ArchiCAD 11???

[Anonymous]

Is it just me or does it seem crazy for Graphisoft to be releasing a new version when they just released 2 or 3 major bug fixes in the last few weeks. The reason I left Autodesk was because I felt victimized by having to upgrade on a short schedule throwing handfuls of money at Autodesk.

How long will it be before Graphisoft implements the policy of stopping support for older releases? Showing a profit for the shareholders is one thing but rushing releases to market before they are ready will come back to bite someone (Domenic?) in the butt.

You just can't reasonably support one release while developing another without one or the other (or both!) getting shortchanged.

The goal shouldn't be to compete with Autodesk's yearly release program but to continue to develop a superior product.

There is a saying in the American West..."You gotta dance with the one that brought you." Graphisoft, don't forget who brought you to the dance.

Gary Bley,
Portland, Oregon USA

[Karl Ottenstein]

Hi Gary,

I'm missing your point.

You just can't reasonably support one release while developing another without one or the other (or both!) getting shortchanged.

Ummm... can you name one software manufacturer who doesn't do exactly this...support one release while developing the next one (if not next two or three)? How else would they operate?

If indeed the release schedule means poor support, instability and insufficient features to justify an upgrade, then sure, I would agree.

Something as complex as ArchiCAD will never be free of all bugs. So, the various free maintenance releases are a positive thing - they are making the current release more stable and fixing reported problems.

This is no different than all of the Adobe patches to each version of Acrobat and Reader, or Apple's upgrade releases to OS X, etc.

Nobody forces you to ever upgrade your copy of ArchiCAD. It is your licensed product to use forever. If you want to stay on version 9 for 5 years, there is no problem. Unlike Autodesk, nobody will ever force you to upgrade. But, that said, other circumstances may 'encourage' an upgrade. For example, if you want to run ArchiCAD on Vista, it would be foolish not to upgrade to 11 since no prior version was developed with Vista support. (Personally, I have no plans on leaving XP for the time being.)

Will Graphisoft keep releasing bug fixes to old versions? Of course not. What manufacturer does? But, they won't do anything to keep you from using your old version(s), all of which are quite stable as of their final patches...except the current state of 10, and I have to assume that another patch is coming for the issues brought up on these forums.

There are a lot of great things in 11. Two that I especially like are transparency in 3D in OpenGL and the new ghosting (Virtual Trace) in which any view can be ghosted...big emphasis on view: the ghost can have a totally different layer combo, you can ghost your layout while working on the drawing to make sure the drawing fits onto the layout (ever have your dimension chains chopped off?), ghost xrefs from the new worksheets, ghost live elevations against plans, etc. Powerful stuff. But, nobody has to upgrade. 😉

Cheers,
Karl

[TomWaltz]

GS also maintains two development teams: development and tech support. One works on new releases, the other on fixing bugs in old ones. One rarely affects the other.

[Anonymous]

Hi Karl,
I might have been a bit too general. You are right that R & D is a continuous process along with support for current releases. My point is simply that it is premature in my opinion for Graphisoft to release AC 11 when in my experience Release 10 is still not completely settled. I understand that ArchiCAD is a sophisticated app. and is bound to have some speed bumps but I have to agree with a number of posters on this forum that stability was reduced after 1010. I personally had corrupt file issues after the upgrades that caused the loss of a weeks worth of work and I had to retreat back to 1010 where I will stay for the near future.

In terms of being forced to upgrade, I was referring to Autodesk's policy of non-support for older releases and wonder if Graphisoft will implement the same policy. I'm not arguing the virtues of upgrading but it should be a reasoned choice and not a leveraged choice.

I will be interested in hearing other user's opinions on enhanced functionality in AC11. I stand by my statement that a 12 month cycle is too short a time frame to stabilize a current release while implementing another. Remember that AC10 was touted as the most extensively Beta tested release to date and yet current hotfixes create as well as solve problems.

I appreciate your point of view but time will tell if this was a "Balance Sheet" decision. I think it is.

Gary Bley
Portland Oregon USA

[Andy Thomson]

At the very least they are making a gesture to backwards compatibility. It is a nasty world (business) and I suspect they are doing what they 'need' to in that sense, but I do hope they start to take our wishes/demands a little more seriously. One can only hope they know what is best for them. (keeping the existing user base happy and impressed with every subsequent release, not just increasingly frustrated)