Windchil 10.0 - first impressions

[gchampoux]

Has anyone else taken a look at Windchill 10.0 (beta) yet?

I am still learning/configuring/testing Intralink 9.1 (including migration from 3.4).
However, by the time I am ready to deploy 9.1, 10,0 is likely to be fully released (F000).
So I downloaded and installed 10.0 C000 for a quick test drive.

My first observation: Massive UI change.
I am not yet ready to decide if this UI is better than 9.1.
However, I am concerned that PTC made such a radical change.
This almost forces me to delay our deployment until 10.0.
If I deploy 9.1 and upgade to 10.x later, our users will have to learn a new/different UI.
Users tend to be resistant to change.
So I would prefer to teach them only one UI.

I also noticed that the performance is much slower than 9.1, but this may be due to 10.0's beta status.
It might still have a lot of debug code active.

Gerry

[avillanueva]

It is dramatic. Did you recompile the JSP pages ahead of time? That can
account for speed issues at the beginning. In my experience, it is rare
for users to customize their own UI. Mostly, it will be admins creating
it for them based on their profile. Open in new tab still blows some
people away.

[ptc-568593]

Some notes below we made on 10 regarding customization after having a look at it.

I am working with a client that is planning a go live quite soon and for me going live and upgrading will be tough, as you said not so much for technical reasons but much more for user acceptance, 10 is very, very different. After some hours playing with it, I am beginning to really like it and 9.1 feels at little old in comparison. I will be trying to get them to go live on 10 if it is at all feasible.

It should be quicker, the JCA improvements, use of GWT and the tomcat/MS combinations should give a quick responsive UI. Some serious work has gone into the new version.

Simon
------

10 is a major upgrade to Windchill™. The User Interface has significantly changed and so does have a potential impact on the viability of 9.1 customizations.

Windchill™ 9.1 uses a propriety user interface technology (albeit supported by standards) called JCA and the 9.1 customizations should have been delivered using this technique. However 10 also enhances JCA and adds a new technology called Google Web Toolkit (GWT) that is an open source framework that is used in many applications, including Google Mail™ and Google Map™. Not all the new Windchill™ interface is exclusively developed with this technology, the primary application of it is the new Product Structure Browser. The standard APIs and data utilities remain similar to R9.1

In conclusion, R10 is becoming based on more open and widely used technology and techniques, this will make the task of creating and maintaining customizations easier. Clients will benefit from the new interface and it will be possible to upgrade existing customizations.

[ptc-94420]

Hi Gerry,

Yes, we are a reseller, but I completely understand where you are coming from. I personally go through this with every piece of technology I purchase. When making personal buying decisions, I try to step back and see if the current technology is going to allow me to spend more time with my family, meet my technical needs, make my life easier, save me money or just add some form of joy to my life. If it meets any of these criteria, I usually buy or adopt it. From a business perspective I look to see if it is going to, again, allow me to spend more time with my family, save our customers money, reduce overall operating costs (save money), make us more money, etc... I don't know what your current situation is but if you are on 3.4 I can tell you that 9.1 M060 is far more stable and productive. One of many reasons to upgrade to 9.1 now is that in order to continue running 3.4 the rest of your environment is probably being held back. This includes server environments, workstations, operating systems, clients, etc... This has to be costing you productivity ($). The reality is that 10.0 is still in Beta. We are running it here and the enhancements are very impressive. It shows us that PTC is listening to its customers and continuing to improve their products in major ways. It also reinforces our decision that we choose the right products to sell. However, unimplemented, it is not solving the problems we or our customers are currently dealing with. I am not speaking for PTC but my guess is that it will probably be 3, 6 or maybe even 12 months before a battle tested version of 10.0 is ready. What will the cost be to you and your company, over that time period, if you wait and stick with what you have? BTW, once a battle tested version of 10.0 is available they may be releasing the next major version into Beta. Do you wait again, perpetually delaying the decision? As far as having to train users on 10.0 after a 9.1 implementation... Users tend to resist the most when they are losing control. My guess is that they will be more than happy to spend the time to learn 10.0. I say this because 10.0 gives the users far more flexibility in customizing their work environment. The enhancements are amazing. My two cents (from a biased reseller and engineer).... Have a good holiday!

Regards,

[cid:image001.gif@01CBA2A2.91C01F40]

[ddemay]

I plan on installing it over New Years. Have seen it many times over past several months. Excited to begin posting differences I find. I would not put 10.0 into production until first maintenance release is available.


Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

[SteveVinyard]

10 is going to be a really big jump in a number of ways. If you do plan to jump on board at the F000-M020 level, make sure you are able to perform upgrades as soon as they come out. There will be bugs and problems...especially with a jump this significant. That being said, PTC has taken a new development approach where things get released at a "When it's done" level instead of hard release dates, I'm told, so hopefully that will mitigate some of the early adoption pain.

We also need to be conscious of the upgrade path from 9.1 to 10.0 I'm not sure if anyone has experience with that but it's certainly something to consider having been through a lot of 8-91 jumps.


[cid:image001.gif@01CBA2AB.CCD0BB90]

Steve Vinyard
Application Engineer

[ptc-1470646]

No need to start and stop tomcat separately!!!
Regards,
Dhananjay Sandbhor

[FeofilovIvan]

I test Windchill 10 andI liked it. You can ask for an official reseller PPT presentation about new features ofWindchill 10.