Here, here. Well said.
I'd also like to say that when it comes to helping
the customer learn to use the advanced functionality of IV, Autodesk has not
been there to help unless $$$ was involved. The VARs that I deal with
don't know squat about the software beyond how to do a few easy examples of
basic shapes and drawings. The manual that comes with the software gets a
new user started, but doesn't show how to use everything, and the help files are
confusing and frustrating. The best place for help is here, and the
questions are answered by non-Autodesk people 99% of the time. If you
think this isn't true, think about all the comments and requests that have been
made here about the helpful tutorials that some of our colleagues have made
and share with us expecting no payment for their trouble.
My thanks to all those who participate in this
NG. Those who ask questions, those who answer them, and those who state
their problems and opinions, all generate dialog here that I
find helpful. Now why doesn't Autodesk want to be a bigger part of
that?!?
Mike
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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
