CONNECT - Service Pack updates

Can anyone from Bentley confirm whether this is something that is being considered. Would certainly help with updates.

Can anyone from Bentley confirm whether this is something that is being considered?

That was to mean no spirit. Also, the CONNECT Edition obviously is an incomplete product which was designed for developer only. Just forget about the service update packs in the near future and wait for next major release.

Automating product updates is a welcome idea for making the deployment process more efficient. For example, we now deliver language packs rather than only localized full builds. We have evaluated, but do not yet distribute, an upgrade installer for MicroStation. Delivering these automatically is also something we can consider. It would be helpful to have your input in terms of products or workflows that handle this well, and thoughts on the important considerations such as administration.

Would an automatic update be welcome?
How often would you want service packs to be available?
What else needs to be considered before we go to a more automatic, granular update mechanism?

We appreciate all constructive comments!

Unknown said:

Would an automatic update be welcome?
How often would you want service packs to be available?
What else needs to be considered before we go to a more automatic, granular update mechanism?

To answer your questions, Yes automatic (well let us choose when to download and install) would be welcome. Would save on having to download (and store) a massive file, and would allow instant update of enhancements/problems, 

Time wise it would depend on what the update is for but could be done fairly regularly, say 3 monthly, with additional ones if needed in between.

Unknown said:

CONNECT Edition obviously is an incomplete product which was designed for developer only.

This is pretty negative and strict assertion. Can you provide some facts to justify it?

My experience: I know users that have started to use MicroStation CONNECT Edition as a part of evaluation process in parallel with V8i and the most of them not experiencing more problems than expected for the first version of completely reworked software. Contrary to it, if there is an area you can experience a lot of problems, it's using APIs, because they were reworked and enhanced substantially. From this perspective developers encounter more issues than users.

Regards,

  Jan

I highly value to be able to install and run different versions of MicroStation.

We must be able to test new versions before putting them into production!
We have different languages and/or datasets that doesn't update at the same time as the baase product.

Please do NOT have updates only.

I see it as a very small problem downloading some big files a few times a year.

I highly value to be able to install and run different versions of MicroStation.

We must be able to test new versions before putting them into production!
We have different languages and/or datasets that doesn't update at the same time as the baase product.

Please do NOT have updates only.

I see it as a very small problem downloading some big files a few times a year.

Hi Thomas,

Unknown said:

I highly value to be able to install and run different versions of MicroStation.

We will see how CONNECT Edition will behave. If it will be the same as V8i, it's not probable minor updates will be able to run in parallel with other CONNECT Edition.

Unknown said:

We must be able to test new versions before putting them into production!

Windows virtualization is the solution. For testing usually not the top performance is necessary, so desktop virtualization using Hyper-V (part of Windows Professional) or VMWare (there are more solutions available) is enough. Cloud virtualization like Microsoft Azure can be also used, but it's not for free. And using virtualization it's ensured there will be no conflict with production environment.

Unknown said:

I see it as a very small problem downloading some big files a few times a year.

It's not problem for me also (140 MBit Internet at home ;-), but we live in countries where high speed connection is available. But conditions elsewhere can be totaly different, so I guess to have smaller service pack can be huge benefit for many users. But full installation have to be provided also at the same time.

Regards,

  Jan

The DVD delivery is still there, and it used to be very fast - so I don't see the problem.