Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Recommended CAM software? Vector of course!

> Jeff, the help is free too and our user forum probably already had
> the answers to your questions.( hint: it's archived on the CD's).

Fred, here's the thing... Everyone seems to think Vector a great
product, best bang for the buck and all of that and I'm inclined to
believe them. But *I* gave up. Admittedly only after a few hours.
A few painful hours.

I've been drawing schematics, laying out PCBs and desiging parts on
paper since I can't remember when. And I've been using software to
do everything but part for well over a decade. When I tried to work
through the examples, try as I might, I couldn't get the results
described or figure out what they were trying say. Maybe my previous
experience and expectations made it harder than it needed to be.
Maybe the interface is simply 180 degrees out of phase with my
personality. Maybe I didn't try hard enough. Dunno.

What I do know is that the only way to describe me feelings and
frustrations is it's rather like having your hands cut off - you know
what you want to do, you know how (under other circumstances) to do
what you want to do, but everything you try either does nothing or
makes matters worse and everything you read assumes everyting you've
tried previously worked. I got literally angry. Perhaps at myself
for not getting it. Perhaps at the programmers (being a programmer
myself, I'm fairly unforgiving there). Perhaps at the tutorial or
it's translation. In any case, angry enough to walk away, take a
breather, try something else (raw G-Code) and I never went back.

Now, whenever a user isn't "getting it", the first answer is RTFM,
right? Only that's what I was trying to do. No joy.

The next answer is usually read the FAQ. Interestingly, nobody's said
that yet (is there one?). But we all know that FAQs are usually long
lists of selling points or a long list of things that *should* already
be in the manual. I was already drowning in the manual. Aditional
lists of things the product is capable of or the nuances of doing them
weren't what I needed.

Formums, I confess, I never even tried. For three reasons. First,
forums generally contain the stuff that hasn't made it into the FAQ or
manual. Sort of an FAQ for the FAQ, which I didn't need. Second,
forums tend to be prohibitively volumous. Third, I'm a bright guy who
*should* be able to figure it out. And no doubt can, given enough
time and effort I will. I'm not (generally) given to asking stupid
questions that scream "I can't be bothered to learn this stuff, would
someone please spoon feed me?" (which, of course, is supposed to be
purpose of the tutorial, no?).

Then there's the free help... This speaks well of your company
that the help is that good. It also speaks well of your core product
because even free help can't salvage bad software. But it is problematic
in several ways. First there's that "won't ask stupid questions" thing.
Secondly there's the "no free lunch" thing, so conscientious people know
using it keeps the prices up (or, arguably, justifies stupid questions
if you've already paid for em anyway). Mostly, however, it leaves me
feeling semi-justified in my frustrations; generally programs that are not
intuitive (WordPerfect back in the day comes to mind) *have* to have free
world class help, whereas those with intuitive interfaces, well writen
manuals, well writen help and good indexes to each generally get by with
next to nothing in the way of helpdesk support.

So, when I get back to Vector (I don't think it's an "if"), you'll
probably be hearing from me. It'll be a while though. I'm not looking
forward to renewing that fight.

Jeff