ProductPoint is dead

[egifford]

Announcement on PTC's web site today & via Bulletins email that Windchill ProductPoint is being retired and ProductPoint users will have their licensingupgraded to Windchill PDMLink. Interesting. I'd be pretty ticked if I had just migrated from a small 3.4 implementation or no PLM to ProductPoint and now have to move from that to PDMLink. Perhaps long term we'll all benefit from a tighter focus on development of Windchill PDMLink instead of PDMLink and ProductPoint. Almost makes it sound like ProductPoint was someone's pet project, though. Odd since they sure announced it with great fanfare at the user conference a few years ago. Anyway, to all those using ProductPoint....welcome to the world ofWindchill PDMLink.

links below (requireslogin on PTCs support pages)

Bulletins

Important Notification for Windchill ProductPoint Customers

Windchill ProductPoint FAQ

[BenLoosli]

I wonder if Microsoft is planning changes to SharePoint that PTC can't work into the way they implemented ProductPoint on top of it?


Thank you,

Ben H. Loosli
USEC, INC.

[sdrzewiczewski]

I'm guessing not enough customers to justify continued deveolpment and support.

[egifford]

It certainly seemed to be a rather niche software offering. We looked into it and were told our implementation of Pro/E and Intralink was too big to go to the "ease" of ProductPoint (it seemed to be a more direct replacement for Intralink 3.4 - just manage my CAD data). On top of that some functionality was missing and the hardware requirements seemed to exceed what Windchill PDMLink needed. My guess is PTC was just not seeing the ROI on the continued development expenses. That and they were probably too much at the mercy of whatever direction Microsoft chooses to take SharePoint.

[keithschm]

We implemented this and it was a disaster. The time and money we put in to this product was a hugh waste. The basic functions that were promised never were implemated. They only had 2 Support people in the US. We moved to PDM Link months ago. I am not surprised to see the POS Software Killed!!!

[BenLoosli]

I would also guess that PTC didn't offer any discounts for your wasted time and money when you upgraded, either.

Thank you,

Ben H. Loosli
USEC, INC.

[kbryant]

ProductPoint 2.0 was based on the new Microsoft SharePoint 2010. This was
supposed to allow ProductPoint to have some great new features we were
asking for. I had seen a demo of ProductPoint 2.0 and liked what I saw. I
hadn't heard anything about its release lately & was beginning to wonder if
it had fallen into the abyss. Suspicions are now confirmed.



I guess our company was one of the few that actually like ProductPoint and
thought it was great for a small company like ours. We have been using it
successfully since late 2009.



Shafted again by PTC.



Regards,

Kelly Bryant

Teknovation, Inc.

kelly.bryant@teknovation.net

601.450.0078

[avillanueva]

When I saw this product at PTCUser, I spoke with a PLM and stated, "Wow,
you just killed off ProjectLink." There was no reason why to use
ProjectLink since the functionality appeared to be there in ProductPoint
and more (tighter MSOffice integration and ProjectServer). Well, looks
like ProjectLink now has life.

[SteveVinyard]

I'm told that PTC is giving people free upgrades to Windchill for PP users.

The whole initiative was to provide a streamlined interface that was easy to use on a small product. Windchill kind of has this now with 10 though plus we don't have to worry about switching platforms if someone wants to move to it.

PP was a weak software though. Wish it hadn't been made in the first place.

[cid:image001.gif@01CC064B.D84CAFC0]

Steve Vinyard
Application Engineer

[BenLoosli]

Free upgrades on software is one thing.
I will bet that PTC is not providing free hardware and OS licenses that will be required for Windchill over the resources required by ProductPoint.

Also, PTC has said that when maintenance is renewed, it will be at the new PDMLink pricing.

TANSTAAFL


Thank you,

Ben H. Loosli
USEC, INC.

[JohnMattson]

I don't think that ProductPoint really had a much smaller footprint than PDMLink, in terms of servers, OS, etc. I my opinion, ProductPoint was never as 'simple' as they made it out to be. To start with, getting SharePoint installed is not simple, plus it has specific server, DB, OS requirements.

John

[SteveVinyard]

Not sure on the maintenance but that sounds right. You might need some additional hardware but it shouldn't be that big of difference in footprint. Never the less I'm glad it's dead, fragmentation leads to some bad stuff and will always leave one product out in the cold.

[cid:image001.gif@01CC0656.EDF23790]

Steve Vinyard
Application Engineer

[magnus.salomons]

LOL....I sure would like to see this session.....

From the Agenda PlanetPTC Live, 12-15 June, 2011, Las Vegas, USA

Maximizing the Value of Windchill ProductPoint

Chris Bergquist, Sr. Director of Product Management

PTC

Learn the best practices and configuration considerations to allow key roles in your company to get the most value from your Windchill ProductPoint deployment. Roles addressed will include IT administrators, CAD designers, design engineers, manufacturing roles, purchasing agents, sales persons and project managers.

[kbryant]

I'm sure glad I didn't waste my time submitting a presentation for the
conference this year on ProductPoint. I suppose I may have had the honor of
the only User Presentation on ProductPoint since I presented at last year's
conference.



Regards,

Kelly Bryant

Teknovation, Inc.

kelly.bryant@teknovation.net

601.450.0078