There are four things I can immediately think
of that Autodesk does to directly contribute to the frustration
level.
1) Making wild claims about the product in
their sales propaganda that real users know is a load of reeking
fertilizer. Inventor's much touted dwg compatibility (cough) is a
classic example of this. This begs the question: Does Autodesk *really*
know what it's like to actually try to use these "features"? After putting
up with the same problems release after release, the only conclusion is that
they really do believe their own pasture decor. This reinforces the notion
that they aren't really listening to their customers (and yet 'customer driven'
is one of their favorite marketing phrases). No matter how close this is
to the truth, it's easy to believe because.....
2) They never tell us anything. To get any
real information out of an Autodesk employee, you have to put the screws on 'em
until they give in and bend the rules a bit, throwing out a hint while
looking over their shoulder as if the software cops are going to jump out of the
bushes and drag them off for six months of correctional shock treatments and a
partial lobotomy. Ok, maybe they have to be that way, but when you
contrast the bare trickle of hard usable information from engineering with the
gushing flood of self-serving hype from marketing, it's easy to see why
folks are getting tense. And the tension just increases every
time.....
3) They issue a release with new features that
have every user I know saying:.......Whaaat?? Except in the case of R7 is
was more like:..........Wheeeere?? With the upcoming IV7Pro, we're all
just speechless. Stinging from being called armatures if we don't buy the
new add-on, dumbfounded that they'd have the audacity to crow about how it's not
really an add-on and therefore they're not really like the competition at all,
and at a loss for words wondering how many of the fixes we've asked for for so
long got shoved aside in favor of this....this thing. Ok, so I'm not
speechless, but we still need the fixes. Those fixes, by the way, are
only outstanding because.....
4) They release half-baked features, then
never seem to finish them. From the BOM to text handling to dimensioning
to the part library (and the list could go on and on...), Inventor is full of
stuff that was brought just to the level where it's tolerable, and the
workarounds are 'acceptable' (to someone who doesn't have to use them all day),
and just left there. Not just through one release. When Autodesk
introduces a feature that is obviously not really done yet, and then
does little to make it actually usable in the following releases,
people start wondering who's looking after the big picture.
A lot of this frustration has some
justification. It's roots are in a feeling of betrayal.
Autodesk had best take notice; the time when everyone would
tolerate Inventor's little hissy-fits because the software was young is
quickly passing.
Walt Jaquith
