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Mastercam Software maintenance

Gary Hargreaves CNC

By Gary Hargreaves CNC,
in Industrial Forum

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Gary Hargreaves CNC Newbie

Gary Hargreaves CNC

Posted
Posted

Hi folks. This is in response to the numerous replies to the maintenance posting the other day.

 

Yes, it is true we are now offering an optional software maintenance program. For those of you who want to wait until you see something you want and then update, that option is still there unlike many other programs that make maintenance mandatory.

 

In researching many of the other maintenance programs out there we realized there were some benefits to offering one, both to us and the customer. Larger companies have been requesting this for several years, but never as often as this past year. Many companies tend to work to annual budgets and do not like to be surprised when someone in the programming department wants to spend money on a new release of software. The answer is often: "It's not in the budget", leaving the user at a loss until money can be found or it gets built into next years budget. Often for smaller shops, the comment by the owner is: "We don't have the money right now". If you are a programmer on the shop floor, I’m guessing many of you have experienced this when you asked management. I’ve also heard the rumor that at a few of you have dug into your own pockets to pay for the update. In both cases, a maintenance program would have eliminated these situations.

 

Always having access to the latest and greatest does make you more productive by giving you more tools to do your job, and allows you get things done quicker. It also keeps all your translators up to date, eliminating potential data exchange problems when doing business with other companies.

 

Having more customers on the current release makes it easier to support you. We are all geared up for the latest release, so to shift gears takes time and the extra time taken to support someone on an older release takes time away from supporting another customer.

 

A maintenance program also smoothes out the new release process. We can get several days behind processing the large volume of orders that come in when a new release comes. For those on maintenance, there is no order to process. The plan is to get the new release out the door to maintenance customers first.

 

And as was mentioned in a posting, it does smooth out the revenue stream over a release period. Based on other companies maintenance programs we also anticipate an increase in revenue. That will go back into more personnel and more systems to help us create a better product. We already have new openings in Software Development, Posts, QC, Tech Support, and Tech Docs. At 85 people now, we are probably going to get to 100 in the not too distant future.

 

The program itself is structured to provide the most benefit to the loyal user who has stayed current with each release. If you are the type of user who updates each time or occasionally skips a release, it's a better deal than waiting for the release to come out. Plus you will be getting more than just releases. As we finish projects up for a future release, some of them will be made available to maintenance customers if they can be plugged into the current release. We will document them and get them out to our maintenance customers. This is something we haven't done in the past and we are looking into having some of these available before the end of this year.

 

Other deliverables like Service packs and patches will be made available to maintenance customers also. If someone uncovers something that affects a wide spectrum of users we will make this available to all customers. But we will be making that decision if, and when, the time comes.

That being said, there's a great promotion on if you are not on the current release where you can update for a reduced price if you buy maintenance. And getting into the maintenance program now will also get you X when it's ready in addition to the possibility of some pieces we get done and can get out to you in V9 format. We've launched it through our Resellers and will be putting the announcement on the web page in a week.

 

I hope this has answered the questions several of you have about the maintenance program. If you are the type of user that likes to stay up with the latest and greatest, take a look at the program. Your Reseller can provide you with more information.

 

Thanks for listening.

 

gary

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Toolfab Newbie

Toolfab

Posted
Posted

quote:
I have a P.O. # already

I'm right there with you Tony, mine is already sent in and confirmed. The best thing is, I will get X without any gripe from the brass here. That alone is worth it. Pay some per year, and get it when available, or start to budget and have the funds 3 releases from now....

 

GIMMIE X!!

 

cheers.gif

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biss03 Newbie

biss03

Posted
Posted

hello everyone...

 

can someone please point me in the direction of the official press release pertaining to this new maintenance agreement. i want to get something in writing to the bosses so they can (hopefully biggrin.gif ) start budgeting for it for the 1st quarter next year! i'm also thinking about printing off this thread and giving that to them as well for more ammo (you know what they say, you can never have enough ammo)

 

thanks,

 

josh

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biss03 Newbie

biss03

Posted
Posted

hey james,

 

in spite of you being a rabid USC (which i assume in Southern Cal) and what they did to my irishsters last year, i still read your posts and agree with what you are saying. i'd still like to be able to get something that is "official". maybe i should call my dealer and have them send me something.

 

p.s. i'll be at the game oct. 18th when my boys exact some revenge on the mighty trojans of USC (by the way what happened last weekend? losing to lowly Cal!). being that it's at ND, i'm hoping it at least stays close. better start working some OT to pay for that ticket!

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  • 2 weeks later...
DTrace Newbie

DTrace

Posted
Posted

Gary,

frown.gif I have been an avid user of MasterCam since version 3.2. The company I work for has 8 seats of 9.1. I agree somewhat to what you are saying about the maintenance agreement. But, I have to see the big picture when talking about upgrades. I am not only one of the users but also the system administrator. Post processors are the biggest nightmare. I currently run 37 different custom posts. When upgrades or patches (fixes) become available, they cause a lot of work for my dealer and me. Version 9.1 had several issues that affected my post from version 9.0. I have yet to apply the two service packs for 9.1 since can’t risk the impact to my post. Service pack 1 did not even have a description of what it changed. Most MasterCam users see upgrades as “new cool stuff”; I myself see them as a major implementation. I use several third party Chooks (e.g. Project Manager, CIMMC-Pro, CIMMC-UG, Unfold), these never get upgraded until months after a new release. How do I now go to management and ask to budget a annual $5000.00 maintenance cost for the software I was told would never have any?

frown.gif

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McRae Newbie

McRae

Posted
Posted

I suspect with the new maintenance agreements that the business model of the 3rd party application providers will change somewhat. Also with the fundamental change from Legacy DOS to a windows based application, there may be a little more stability on the post front and also with the other apps as well - but I only speculate.

 

The need for 3rd party stuff - may become less and less as the user becomes empowered with VB scripts etc...

 

I also can see an opportunity - now with a steadier revenue stream - for CNC to aquire and absorb some of these other applications (ie Moldsplus and all the extraneous 5Ax Addons) that will add value to the product and expand into other market segments - I have to say that with the number of installed seats world wide (Mastecam Saturation), and with the CAD/CAM market reaching a certain maturity - that the only way to grow will be thru acquisition and pushing into other market segments like a better CAD interface and more capabilities on this front.

 

What I would do is to appease my current generation of Garage Machinists - is to split the product and company into two - Mastercam Lite for those that only want simple things in life, no maintenance and Mastercam Professional for the higher end requirements and a new market opportunity - develop both in parallel and keep a broader market covered.

 

I have signed up for the program and want to itereate that with this maintenance, there are a number of attached expectations that I now have and hope that the systems are developed to meet these. What is the release schedule for VX? and when can I expect to see VXI? What tools are planned and what is the net effect to the productivity of my people? By upgrading from V7.1 to VX, will I be able to reduce the number of programmers from 5 to 2? These are things that I have to justify for the yearly costs added to my department - Gee I love budget time.

 

[ 10-10-2003, 12:55 PM: Message edited by: Andrew McRae ]

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McRae Newbie

McRae

Posted
Posted

quote:
I'd have to disagree with that. Anybody can purchase a hammer at a hardware store or where ever, but only those that are skillful with the hammer will build properly with it.

Very good point Chris. This can be said about the rest of Mastercam as well - anything in the hands of an idiot could result in catastrophy. If I may expand my earlier post and expand on your analogy I would suggest that there are few third party developers trying to correct the constraints related to the original hammer design.

 

I am suggesting that the newer features in Win Compliant Software will be like using a pneumatic nailer - allowing this to be erected at a much faster rate...

 

[ 10-10-2003, 03:18 PM: Message edited by: Andrew McRae ]

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