Since someone mentioned ProductCenter from Softtech, so I have to take
this jab.
Even if you do have a successful third party implementation, PTC can
dump them from their certified third party program at any time. At
least that's what PTC has done to Softtech. Softtech is no longer
allowed to update their software to work with PTC's software. There are
some convoluted ways around this issue which all seem pretty silly to me
(read: "pay money to PTC).
You might argue that Softtech did something wrong to PTC to force this
issue. But PTC would never give an explanation (I asked over and over
again). And if Softtech did do something wrong and deserved to be
booted, it still shouldn't be a revenue increasing opportunity for PTC
(they recommended the software!). PTC's solution (if you didn't want to
switch to a PTC PDM solution) was to have every customer purchase a
$20,000 (+yearly maintenance) of Toolkit. Sounds like a win-win
situation to me.
In my opinion, just one more black eye for PTC.
