Re: Meshcam?

If the product were professionally development and maintained on a regular basis then an annual fee might be justifiable to stay current.

In my experience, however, Mecsoft's track record is generally around fixing about half a dozen minor bugs a year whilst doing nothing about the large number of bugs, glitches and generally poor user interface issues that annoy users on a daily basis.

I can't see how an annual licence is justified when VisualTurn was last updated in 2009 and is so buggy it barely qualifies as beta code.

I was very keen to get my hands on VisualMill 2012, but knew as soon as the installer started trying to load the old Visual C++ 2005 libraries under Windows 7 that it was going to be just the same old codebase with a different colour UI and another couple of bug fixes.

Imagine my joy when I discovered that I couldn't even test it because this version locks up solid every time you try and create a stock box. :)

The support line on this issue is that you have to downgrade the UI on your machine to the XP-compatible Classic theme. Great, so to run the '2012' version of your software, I have to wind the clock back on my PC to 2001? Impressive.

As a result, I would also be very interested in understanding what else is available in the CAM market right now and how well it is supported with bug fixes and updates.

Terry

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, "Jack" <freshwatermodels@...> wrote:
>
> As a result of Mecsoft/Rhinocam getting greedy I am looking for a different CAM software. Mecsoft is going to start charging for an annual seat so I want to bail.
>
> I have been looking at Mesh cam and will probably try the demo but am wondering if any group members are using meshcam on a routine basis to generate toolpaths for both 2.5D and 3D. Likes, dislikes, problems, compatibility with Mach3?
>
> Sharing your experience and opinion based on actual use would be appreciated!
>
> Jack
>