The Global Archicad Community

[Mats_Knutsson]

God is in the workflow...

[didrik]

[...] the Ribbon. So you've got a GUI designed for a word processor forced onto high-end CAD software, and it just doesn't work. Most users are hating it. And we didn't ask for it: it was just shoved down our collective throats. Some users have really had the carpet pulled out from under them as a result. [...]

Hearing a similar thing here as well, although it's the way the ribbons are working rather than the ribbon itself which seems to be the problem. Menu choices shifting position, etc., presumably in accordance with the process the user is supposed to be using. For established users of Revit, however, who already have some workable way of operating different from that which the current menus support or guide, it's apparently really annoying. I've heard the term 'psychotic' applied to the Revit 2010 menuing system, by an expert, long-time user, as well as pleas for a return to the previous menu layout.
While the future of a product is in people who are not users yet, the way to get to the future is by being good to the users one has. AD has been weak on that, although as mentioned elsewhere, the "Stockholm Syndrome" with Revit and so on, is powerful.

[didrik]

[...]
Any way if we could have Gods blessing, our software should have been perfect for everybody, Something impossible, not just with Archicad but with any other software .. :)

No, no, no, no, no. No. That's not how the argument from religion works. It goes on to use the very fact you observe -- that not one software is perfect for everybody -- to establish that there are "the Righteous" (definitely with a capital "R"!), and the "heathens" (written with sub-lowercase, somehow). The Righteous, by definition, will be those for whom the software is perfect -- er, I mean, for those who recognize the Truth of The Perfect when they see it -- , while the heathens will simply be the rest of us, condemned to the world of thought and interaction with the physical world.
-
One must be careful using these religious analogies because they can lead to places from which there is no easy return.

[didrik]

[....]
Just hope they never force a Ribbon on your interface in a future release :P

If it's to be a Windows application, which was advertised in past decades, then GS may have to follow the ribbon metaphor / organization. However, it might allow users to preserve previous screen/menu layouts and succeed where others may fail. Preserving some valuable things from the past seems to be sxomething that GS has supported, via WEP and flexible shortcuts.

[Petros Ioannou]

What is funny is that I made a sarcastic comment on people "evangelizing" the software they use (whatever it is...) and the whole conversation went to David and Goliath just to make my argument stronger...
we should all remember that this is a multi-cultural, multi-Ethnic forum and not everyone reading it knows (or even cares) about David...
We should think more globally (specially now with TW2)!
And when it comes to software, remember that if something fits you it doesn't mean it fits everyone...

I should have stayed with the football team example (soccer for our US friends)

[ares997]

I agree... the story is an analogy of a situation where a person is faced with something larger than themselves and has to respond with technology...nothing religious was mentioned.

[TomWaltz]

..nothing religious was mentioned.

You mean, besides the Bible?

[ares997]

Yeah I guess I should have used something from "Finding Nemo", "Goonies" or "Dune," or even "Kill Bill."

The point again is just that technology always wins over size. For example in my analysis of Graphisoft it seems similar to Porsche. In many ways one is keeping the product very similar, release after release and only tweaking minor things under the hood. Adjusting the technology and improving it such that you gain much more performance, increased handling, and ultimately it's capabilities. Porsche has a much smaller displacement engine that most of its competition yet it is considered the best sports car, and sports car company of all time, with more wins at Le Mans than any other manufacture. Specifically you can look at the new 911 with pdk and improved mpg, variable turbine blades (911tt).

This is similar to what I would consider to what Graphisoft has done with AC13, they haven't tried to re-invent the wheel as does some of the others out there in the world. They have just fixed minor things and created new technological solutions to squeeze out of the same size box.

This is why it seems to me that looking ahead we as supporters should show support. Though maybe this isn't how you feel. Or the analogies that i express are misconstrued and their meanings lost.

I can't help you get anymore excited than you already are, or as Graphisoft has tried to. The complacency is sicking the complaining and constantly misdirected comments that have nothing to do with the goal at hand or the task before us is unusual for a loyalist bunch such as ourselves.

What else could GS have done to make you more excited. They have given you more than enough tools to do what you need. And they have even given you the tools you need to make your own tools. Though it is the typical complaint that they didn't get what they want. Without understanding the implication of what they have, the effort put forth and the time and resources it takes to get what we are about to receive. This company has always brought things that others haven't brought to the market. There are many people who should really enjoy the little things in life rather than wanting a complete overhaul ever year.

There are many who spend more time in here (the forums) complaining and ranting about how poorly they have managed their lives, their files, their work stations, their companies, who should really want to overhaul their own existences and buy a new cpu ever couple of years and then understand and appreciate how lucky they are to have had the opportunity to use such a great product, and work with such a unique bunch of supporters, unlike anything else in the world today in many ways.

The point is....we need to be the supporters, the proponents, and the people who help spread the word, to our engineers, to our other consultants, to the rest of the world about how lucky we are and our product is...

[Karl Ottenstein]

There are many who spend more time in here (the forums) complaining and ranting about ...

The point is....we need to be the supporters, the proponents, and the people who help spread the word, to our engineers, to our other consultants, to the rest of the world about how lucky we are and our product is...

I think you'll find that the majority of people here are indeed proponents of ArchiCAD and do provide good word-of-mouth advertising for it, but yes, here you will see questions, complaints, rants, frustration... but also, resolutions, wishes, "aha" moments ... because these forums are a user-to-user technical support channel as well as a user-to-Graphisoft wishlist medium.

The posts here are typically about problems - hence they may seem negative: most of them are learning issues, some of them are people bumping into limitations of the software and needing workarounds, some are bugs and crashes. Some posts are about sharing work, and getting crits and tips to improve. Those are the kinds of posts that have been and are supposed to be here.

This is not the place to get a cheerleading squad going. You may want to start a separate web site for that? Or a "We love ArchiCAD" group on Facebook, etc?

People are here to learn, improve, solve problems, confirm bugs, express frustrations and wishes and much more.... because they are using ArchiCAD and either believe it is the best product for them (majority), or are using it because their employer requires it.

Cheers,
Karl

[ares997]

That is a good point I might need to invest in some Archicad cheer leader outfits for that website. Though I think cheer leading can happen here too Karl. I know the frustration that some have when they get started or have been in the trenches for years. I can remember some things that crashed and somethings that shinned with Archiad as my tool of choice.

I guess the consistency in not patting our software, our software developers, the leaders within the company on the back is a constant thread. Not counting on GS to put nice little add-ons on our discs is hard for me, because for me every release has been a step forward, progress, evolution. I didn't have that much time with r8 and r8.1 before I was on r9. And even with r10 was a little hard to deal with at times but the things they changed and improved saved me time in the end, even with the crashes or loss of consistency.

I just want you guys to understand the importance of right here right now. They say if you are looking into the future and into the past at the same time you are pissing on today.