New SW04 SP2.1 2

[ctopher]

FYI
From my VAR:
"The next service pack that will be posted should be SP 2.1. With that there should be a SP 1.0 - 2.1, and a SP 2.0 - 2.1. We do not have any official information on the details. Unless it is specified when SP 2.1 is released, you should not have to re-install SW2004 SP 1. I wish I could give you some more information but none is available at this time".

 

[SBaugh]

Hmmm I wonder where they got this info at? i have heard of this but I have not confirmation on it. 2.1 should work like any other Sp upgrade... I just wish they would get it released, nit that I'm having any trouble out of SP2.0

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376

 

[ctopher]

They said they got the info from SW support.
Also SW05 is coming out this summer.

 

[SBaugh]

Well I'm not sure what was said at World this year for the users. So I'm not going to comment on what I know or what I was told at World. But you might ask your VAR to see if any of that info is suppose to be confident.

Just and FYI

,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376

 

[rockguy]

Scott,

I'm not sure why all the "hush" "hush" on 2005. I was at SW World also and SW was making a public presentation to about 900 people, including people from the press on SW 2005. I'm sure they only gave us a small glimpse of what's in the entire release but frankly if they have made a public presentation then isn't it "OK" to talk about what you, I and 900 other people saw at SW World? I didn't see any NDS's being passed around.....

Being part of the VAR community you may have been privy to more information than myself and I can see how that information would need to be kept quiet.

I guess I'm asking a question here more than making a statement. I feel what I said is correct but I'd like your take on the subject.

 

[macPT]

How hard can it be to fix a problem with pdf?

So many days to fix the SP2.0 issue that it makes me wonder..

Regards

 

[SBaugh]

Rockguy,

Were you at the Reseller or user conference? I was at the Reseller Conference and wasn't sure what all was going to be shown at the user conferenece.

I was hoping they would release a SW04+ but it looks like they probably won't. I hope they get SW05 tested out fully before release this year.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376

 

[rockguy]

Scott,

I was at the user confrence.

 

[SBaugh]

I would like to know what you thought about the user side of the conference?

Did you like what you saw in SW05?

,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376

 

[J-C]

What did you guys see in 2005?

Jason Capriotti
ThyssenKrupp Elevator

 

[rockguy]

I felt the user conference was good. I'm not sure how good my opinion is however because it was my first SolidWorks World. I really have nothing to base it on. I can say SolidWorks definately takes care of attendees in the food department.

As for 2005. I liked what I saw. I especailly liked the drawing enhancements (if they actually work). Ialso liked the new task bar window. I think SW really needs to concentrate of improving performance. there wasn't much mention made of this in the 2005 demo. It was mentioned that performance and speed was one of the top 5 requested enhancements.

By the way Jason. You were mentioned as being the top beta tester! Way to go!!

 

[J-C]

Thanks Rockguy, there is alot of bad comments being made about the beta test but all in all it seemed to go well. I do know that alot of the bugs that I submitted did get fixed for sp0.

I think Solidworks' biggest issue is reintroducing new bugs as they correct the existing ones.


Jason Capriotti
ThyssenKrupp Elevator

 

[ctopher]

Rockguy,
What were some of the dwg enhancements in SW2005? I was not there.

 

[J-C]

Here's something on 2005.

http://www.cadalyst.com/cadalyst/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=82678

Jason Capriotti
ThyssenKrupp Elevator

 

[rockguy]

The information on the catalyst page pretty much covers what we saw. One thing they didn't mention. A full rich text editor. Just like Word you can change the font, color, bold, italic, underline, strike out, size, etc of the entire text, one letter or a couple of words in a text string or paragraph. When you use the annotate tool it automatically pops up the text tool bar very similar to the way the new mate toolbar pops up in assemblies now. It looked really promising. I would say a huge step forward in annotations that has been a long time coming. You can also add dimensions, tolerances, symbols almost anything to a text string or paragraph by clicking on it while you in annotation mode.

Another thing I liked were the new palletes. All blocks, symbols, favorites are now in pallette form. You have a little graphic in the pallete of what you have stored there and it can be dragged and dropped into a drawing. No more arrow key down and searching thru names or browsing somewhere. It was actually very (dare I say)autocad like.

 

[jcwoosley]

I'm fairly new to this site, but not to SW. My only thought on SW05 is that it seems a little rushed. In my opinion, they (SW corp) haven't gotten a release right since 2001+. Everything since has been buggy and inadequately tested. I, for one, would much rather see them take their time on the next version, and actually test it. Completely. I am tired of being a beta site. I am also tired of having to trouble-shoot for them. When I say I have a problem, it's not my job to troubleshoot it. It's their's. That's why I pay for a maintanence contract.

OK, enough venting for now.

BTW, does anyone know what the "RPC server" is? We are getting an error stating "the RPC server is unavailable". We do not have any servers on-site that are named that, so I am guessing it is something internal to SW.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

jcwoosley

I don't think it is a SW problem.
RPC stands for "Remote Procedure Call" & I believe it is a Windows 2000 thing, but may also be for other versions. Just google for "rpc server" or got to MicroSoft's Knowledge Base.


CorBlimeyLimey, Barrie, Ontario.
I love defenseless animals, especially in a good gravy.
faq559-863

 

[SBaugh]

That maybe true, but if you’re having a problem and your VAR can't repeat it their station... then how can your VAR turn it in as a bug. Because I'll bet you if your VAR can't repeat it then SW won't either. (These are my numbers from the Tech support that I do here) 80% of the time it's an OE error (OE = Operator), 10% it's a computer problem (that includes networks, TEMP folder not getting cleaned out and other computer issues), the last 10% are bugs in the software
.
As for you troubleshooting the problem YOUR having is somewhat needed because if you can't help your Tech support VAR to understand the problem or process, then they will have a hard time helping you out. Sending them information about the problem is required. It's hard to get a feel for someone you have never met and they are explaining their project in great detail. And the reason why you are explaining in great detail is because you have been working on it for a long time or your experience is in that field or it’s something that you fully understand and you know the function of that part. You have to remember we are all not experienced in your field or maybe we just don’t understand what you’re describing to us. Having something to work with helps us figure out your issue. We see tons of parts from all different types of fields. Not just from the one you’re at, but from Mold houses, Sheet metal house, Product development, R&D, Drafting, automation, etc... These fields all are different. So if you have a problem and you don't help your VAR track or figure out the problem, then your shooting yourself in the foot. Because “if you don’t help me, I can’t help you”. That doesn’t mean that you have to figure out the exact cause of the problem. That’s our job, but helping us to figure out what you did, what happen or how things might have changed (Detailed instructions with screen shots, any newly installed programs, etc….) will help us to help you. Our job is to help get the most of your software and I’m sure most Tech support VAR’s are willing to help out their customers. If you have a VAR that is not, then look for another one. Just try not to be rude to them because they are doing a job that most people would hate.

All users should do Tech support for a month. I was told this before I took the job I am in now and I said, “Oh you have an easy job”…. I was wrong, this is and can be a hard and stressful job. But I like the challenges I have everyday. I like to think I have a good relationship with my customers. I know there are a few of customers here at this forum because I pointed them to this site. But I also pointed them here because of that vast amount of information. So if any of you (My Customers) disagree let me know . But they are all willing to help me, so I am more than willing to help them figure out an issue. Sometimes there isn’t a fix for their problem. I do try to find a workaround so I can at least provide them with that. Sometimes there isn’t and if that’s the case then by their request I try to get the problem escalated. So SW will have a fix for them ASAP. We have rules that we have to follow just as most other people have. We also have a Chain of command that we go through. If we get stopped in one direction we find another one. It’s our job to find a fix, find a workaround, if a workaround can’t be found and an SPR has been issued for it, then we get it escalated for you. What ever it takes to make the customer happy is our goal but we can’t make everyone happy. I’ll bend over backwards to help someone out. But sometimes I get stopped and when I do I give it the next person above me. I try to practice that out here at this forum (Helping out). I have a hard time doing it now, because my job keeps me so busy now, but I find time to help all of you out.

I hope that most VAR’s or Tech support gurus like myself agree with what I stated above. If you don’t let me know and we can discuss this.

Best Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376

 

[jcwoosley]

Scott,

Thanks for your response.

As for providing info to my VAR and SWcorp, I don't know how to do more. They have received performance logs, files with instructions, screenshot, descriptions. They have been to our facility, both our VAR and the regional tech manager, to inspect our network, working habits, user skills, system setups, ect. We have made every recommended change, and still all we hear is that it's not their fault. SW is the only software we have a problem with here. We have heard it's our video cards (been changed to what the RTM suggested). BTW, our original cards were selected from the list of "passed" cards on the website. We have heard it's our video drivers, so we have changed to what was recommended, again. We have heard that it is our network, so we moved the engineering server and users to a dedicated network, then had it looked at bt the RTM(regioal tech manager). The problems continue. So I start copying performance logs every time there is a crash, and forward them, along with a description of what the user was doing. And guess what SWcorp has responded with. It's your video card, or driver, or your network. Now, either that is true, and all the advise we received on cards, drivers and our network is wrong. Or that is just a canned response for problems they don't want to deal with. If it's the first, then we have wasted a considerable amount of money on recommended changes. If it's the second, then we have wasted a considerable amount of money on software. In either case, things are not looking good.

I truely hope that neither of these turn out to be true, but right now, things are not looking good.

I must say, however, that our VAR has been exceptionally supportive, and has been working diligently to get answers from SWcorp.

I also must say that I am not a SW basher (contrary to how this posting sounds). I have used a number of cad packages (acad, pro-e, sdrc, solidedge, ect.), and SW is, by far, the best. If we could just end our "Unhadled Error" problem, I would consider SW to be unsurpassable. If only it wouldn't crash.

Thanks for your time.

 

[SBaugh]

I'm sure you tried all of these, but I thought I would just ask again.

Have you done all the Computer Maintenance possible? faq559-884 - Defrag?

Have you tried out PDMworks or just worked locally to rule out your network?

Is it all files?

Can you reproduce it constantly?

Did you have your AV on when installing?

Have you tried a new personal Windows profile?

Have you tried cleaning out the registry? And not using the FAQ I wrote. I mean go to the top of the Registry and click on "Edit" - "Find" - Type in "Solidworks" and just go through each key and delete it. Reboot the system and reinstall with any AV turned off? If you have an AV running off a server unplug your Ethernet cable.

Crashing does happen, that can't be undone. Computers are not perfect and who knows who writes all that code that goes into SW, and Windows, etc...

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376