready to release a new version of WildTools and then out of the blue we discovered a crash with the WildTools Move Points tool on Intel machines. That's impossible to debug because it is running under an emulator. I tried one change after another and could never identify the source of the crash and I was only able to eliminate the problem by going back to a version that didn't have the problem and restore everything, line for line including comments. It made no sense. But it did take about three months to fix.
But let me offer you a few general comments about PC8 and WT9. Both are in great shape. Both will be substantial upgrades in terms of the number and scope of the improvements, enhancements and new features, roughly equal to the last two upgrades for PowerCADD and WildTools.
The reason that things have taken so long is that we have both put a lot on our plate of things that we wanted to do. The top priorities for PowerCADD have been to get the user-response and redraw speed as fast as possible, and to make big-time improvements to the DWG translator. When you get PC8, you'll understand and be very thankful for the decision to focus on Intel only. The pay-offs are very substantial both in terms of performance of the software and getting the software out as quickly as we can. There are rumors going around that the next version of the OS will be Intel-only. It's only a rumor but it's something we are going to see at some point in the future. So the decision to focus on Intel only may look very far-sighted in a couple of years. I think so.
I should probably also mention that there are some elements of both PowerCADD and WildTools that will be a work-in-progress and which will continue to get attention. The fast drawing mode is one of these, unbelievably fast but the display of text isn't there yet. The DWG translator is another. TopoTools is another.
So be patient, good things will come in time. Also I'd like to remind everyone that our productivity is directly related to peace of mind. I'm sure you know from your own experience that all creative processes shut down when there's some issue of controversy in your office, and if there's a lot of heat in the PowerCADD forum, then that affects us as well. Speaking for myself, I don't have any way to build a wall against it or hot emails. So please let's all keep the debate civil, as you've done here.
Now maybe you can tell me when I'm going to be finished with WildTools 9. I'd love to know!
Alfred |
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pbacot
Joined: 15 Apr 2004
Posts: 877
Location: Northern California
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| Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 3:10 am Post subject: |
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On release, v.8 "fast drawing" will be an optional mode without text showing?
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Peter B |
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Greg
Joined: 13 Apr 2004
Posts: 224
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
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| Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 8:44 am Post subject: |
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Or perhaps an option to turn off line weights, redraw during zooming, shadows and transparencies?
VectorWorks has the line weights/redrawing option which speeds it up tremendously... |
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pbacot
Joined: 15 Apr 2004
Posts: 877
Location: Northern California
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| Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 11:05 am Post subject: |
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While I occasionally turn off line weights now momentarily, what you're talking about Greg, is no longer "drawing" in my book.
Interesting to hear about VectorWorks also having an issue. Maybe better with Windows? VW will probably be my next CAD, but if I had to migrate to windows for speed, there's so many other choices.
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Peter B |
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Greg
Joined: 13 Apr 2004
Posts: 224
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
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| Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 4:53 pm Post subject: |
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| I agree Peter. If you have to turn off too many visual niceties to get a CAD program working at an acceptable speed, seems to me something is wrong with the programming! |
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jasonlocher
Joined: 14 Apr 2004
Posts: 625
Location: Austin, Texas
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| Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 10:17 am Post subject: |
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| Greg wrote: | | I agree Peter. If you have to turn off too many visual niceties to get a CAD program working at an acceptable speed, seems to me something is wrong with the programming! |
sounds like autocad. Fast and ugly. |
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