BobCADCAM Beta Testing ?

[jonbanquer]

Has anyone who is not a VAR for BobCADCAM done beta testing on BobCADCAM ?

Does BobCADCAM even had a beta testing program that includes BobCADCAM customers ?

If you have done beta testing on BobCADCAM what was your experience with the program ?

jon

[brtlatjgt]

Oh no, another thread started to get people whining again under the guise of CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM!

ENOUGH ALREADY

[jonbanquer]

Hmmm...

It does not appear that anyone who reads the BobCADCAM forum on CNCZone and is not a BobCADCAM VAR has ever done any beta testing on BobCADCAM.

I find this very troubling because I fail to see how a quality CAD/CAM product can be developed and released with out strong user participation in a beta program.

A recent example of an excellent beta testing program that comes to mind is the extensive beta testing done for MasterCAM X.

jon

[ger21]

A lot of software is beta tested by a select group of users, and not the general user public. There may even be NDA's involved. The most important thing is actually listening to the beta testers.

[jonbanquer]

Originally Posted by ger21 A lot of software is beta tested by a select group of users, and not the general user public. There may even be NDA's involved. The most important thing is actually listening to the beta testers.

Just to be clear:

I'm not saying the general user public should be doing BobCADCAM beta testing.

I am saying BobCADCAM power users should be doing beta testing.

Why was HuFlungDung never a BobCADCAM beta tester ?

Why was WMS never a BobCADCAM beta tester ?

What non BobCADCAM VAR involved in CNCZone is a BobCADCAM beta tester ?

Admitting one does beta testing is not in-violation of *any* NDA that I have ever seen / signed.

"The most important thing is actually listening to the beta testers. "

I have yet to determine if BobCADCAM really has a beta testing program that power users are involved in.... despite trying pretty hard to ascertain and confirm the existence of such.

It was very easy to see that CNC Software had a very large beta test for MasterCAM X.

Why is it so hard to see if BobCADCAM has something similar ?

jon

[HuFlungDung]

Jon,
It is a waste of your time to demand that some outfit do more than they are capable of doing. Just as surely, your customers will find out sooner or later if your cadcam system is hindering your shop capabilities, and they will move on.

Use Bobcad for as long as it works for you, then move on. I did.

[jonbanquer]

Hu,

Customers to our job shop are very loyal as the owner has been in business for over 40 years and is well established in Phoenix, Arizona... which has a large machining job shop base thanks to Honeywell / Intel / Motorola (or whatever they are calling their semi conductor spin offs this week.) Our customers don't care about what we use for a CAD/CAM system... they care about getting quality parts at a fair price and feel that the owner of the shop that I work at treats them very well / gives them something special. They are correct.

The owner of the shop that I work at will be retiring in a year. Our shop will not be making any changes in our CADCAM system anytime soon... that's just the way it is.

I believe if more BobCADCAM customers speak up and are polite and persistent that this will force BobCADCAM to change the way they do business.... to some extent.

The CAD/CAM market is not a market that is growing. CAD/CAM buyers are getting smarter and demanding more.... this is why you moved to OneCNC.... you needed more and needed to be treated with the respect you deserve.

BobCADCAM will have to change the way they do business and develop their product in order to stay viable and have any growth. Most of the people that I know are tired of the broken promise's and use older versions of BobCADCAM like V17.

I have been around for awhile and I have seen CADCAM companies change the way they do business and how they develop their product. I believe BobCADCAM has no choice as it's no longer easy to sweep the extensive problems with BobCADCAM under the rug like has been done in the past.

I'm going to continue to focus on where BobCADCAM needs to improve and work with others to get the needed changes. I don't have the options you do in regards to changing CADCAM systems. I love where I work and who I work for. I don't love BobCADCAM in it's current form or how BobCADCAM management tries to totally insulate themselves from knowledgeable customers (not referring to Chris here although communication could be better on that front as well.... still waiting for an update to V20 that fixes the profile problem I reported BobCADCAM V20 has in this forum.) . I'm not sure who could really love BobCADCAM unless they didn't know any better or unless they don't like the kind of driven and persistent personality that I'm known to have and resent anything I post as my past and present comments have annoyed them for whatever reason.... perhaps they don't like to be reminded that the product they use has lots of issues and resent that I point out these issues because it makes them feel very insecure about their choice(s). I can live with that.

jon

[HuFlungDung]

Our customers don't care about what we use for a CAD/CAM system... they care about getting quality parts at a fair price and feel that the owner of the shop that I work at treats them very well / gives them something special. They are correct.

This is exactly what I am talking about: if your chosen cadcam system is preventing your shop from giving the customers the fair price, then its time to switch. While I applaud your loyalty to your boss, it would be better for you to go and get a personal loan to buy (whatever) and "use it on the sly" rather than fool around waiting for the second coming of "bob" when he solves all the problems of his cad

[jonbanquer]

Hu,

It may indeed come down to that.

I wish OneCNC would offer a stripped down package and go after BobCADCAM customers with a *dirt cheap* trade in deal / promotion. It's like no one wants the low end market, yet BobCADCAM seems to do very well. Lots of BobCADCAM in Phoenix, Arizona. I have yet to run into a shop using OneCNC in Phoenix.

I'm basically in favor of whatever puts pressure on BobCADCAM and forces the needed changes.

The lack of fast, reliable and predictable 2 1/2 axis mill tools in BobCADCAM is disheartening. The apparent lack of a real beta test program for BobCADCAM is disheartening. Not hearing anything in regards to just fixing the profile tool in V20 is disheartening.... that this easy to find problem, that I have described with lead in and lead out, when moving the UCS, was never discovered till I mentioned it here is downright scary.

jon

[nervis1]

I use Onecnc in Phoenix, in Scottsdale too



Did you go get a demo and price from Onecnc? Express and advantage are pretty cheap (really cheap when you consider how well they work). ROI on the switch would be very quick I am sure.

[The One]

What Versions of BobCAD-CAM are you guys using?

[tjones]

New to this forum but I thought I would post to this older thread.

I personally have been using V20 and have had a few problems with the new solids posts. Bobcad has been working on the problems and fixed all they found. Remember V20 had many new features added and many more planned. For the cost I got a great software and I have version 19 as well but it was very limited in the path options for solids. So adding many new features to any software usually means someone will find a way to use it that will cause a problem.

I have never had any CADCAM company work this well with me. As a matter of fact if you call this beta testing then so be it but I am testing a fix this week. I was contacted directly by both a developer and a tech support guru. How many other companies will do that when you have a problem? Never happened to me on any system other than a Jungner CNC grinder.

I can't complain about a CADCAM software for under $500 for 2 seats with live support, BobArt (raster to vector), free posts for all machines and any more I send to them. And the scripting is great. I can add my own scripts and use many others from their web forum. I had a tech live support via the interent direct show me how to do something directly on my system while I was on the phone with him asking questions.

Now if I had a $4000 program with 1 post only for a specific machine and had to pay an extra $500 for each additional post then I guess I would be upset when it had a finish problem or if tech was not available 24/7. I have yet to crash a machine with BobCad after over a year of use.