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X for the little guy?


George Hardwick
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Only thinking out loud. But. For the small guys out there who are, so to speak owner operators. Should we be rushing to buy maintainence in order to secur vX? My MC works far better than I could, I am begining to understand it, and it is earning me money. For sure vX will be great but do I need a new car because my neighbour has one!!!!

I already know what the big boys will reply its the little guy I wonder about.

Nothing like stiring it up eh!

George.

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I dont own a shop George, but if I did I would only satisfify my work load. depends on your growth and where you draw the line. if you are looking into the future for new things then its worth it. if you get by drilling holes and milling edges V4 will get you by just fine. IMHO

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George,

 

I don't know if you cosider me one of the "big guys," but here's my take on it. If MCX has features that will increase productivity (read increase profits), then I would say that everyone who wants to *stay* in business should update.

 

It's also going to be quite a bit different. Would you rather get the jump on learning the "new" MC or wait a year or 2 and then try to figure it out when everyone else who made the jump a year ago is now using MC like they have been for years.

 

That's just my take on it and remember that my opinion is worth exactly what you paid for it. wink.gif

 

Edit: I am not a shop owner.

 

Thad

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it really depends on why your neighbor bought the new car(ie. mcx). if it was to keep up with his neighbor , then it wasn't very smart. but if the new car is more practible and efficient it would be a good idea. you can't take the attitude of it's good enough or we'd all still be riding horses and living in sod houses wink.gif

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George,

 

I have a side business doing contract programming/industrial design and I made the decision to purchase maintenance. My reasoning was that the cost of maintenance was insignificant in comparison to the investment I made to purchase Mastercam and since the majority of the work I program is moulds and 5 axis stuff I wanted to have the best tools available at my disposal. This probably sounds like a sales pitch but consider the difference in programming power from v8 to v9. I have won work from customers because Mastercam could do it versus their current capability and any edge in your market can make the long term difference between "little guy" and "big guy".

 

That's my take,

 

 

steve

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George,

 

I've wondered the same thing. I am a owner operator, so every dime I spend effectivly comes out of my own pocket. I asked my reseller why I need vX, and I really wasn't convinced that I need it. Although I pretty much have decided to go ahead purchase the maintenance, only because of the new priceing structure. You can't just skip versions without it costing extra in the end. The new maintenance structure has not been good for us little guys. I liked it better the old way, being able to pick which version you need without being penalized.

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Guest CNC Apps Guy 1

Hey George,

 

That's a great question and I'm glad that somebody has asked it.

 

Here's my take. Other software vendors (stay with me on this) continually update their software with new versions usually at a bare minimum of 1x per year. So, if your translators are older than 1 year old, you are severly limiting your ability to maintain interoperability betwen yourself and your customers. Regardless of what many people say, strictly paper BP's are going the way of the dinosour. Eventually all you'll get a print for is to detail critical features. So for that reason alone it's a good idea to stay up to date. Also, Mastercam V9.x and previous are essentially Legacy DOS based programs. That being said, as computers get faster, more complex, etc... problems with Legacy DOS programs will become exacerbated. Right now Video issues are a real problem for many. With going to a True Windows base, most of those problems disappear. Now ATI Graphics cards won't be a problem, etc... You may argue that my PC is fine now. Ok, but what about 5 years from now? Will you be able to buy replacement parts then? I have a PII-350, it just died. Can I get replacement parts? Maybe. SHould I? Well it is CONSIDERABLY slower than my PIII-800, and PHENOMINALLY slower than a new mid range PC. In a nutshell, there comes a time when it's practical to update/upgrade. Upgrading for the sake of upgrading is stupid. Upgrading to stay competitive is smart.

 

X is Faster, has great new features, has current converters/translators, etc... ad infinitum.

 

So I guess my answer is going to be yes. It does make sense to get maintenance and stay current on your software. Don't forget to consider replacing your PC every 12-18 onths otherwise you're wasting money. As PC's get faster, they'll crunch numbers faster.

 

Something to think about.

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I sterted Mastercam at version 3 and kept getting updates untill version 5.5. I was then stuck with that until version 9.0. When I got the new version it was so different I had to take a beginning classes over again and it was just amazing how much inefficient the old version was. I've been telling my boss about once a week since the maintainence came out that I DID NOT want to go through that again. Thankfully the maintainence was approved about three weeks ago. If you're not planning to retire in the next year or two I would strongly suggest that you keep current with your revisions whether you use the maintainence or buy it outright.

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We are a small shop too, 5 guys, 7 cnc's plus a bunch of other stuff...

I'm beggining to treat mc just as I treat any other tool. That means looking for something better, faster, more efficient, more user friendly, whether it's a drill, mill, plunger cutter, insert or... software smile.gif

 

I talked recently to one of the tool reps that stops by our place frequently and he told me that a lot of shops are hesitant to try a new tool because that means editing or tottaly reworking g code on cnc's which they say is a lot of work.

It is a lot of work, but without willingness to try new "stuff" we still would be throwing rocks at the moon... wink.gif

 

Just my 2 cents

cheers.gif

Regards, Mark

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Hey.I still ride a horse live in a sod house and spend my time throwing rocks at the moon.

However I had already decided to take the matainence offer, Overall, for the same reasons you have all come up with . I just thought it would be an interesting subject to discuss. See what other people thought, I had to sit down and think it through.

And then if its not as expected I can always blame James....

Thanks for the input.

George.

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Time = Money. How do you create more time in a fixed number of hours each day? By using faster more efficent machines, faster more productive software.

Productivity is key. What would take me over an hour to change in SmartCam, in MasterCam I can make the same change in a few minutes. Now I just created 50 extra minutes for the day, I guess I will take a break from doing threee things at once and just concentrate on doing two.

 

Better, Faster, Cheaper is all any customer demands.

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