Next version of CA

[Doug Park]

In my opinion Apple and Microsoft are now more or less on equal footing with regard to leadership these days. Whether or not either will remain successful is certainly worthy of speculation. It makes sense for us to be in a position to go with either or even some third or fourth option, which today seems about as likely. At this point the cost of moving to another platform is likely less than 10% of the cost for us to move to Mac.

I have a background in supporting multiple main frame computers for some software that I was responsible for in the Aerospace industry many years ago. Today it is much easier to do this than in the past so I'm very confident in our ability to support multiple platforms at very low cost.

[Raymond Rood]

Ron I totally agree with you and don't for get the stairs and railings, my first priority is construction drawings since I was a builder if I can't build it correctly I am going to have a hard time covering things up to make them pretty looking, so lets get the construction part down and the pictures should come in to play fairly quickly. If I remember correctly when SSA was first talked about they said there would be updates to the program during that time period before a new release was formal thinking if something was worked on and the powers felt it worked they would release it to the SSA users and the users that did not subscribe to SSA would have to wait to get those features when they paid for there upgrade, someone correct me if I am wrong about that please,

[lbuttery]

If I remember correctly when SSA was first talked about they said there would be updates to the program during that time period before a new release was formal thinking if something was worked on and the powers felt it worked they would release it to the SSA users and the users that did not subscribe to SSA would have to wait to get those features when they paid for there upgrade, someone correct me if I am wrong about that please,

Ray:

that is about what I remember

however, I'm still not clear on who can get updates

I think you have to have SSA to get updates

Lew

[Raymond Rood]

Lew my take on the selling point to keep up with the SSA (which I have done) was that any new things that were being worked on would be passed along to SSA users along with tech support and the video's, anyone that didn't have the SSA would have to wait until they upgraded to the next version to get those features, the only thing I have seen is things for the lib. and not sure if everyone gets those

[lbuttery]

Ray:

sorry but I don't remember CA saying they would do incremental updates as things were ready

as a former programmer it is very difficult to make changes to code and release them piece-meal

they are usually batched into bundles tested vigorously then released

I did work on a project at AT&T where we did a release every 3 months
whatever was ready and tested was implemented

it would be nice if CA can do this but ???

Lew

[Raymond Rood]

Lew what you mentioned about release every 3 months or so is what I was referring to, testing from time to time I do understand about piece-meal and I am sure they want to make sure something is working with min. bugs to it.

[lbuttery]

Ray:

the every 3 months release suggestion was mine many releases ago
probably when SSA was introduced with X2

CA has never indicated they were considering this

Lew

[Raymond Rood]

Golly gee willegers Lew I wish they took your suggestion it was a good one and would be a good one for marketing I would think

[CARMELHILL]

with a still iffy possibility of a public beta to our active SSA customers before the end of the year.

I'm an SSA customer and I never received an invite?

I guess CA is going to compete with Vectorworks on the Mac platform. Makes sense since you introduced the IPAD app. When is my Android app coming out? Instead of developing two sets of code for Mac and Windows, isn't it just easier to let Mac's use an emulator to run windows software? I'm sure it kills performance.

[Ron Ravenscroft]

Ron I totally agree with you and don't for get the stairs and railings, my first priority is construction drawings since I was a builder if I can't build it correctly I am going to have a hard time covering things up to make them pretty looking, so lets get the construction part down and the pictures should come in to play fairly quickly. If I remember correctly when SSA was first talked about they said there would be updates to the program during that time period before a new release was formal thinking if something was worked on and the powers felt it worked they would release it to the SSA users and the users that did not subscribe to SSA would have to wait to get those features when they paid for there upgrade, someone correct me if I am wrong about that please,

yea but now you have the opportunity to have work-a-rounds on 2 platforms. Now thats progress Doug. You all are consistent in avoiding correcting deficiencies that count.

[Chiefer]

I'm an SSA customer and I never received an invite?

You need to apply or ask to beta test.

[Doug Park]

We have not yet released a public beta. If you want to be part of the beta team you can apply. We are having loads of fun testing things.

We are still iffy on a public beta before the end of the year.

[Allen Brown]

I'm an SSA customer and I never received an invite?

I guess CA is going to compete with Vectorworks on the Mac platform. Makes sense since you introduced the IPAD app. When is my Android app coming out? Instead of developing two sets of code for Mac and Windows, isn't it just easier to let Mac's use an emulator to run windows software? I'm sure it kills performance.

When the public Beta test is available, they do not send out "Invites". They put the notice in the "Announcements" forum. If you see it & read it, then you are invited. If you want to be on the Beta team before the "Public Beta", send Chief an email and ask.

Now, my thoughts on SSA. First, If your business is slow and you don't have the luxury of more than 'paying the bills', then by all means, don't do it, don't renew it. That's a no-brainer. If you don't use Chief as your MAIN source of income, well then it is more of a luxury than a need. However, IMHO, if you are using Chief as your main income generator, and you are not late on bill payments, than renewing SSA and keeping up on the latest releases is an absolute must. My SSA renewal comes due next month. I would love to spend that $395 on something else, but this is the price of doing business.

I consider myself a 'power user', and I know Chief inside & out in most areas, but I have found myself recently going back to the training videos and having several of those BFO moments, thinking, WOW, I wish I had watched THIS earlier.

Go ahead & call me a 'cheerleader', but I think the SSA is full of value. Heck, I spend $500/year on GoToMeeting, and that is only a sideline money generator.

I have never been disappointed with the new releases, as every single one of them has brought new features or improvements that have increased productivity, and I don't see that stopping or slowing down.

[HumbleChief]

We have not yet released a public beta. If you want to be part of the beta team you can apply. We are having loads of fun testing things.

We are still iffy on a public beta before the end of the year.

Maybe it will be a little sooner than the end of the year? CHECK HERE. Just sayin'