Losing faith in your software

RE: Losing faith in your software

Sye — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 16:52:32 GMT

Yes the behavior Zoom Window and Dynamic Zoom got swapped in STAAD.Pro Connect Edition compared to what it was in STAAD.Pro v8i. This has been addressed by the developers and the feature is currently under testing. The fix should be available in the STAAD.Pro CE Update 3 which is expected to be released this summer.

RE: Losing faith in your software

Tank — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 13:41:21 GMT

Actually, the behavior of Zoom Window and Dynamic Zoom are reversed from previous versions and how it is described in Help. I should emphasize that I'm talking about "Help" not tool tips. The behavior described in too tips is opposite from how it's described in Help.

RE: Losing faith in your software

Sye — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 19:04:11 GMT

Tank/Russell : Ideally we would like to address every issue that is reported till date in an upcoming release. However practically it is next to impossible to do that. STAAD & RAM products, just like many of the other Bentley products, are used across the globe by hundreds and thousands of users every day. So you can imagine how many issues get reported. Since we cannot address all in a single release, we put in our best effort to prioritize the issues considering their impact and fix as much as we can in one release. Issues that cannot be addressed spills over to a future release.

On that same note, there are lot of issues that get addressed in every release and in case you are not aware, you can find a detailed list of such items in the published revision history

https://communities.bentley.com/products/ram-staad/w/structural_analysis_and_design__wiki/6555/revision-history

In addition, I would like to mention that a lot of development effort has gone in towards launching the STAAD.Pro Connect Edition with the new interface and the new physical modeler. I am not claiming that it is at it’s best. Rather we are improving it every day based on our own testing and based on user feedback. More and more users are adopting the Connect edition and I am sure it would add more and more value to them down the line, as we come up with more releases.

Talking of releases, we are going to have a release every quarter so that newer features and fixes reach our users faster. Our QA process is being bolstered by automated testing in addition to the manual methods that we already use.

So I am really excited about the future of our products and I am very hopeful that you will see the value in using our products too.

RE: Losing faith in your software

Seth Guthrie — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 19:02:09 GMT

Regarding why to upgrade to the Connect Edition, we added some new web pages to cover key features: https://www.bentley.com/en/Perspectives-and-Viewpoints/Topics/Campaign/CONNECT-Edition-STAAD

Regarding defects, we try to fix the most critical issues first and also include other fixes that might be easier to address. Within the first 2 updates many of the defects and enhancement requests we received were, in fact, implemented, just not the issue Tank mentioned regretfully. I'll see if "Defect 795150: Dynamic zoom not working" can be addressed in the next update. Meanwhile I understand that it works fine from the menu.

One of the advantages of the Connect Edition is the update notification and simplified update process, so that we can get fixes to the users more quickly.

RE: Losing faith in your software

Russell Fude — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 18:48:31 GMT

No I have not, just the generic letter from Seth Guthrie up there. I'm currently working with version 20.07.11.70 and it must not have this feature because it just brings up the standard right click menu when holding down the shift key.

I'm in the same boat as you, I could care less about how pretty it is, I just need it to function correctly but I am a little fish in a big company and I don't have the administrative rights to getting the new versions installed or even enter a service ticket, I have to do this through our cadd technician and he has to submit it for documentation. I have done a write up that my manager has relayed back to our other offices and the chief engineer of our company to try and get us up to speed on the latest and greatest which seems to have been well received.

My manager has said this seems to be the norm for how STAAD has approached this when he was using it before the GUI was introduced. He would report an issue, they would ask for the code and would send it back fixed and then a few months would go by and a new version would be pushed out. Quality control does not seem to be their strong suit.

RE: Losing faith in your software

Tank — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 17:48:51 GMT

Russell, just wondering if you have got any response from Bentley about explaining why you need new versions of STAAD. I got the latest version two weeks ago and I discovered a very simple bug I reported back in December is still not fixed! The bug is if you hit <Shift> <Right mouse button> to bring up the view tools, dynamic zoom does not work.

While new features may or may not be nice there are only two reasons I need new versions. Updated design codes and bug fixes. It hardly seems fair that we have to pay for the latter. Or worse yet, pay the maintenance fee only to have bugs languish for years.

RE: Losing faith in your software

Jason McCool — Mon, 07 May 2018 18:28:22 GMT

The oldest email I still have is from December 2011, but I think I first asked about them back in 2010. The first response I remember was someone from Bentley wondering why that would be needed... I never got any more responses from that person again. I used to hear that they would be in the "next version" for several cycles, maybe 2011 to 2014 roughly. Then they stopped giving an ETA on HSS connections, although they bought Limcon in 2013, and did make the mistake of promising a merged program that would incorporate the HSS connections already in Limcon at one point. That consolidation of connection design capabilities was supposed to occur within a year (v10 was supposed to be the new consolidated version as I recall). Seemed overly optimistic at the time, and apparently it was. That and they probably would've ended up with either mad Limcon users, mad RAM users, or both... Oh well, at least v12 is the start of some HSS connection design.

RE: Losing faith in your software

Vishal Girase — Thu, 03 May 2018 04:11:39 GMT

True,

Whenever you try to make cross checking, you always find the problems.

Also the help files for RAM connection gives very limited information.

It starts with meaning of the connections names, their limitations (there are too many actually) etc.

Whenever we compare with STAAD, which has enough information available in help file,

RAM connection lack behind far considerable margin.

Hope they will improve it soon.

RE: Losing faith in your software

Tank — Thu, 03 May 2018 03:00:19 GMT

Agree about RAM Connection. How long have they been promising HSS connections?

RE: Losing faith in your software

Jason McCool — Wed, 02 May 2018 15:35:09 GMT

I've felt like a Bentley beta tester for several years as well. Actually, I find more bugs in Bentley production versions than I do in other programs where I actually do beta-testing. RAM Connection is, as far as I can tell, Bentley's red-headed stepchild that they keep locked in the basement and throw a bread crust to every now and then... Which is unfortunate since that was my main connection design software. Also unfortunate since every project requires connections, and most failures (e.g. KC Hyatt...) occur at connections. That's a bad design area to neglect and not dedicate adequate resources to.

RE: Losing faith in your software

Tank — Mon, 30 Apr 2018 18:41:30 GMT

Russell, I have had the exact comment to them that I feel like a beta tester. Just to compare notes, I've opened 116 service request since 2012. A few were just questions, some were enhancement request and a few were my mistake but most, by far, were bug notifications. Fifty of these are showing as being closed. I feel it is Bentley's job to tell me when they fixed the bug and close out the ticket, not mine to review my reported bugs every time a new release comes out, then, if it's fixed close the ticket. I seldom get notified when a bug is fixed.

To your point about users not being aware of bugs, I would say this is a certainty.

RE: Losing faith in your software

Seth Guthrie — Fri, 27 Apr 2018 16:20:10 GMT

Russell,

I'll try to address your concerns though they are many. If a defect is found in a current version it does indeed get logged into our database for correction. We can't always make a correction for the next version but try to, certainly when the issue is critical.

We recently started a semi-automated process of emailing users who have reported an issue when a version with the fix is released. If you have issue numbers I can track down the status for you. We also post release notes covering critical fixes for most products.

We are releasing software more often (~ once per quarter) now so that solutions can be delivered to users quicker, and we have also made it easier to get updates through the Connection Client, though I can appreciate not all users are able to update their software directly as you indicated.

We have a good group of people testing the software and running our quality assurance program, but with so many codes, links, workflows etc I'm sure some issues do not get identified until the software is released. So we are also investigating ways of sharing our certification models or results to improve user confidence (this is in the early stages).

I hope that helps, let me know if you have any more specific issues that I can help with.