Enercalc has not provided single update in 2021 with their maintenance program 5

[McSEpllc]

For folks using Enercalc:

There has been not a single update or revision for the year of 2021 with the ENERCALC maintenance program.
Here is the number of updates for the last six years:

2016: 77 updates
2017: 81 updates
2018: 121 updates
2019: 21 updates
2020: 11 updates
2021: 0 updates

Enercalc’s description of their service:
“Our Maintenance and Support Plan (MSP) ensures that you will always have the latest version of your licensed software
product without any additional cost during the term of the plan. You will receive every new release, version, feature,
enhancement and improvement for your licensed software, ensuring you're always using the most current technology.
This provides a budget-conscious way to ensure you're always using the most current technology. This is the easiest
and most economical way for you and your company to keep your software investment current with all of the enhancements
we are creating on a continual basis.”

Does anyone else think they did not receive this service for the $645 maintenance fee?
I know they are focusing on the subscription base platform.
In my mind they should not have offered the maintenance service, unless they did actually provide this service.

 

[Celt83]

"I know they are focusing on the subscription base platform."
They completely abandoned the maintenance program, we jumped ship earlier this year when they told us we could no longer maintain our software but could from now on only rent it from them on a yearly basis.

The price they were asking was a little hard to swallow considering they still have non-zero deflections at the end of simply supported beams, a bug that has been around for a long long time.

My Personal Open Source Structural Applications:

https://github.com/buddyd16/Structural-Engineering

Open Source Structural GitHub Group:

https://github.com/open-struct-engineer

 

[phamENG]

I was going to check Enercalc out next week. Thanks for the warning...

 

[JoelTXCive]

I think ya'll are viewing this wrong. Maybe they have finally perfected the product and no more updates are necessary?

 

[dik]

Their past track record does not indicate this.

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Feel any better?

-Dik

 

[Aesur]

@McSEpllc what version are you currently on? I have 12.20.8.24 on the older version which has had a few updates this year and 20.21.10.12 on their newest version which has also been updated a few times this year.

@phamENG while I have seen a good bit of frustration with EnerCalc and other software on this forum over the years, I can say without a doubt that I use EnerCalc for the majority of my calculations and find it extremely easy to use. Yes, like all programs it has errors and occasional frustrations, but as I have said before, no software is perfect and the user shouldn't be using it if they can't do it by hand or verify the calculation themselves to build faith in the program.

 

[Celt83]

Aesur:
OP is correct version 12 received no updates in 2021, 12.20.8.24 indicates the last update was August of 2020.

There are bugs, like the non-zero deflection graph, and then there are outright wrong answers, biaxial bending of concrete columns, when they decided to increase their subscription rate to be near the big dogs like Csi, Bentley, etc. then my tolerance for some of the nonsense got much lower.

Biaxial CIP Column:
Note the phi-Mn angle is conveniently absent from the GUI.
Applied Mu is at an angle of 45 degrees, resultant capacity phi-Mn is at an angle of -45.27 degrees. So this isn't a solution tolerance bug the result is in the completely wrong quadrant of the capacity surface.

Concrete Beams:
Phi is a manual input and no checks are made on the tension steel strain to validate the user phi choice. screen clip shows a beam with es =0.0013 which means phi=0.9 is completely wrong but yet no errors are thrown by the program and in fact in indicates all checks passed with flying colors.

My Personal Open Source Structural Applications:

https://github.com/buddyd16/Structural-Engineering

Open Source Structural GitHub Group:

https://github.com/open-struct-engineer

 

[JedClampett]

This is like Deja Vu. About 15 years ago, there was a lot of beating up on Enercalc on this forum. Our company had it, got frustrated by some of the issues above and some others, and changed to Tedds.
Apparently Enercalc improved, but are they reverting to form? As I said, they were a whipping boy for a while, but I haven't seen a post on them in years.

 

[Aesur]

@Celt83, Thank you, I stand corrected. This year has really flown by apparently.

 

[-SPi]

I wonder if their focus has perhaps shifted to their ENERCALC CLOUD product? But even then, there is no excuse if users are reporting bugs in your product and you don't fix it.

 

[Brad805]

This reminds me of the scene in Tron. What improvements did we make this year? We put a 12 on the box.

2:00 - 2:20
TRON

 

[KootK]

I'm going to be speaking way out my depth here but I'm going to give it a go anyhow.

My understanding of Enercalc's cloud offering is that it is being launched as a virtual appliance. As such:

1) Enercalc Cloud is really be a virtual instance of Enercalc traditional with some tweaks added where necessary to make this go.

2) I would expect .the root coding for Enercalc Cloud to be substantially the same as Enerclc traditional

 

[3DDave]

Per their website they recently did a lot of re-working of their product line, probably to prep it for cloud deployment. I expect most of the underlying analysis hasn't changed but a lot of the UI is likely to be different.

From their site: "Between 2020 and 2021, we merged the seven RetainPro earth-retention structure modules and ENERCALC 3D (FEM) into the Structural Engineering Library. This period also yielded the addition of new modules (Flitch Plate, Base Plate by FEM, General Footing by FEM) and the introduction of ENERCALC hosted storage. ENERCALC hosted storage allows installed users and cloud users to safely share project files via Amazon Web Services' (AWS) robust storage facilities."

https://enercalc.com/Company

 

[-SPi]

My understanding of Enercalc's cloud offering is that it is being launched as a virtual appliance.

I did not know that! It makes sense as a way to harness the cloud without re-developing everything from scratch. I can imagine that being a welcome addition for folks that use Apple or Linux desktops. I wonder if Enercalc is using Amazon AppStream that hooks in to S3 storage buckets?

Looks like the Structural Engineering Library that @3DDave mentions includes access to the Cloud service:

$129 per month (paid annually) subscribes for 1 year to a 2 seat Structural Engineering Library license.
License provides access to both installed software on your computer(s) & software on our cloud platform[/b].

So, maybe the Enercalc team would argue that they have added value in the past year and a maintenance payment is justified.

 

[JoshPlumSE]

I'm curious what the Enercalc guys have to say about this. I have not talked to them recently. But, I used to converse with them at times in the past (mostly via e-mail). My impression was the following:
a) They were a very small operation.
b) They knew a lot about engineering, not just computer coding. Like they started out as engineers writing their own spreadsheets and selling them as a side project. Then eventually realized that it was in their best interest to devote their time to their engineering software and forget about the day to day real engineering work they were doing.
c) They were genuinely good people.

My guess (and it's a 100% guess) is that something along the lines of the following has happened:
d) The owner sold the company and they're going through a transition period. Very unlikely considering the fact that they haven't said anything about this.
e) They're working on updating their code to something newer and more manageable. For a group as small as they are, that's a big undertaking.
f) One (or more) of them suffered some significant hardships over this last crazy year or so. For a company as small as they are that can have a big effect.

Since I'm just guessing here, I would suggest someone else contact them and find out the reason why their development has slowed down.

 

[Aesur]

I'm curious if you have access to version 20 if you only have the maintenance plan? Version 20 is the version that has been updated this year and is an installed (non-cloud) version, however we have the subscription rather than perpetual license and maintenance plan.

Build 20 installation

I got an email about a month ago about a webinar for EnerCalc being built to work within Revit, so they are definitely working away on the programming.

 

[CConrad]

Hi Folks,

Sorry for being a little late to the party, but I will see if I can help to clarify some of this.

We are switching from offering perpetual licenses to offering subscriptions. This is the industry trend. Some love it...some hate it. We get it.

This new version of the program is something that has been in the works for a year and a half or more. So lots has been going on, but it is true that there haven't been a lot of releases in the Build 12 series during this time.

Users who still have active Maintenance & Support Plans will get access to a version of the new product that contains everything that was in Build 12 plus the Cantilevered Retaining Wall module from the old RetainPro.

Users who start a subscription to the new offering will get access to the full version of the new product that contains:
+ everything that was in Build 12
+ everything that was in the old RetainPro
+ new Flitch Plated Wood Beam module
+ new General Footing by FEM module
+ new Steel Base Plate by FEM module
+ ENERCALC 3D (full-featured 3D FEM analysis and design module)
+ Option to use as both installed software and cloud-based app
+ Option to use cloud storage

We are also actively working on ENERCALC for REVIT, which was featured on Autodesk University earlier this month.

Please feel free to continue to send us specific support questions through the normal tech support email address, and any business related questions can go to info@.

Thanks.

Director of Technical Services
ENERCALC, Inc.
Web:

http://www.enercalc.com

 

[dik]

Was the company sold?

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Feel any better?

-Dik

 

[JoshPlumSE]

Was the company sold?

I don't think so. Chris was the guy I interacted with more over the last decade.

Michael Brooks (as far as I know) is still the owner. But, he's likely at an age where he is semi-retired. Not necessarily old. But, well off enough and old enough that spending time with family and traveling take precedent or the day to day grind of work. Just a guess. But, I think it's a pretty good one.

 

[dik]

thanks...

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Feel any better?

-Dik