Velocity III SP 1

[moldcore]

Anyone see anything new or fixed in Velocity III SP 1 worth commenting about? Looks like yet another release in name only. Still no undo…

Another year’s maintenance thrown away. It's no wonder our dealer has added another CAD/CAM program to their product list.

[pcschwenke]

Moldcore,

I do not know if much has changed in the new Velocity program either. Many things are lacking but, I think they are still ahead of most of the competition.

Our dealer is pushing us toward Camworks (another product they sell) because of internal issue at Surfware. Personally, I think he makes more money selling the other product and may drop Surfcam. I've asked for a username/password for Camworks and Surfcam to post questions on their home forums but, still haven't received them. This burns me up!! From what I've read Camworks has many issues also.

Paul

[jeff1000]

>because of internal issue at Surfware

What is the internal issue?

[pcschwenke]

Our rep says that the family who owns surfcam is at odds with one another. Also, he mentioned that they are not planning to update issues in 4 axis EDM or other areas for CAM. Personally, I do not have a lot of faith in what he has said. If all this is true, why is he holding off on getting me a user name/password to put a post in the Surfware home page. I've asked 2 times now. Our company even has a service contract with them!

Paul

[moldcore]

“why is he holding off on getting me a user name/password to put a post in the Surfware home page.”

I’m not sure what you mean by this but if you’re thinking that Surfware has a forum like this, forget it. They would rather have their dirty laundry aired out in public forums like this. I believe that Surfcam in the only CAM software that doesn’t have a company run user forum.

[pcschwenke]

Moldcore,

If you go to http://www.surfware.com/default.asp?contentID=523 , you can ask questions direct to surware about issues in the product or search for answers. However, you do need a user name and password.

Paul

[moldcore]

Well, I check this site regularly (just did) and haven’t seen a place to ask questions or offer enhancement request for years. I’ve sent many request in the past and rarely received a response from Surfware. The enhancement request form went away about the time Velocity came along.

I don’t now why you can’t get a password if you’re on maintenance. I would go directly to Surfware and demand one, screw your dealer. He obviously has his interest somewhere else. The user name and password was sent to every user on maintenance last November.

To be honest I don’t understand why they require a password to get to this helpful information. This information should be accessible to every one, the old saying goes “an informed user is a happy user”. Most of the complaints I hear from ex Surfcam users is that they couldn’t do this or that with the program when in reality it wasn’t the program, the user was never showed how. Surfcam is a pretty good program but suffers terribly from a stale interface and poor development. I know redoing the interface would require a major rewrite costing hundreds of thousands of dollars and that could be what the family is fighting over. You got to invest in your business if it’s to remain competitive in today’s world.

[mdlmkr]

From what my dealer told me, the company has lost so much revenue and employees, that the company is moving to a space that is about 1/10 of the space they filled up just 5 years ago. He also told me that they lost the guy who "invented" Truemill and a bunch of other key players in development. This being said, I am not expecting ANY new features in the next release. I can tell you one thing NO MORE MAINTENANCE FOR ME! They couldnt address my issues when they were at full capacity. Now that they are downsizing, I know that I have no chance of seeing any of my issues resolved.

It sucks, but I have to change packages. I have used SURFCAM for a long time, but I have to get with the times and get a package that is up to date. Up to date not only with user interface, but also with the rest of the market. They have Truemill...great. Now tell me why I should buy or maintain the product and dont mention Truemill. There is no reason I can think of.

I have been evaluating CAMWorks. I choose that one because it runs inside of SolidWorks and I like SolidWorks. It seems to be fine. Nothing is perfect. Plus it is so much more powerful than SURFCAM that there is a little more to learn. It actually has undo and gouge check for my multi axis.

So I hate to say goodbye to SURFCAM, but I think it may be time. If they turn out a quality product in the future that is comparable to its peers, I may reevaluate.

[mdlmkr]

Wow. You really need to relax and make more informed statements and not make them ad hominem.

[pcschwenke]

Truemill is a program very seldom used by our company but, we continue to hear great things about it. If you don't use it, how easily you forget how. We do use the new Surfcam daily.

As for CAM programs, I think we will be staying with Surfcam. Our service has been excellent and nothing has prompted us to change. We realized that most of our initial problems with the wire EDM was lack of understanding of our control requirements. Our old control has many limitations. Personally, I do not care for packages that run within other programs. Seems like this may cause issues for one or both programs. Just my thoughts.

As for username/password, our company received a copy this a long time ago, I just never got it. Sorry for the wrong information!

A personal statement I listed a couple months ago was wrong of me to write. I'm truly sorry and regret writing it. No one should judge a company or persons based on actions of or recommendations. I'd like to retract all my previous posts on this subject.

Paul

[sinderal]

Surfware hasn't a Fourm like this!
http://www.surfware.com/default.asp?contentID=523

If your Surfcam on maint. then you should rcvd the SP1 CD w/ labeled the User name and password!

[sinderal]

Originally Posted by mdlmkr From what my dealer told me, the company has lost so much revenue and employees, that the company is moving to a space that is about 1/10 of the space they filled up just 5 years ago. He also told me that they lost the guy who "invented" Truemill and a bunch of other key players in development.

Which dealer told you those? Surfware never changed their "Space" over 13 years after the earthquake 1994? They moved to Westlake Village over 13 years ago! You should read the address on the CD or from Website!