New Users, v9, x, or what?

[Chris Rizzo]

A local shop that I do some freelance programming for is in desperate need of a Cad/cam pkg, and have been for about 6 months. They really want to go with Mastercam (no influence from me, of course ), but don't want to purchase and get trained on v9 at the end of it's lifecycle. If they were not completley "green" users, and the difference between 9 & X so dramatic (from what us non-beta folks have heard ) it would not be such a concern starting on v9. However, I can't say I blame them for not wanting to invest the time to learn 9, while X is "right around the corner". I'm looking like The Boy Who Cried X, and they are beginning to look elsewhere.

 

Any ideas?

[gcode]

Tell them to buy V9 now.

They should be able to negotiate a free upgrade to X.

The training time they invest in 9 will not be wasted when they move to X.

 

If they buy something else now, they'll be kicking themselves later.

[Tom Dorgan from American Precision]

While there are major changes CMR the basics will be alot of the same. Learning the methodology in V9 won't hurt them when X comes out and with maintenance added to there purchase they will get X when it is released. IMHO they need to pull the trigger and make the purchase.

[iluvtruenos]

I tried version X, and 9.1. I have to say that I was able to do all the basic stuff on Mill and Lathe after maybe ten minutes. Twenty minutes later, I had a .nc file for a crankshaft mold.

[MCam Newbie]

The company I work for was having the same problem. After talking to the people at MasterCam, we went ahead and made the purchase. While taking classes on 9.1, I was able to see a little of X.

Migration from 9.1 to X should not be a problem, it is not so very different as one might think.

If anything X looks less cumbersome, in that it takes fewer actions to complete a function.

Cumbersome .... probably not the best word to use. Just the only one that came to mind. X is more stream-lined. Yes, there is a better way to say it. Especialy if one is used to Windoze.

Plus, X has more features that most of us will find quite useful, IMHO.