Like many other very small BEs, we did not keep the maintenance, much too expensive for our small use, and moreover not very efficient. I thought I'd take it later, to get the updates. But this was without taking into account the change in Dassault Systèmes' policy, which now wants us to pay for the past years without maintenance, in order to be able to take advantage of the latest developments. The anomalous side, in my opinion, of this change is that it is retroactive to customers already under maintenance on the one hand, and that it forces you to pay for an unused service on the other hand. When we chose SW, the policy was more advantageous. There was therefore a unilateral modification of the current contract.
We want to update SW 2014, not to benefit from new features, but in the hope of having fewer defects, and to be able to continue communicating with partners. It's abnormal to have to pay for improvements that we suggest ourselves! By "we" I mean all users.
How can we benefit from an update and an efficient hot-line, without paying for the years without maintenance, i.e. without having to pay for a service that we did not have?
Thank you for your ideas, we are not an isolated case!
Some problems: - if you found the hotline inefficient, I don't think it has changed (unless you change provider); - To avoid paying for the years without maintenance: purchase of a new license (this is a calculation to be made).
As for going elsewhere, it's quickly limited: - CATIA: it's the same group but the commercial policy is even worse, and the price is to die for (it's like BMW: everything is optional, even the simple IGES import which is not the same module as the export...); - Creo, I don't know about the commercial level but it was more expensive than SW, the last time we looked into the issue; - Autodesk: they changed their policy last year or 2 years ago: no more permanent license (already it wasn't particularly clear)!
As @stefbeno says very well, it's the same now with all publishers, either it 's rental mode and after 3 years it's like if you pay for your software again, or it's annual maintenance and again after 4 years you pay again.
But be careful, maintenance includes two things:
the hotline provided directly by the reseller, so if you are not satisfied, "just move" to change reseller
the evolution of the software that is used to pay the hundred or so computer engineers who will debug, correct, improve and create new functions and yes this at a cost as your hours of study have one too.
So yes, I understand that this is a significant annual budget for many of you, but it's thanks to this maintenance that the software evolves, improves and allows us to do more and more of them year after year.
I can already see all those who will say yes but there are plenty of missing bugs or other, well yes it's still a computer software and publishers can test, re-test and re-re-retest, there will always be the manipulation that is done in a certain way and that crashes the function or the graphics card driver which is not up to date and which prevents the proper functioning of a novelty, etc etc
When you buy a car, you have to plan the budget for maintenance and gas.... Here it's a bit the same thing, you have to take into account maintenance and updates from the start.
But we should separate the fixing of bugs (which are hidden defects) from the improvement of the product (addition of new functions).
Especially since it's guinea pigs like us who put up with it, lose time because of bugs, and it's a shame to have to pay for the correction of defects that we report ourselves!
These patches should be free, and even with an apology.
Improvements, new functions: paid, yes, normal.
In the list of "go and see elsewhere", I mention TOP SOLID. I don't know where they are anymore, but I used to use it before. For the design, the creation of models: great, well twice as fast as SW, as this software is so intelligent and makes the task easier. The "French Touch"! For the rest, I'm not sharp enough to judge. It's true that SW is simpler for constraints and requires less discipline, but on the other hand, SW's associativity is so vulnerable that you often have to cut the exetern refs and, suddenly, it loses its associativity, which is still a major asset of CAD... This is only my opinion as a modest user probably lacking training.
If you have needed this kind of manipulation, it is either because you have very particular parts or because there is a lack of training. I noticed that this management of links (between files and/or between functions) is THE problem in the transition to parametric 3D. This problem is generally poorly presented by trainers who respond to customer demand for volume.
I'm certainly prejudging, but your comments make me think that you are certainly alone (with the double hat of manager/designer) in a very small business (with 1 or 2 licenses), experienced in drawing (probably Autocad), switched to 3D, dazzled by the promises/pushed by the customers but that you haven't taken the training (no time, not the budget), probably some CNC machines. The stacking of computer (network) structure with software structure leads to interference which means that it is impossible to say where certain problems come from.
You are far from being the only one, I have a few clients who are in a similar situation and who sometimes/often manage to crash the system by a lack of orthodoxy, sometimes even having had a basic training (but precisely too basic).
Thom@s : we are not far from the hidden defect with the bugs that have persisted for years without being repaired. When almost all users advise to wait at least for SP3 before installing the software, it's because there's a big problem, right?
SW is more focused on adding new features than fixing bugs.
They would be better off releasing a version every 2 years but better finished.
@OBI WAN, yes ok but if you break the gearbox after 2 months and 10,000 Km because you went from 6th gear to reverse on the highway at 130 Km/h, does the car manufacturer repair you for free?
Yes, there are bugs that recur systematically, on any workstation with any user and there we can call it a "hidden defect" because the publisher should have seen it, but I guarantee you that 75% of the bugs are due to the way SOLIDWORKS is used and the IT infrastructure that is used (network, server and workstation) and there it is impossible for the publisher to predict all the scenarios.
Coyote says : "but I guarantee you that 75% of the bugs are due to the way SOLIDWORKS is used and the IT infrastructure that is used (network, server and workstation) and there it is impossible for the publisher to predict all the scenarios"
I want to take your word for it, but can you explain this to me:
In my company we work on identical stations cloned to the install (one is installed and duplicated on the others).
The stations are bought in batches at the same time, so even the serial numbers of the graphics cards sometimes manage to follow each other.
It happened to us that on one station some functions crashed while they passed on the other, and the opposite the next day...
I would like to point out that the user profiles are identical (replication from one workstation to another)
Where is the responsibility for the infrastructure?
The example that struck me the most: opening a file, creating a sketch and a material removal => "Solidworks has stopped working"
It's a far cry from the transition from 6th to reverse gear here!
Yes, for me, they are hidden defects. Because these are defects, which are not apparent, nor mentioned, when the license is purchased. It's clear.
Then, yes, Stefbeno, I'm alone, but I've had training, including one recently at Avenao, to try to solve the implausible slowness of SW. I often read "the system is not responding", as it is so slow to solve my assemblies. The trainer did not see any anomaly in my method, he simply advised me to reduce the external references. I spent two days doing it! And it's only slightly better.
As for the bug of "Solidwors has stopped working", when creating a sketch in place (in the assembly), it happens to me all the time. I'm relieved to see that I'm not the only one.
Another detestable flaw (not a bug, I admit): when you create a sketch, it happens that a very small piece of segment is done without your knowledge, depending on how you stop the sketch with the mouse. This kind of thing is perfectly repairable by SW. They don't care. And this generates, for beginners, time wasted and misunderstood.
In my company, we design measurement software ourselves. Such m.. for our customers.
I went a long time without maintenance and had to pay an arrears when I came back under maintenance.
The worst thing was that we wanted to acquire a new link and for the compatibility of the files between the different workstations, we had to update everything.
On the other hand, as far as bugs are concerned, I don't get too full:
* I have a few crashes (abrupt closing of the software), the last week during a disk access, so possible that it is an internal server problem.
* The most delicate functions are when creating shelves on complex parts with drafts, but knowing this, a regular backup is sufficient.
* There are still some incomprehensible crashes (I would say once every 6 months) during a basic action such as redefining a function, and which recur every time I restart the software and restart the action on this part.
What surprises me about SW is the feedback during SOLIWORKS WORLD 2017, numbers 1 and 2 of the Top Ten List, focus on bugs and software stability...
For my part, there are no recurring problems or crashes to report in a "sketch" context, except maybe once or twice when importing and converting DXF into a sketch.
For the question of "The system is not responding" you may also have to question the machine, the installation, the antivirus, the network...
Do you have enough RAM? Powerful enough graphics card? Which operating system? Which processor?
"Another detestable flaw (not a bug, I admit): when we create a sketch, it happens that a very small piece of segment is done without our knowledge, depending on how we stop the sketch with the mouse. This kind of thing is perfectly repairable by SW. They don't care. And this generates, for beginners, time wasted and misunderstood."
New in SOLIDWORKS 2017, it is no longer possible to create your own detestable little lines (yes it happens to everyone) this has been corrected, which shows that they don't give a damn about their customer's problems at Dassault Systèmes.
It creates a monstrous load for the machine: when you open a room, it opens all the referenced files in the background (and it recalculates them in case of modification). At worst, you may be able to create circular refs (normally detected by the software). Either your trainer didn't understand that you were making significant use of it, or he wanted to spare you, or...
When I create them, it's just enough time to recover the position of holes (for example), and I immediately take the sketch concerned to remove the external refs.