Posted by Kevin Matthews on September 04, 2000 at 23:07:40:In Reply to: Upgrade posted by Gary Veasy on September 04, 2000 at 20:00:53:
I guess it is time to repeat these points, I hope with greater clarity.
1) Artifice is continuing software development work on the next generation of DesignWorkshop.
2) We will not be providing public progress updates or predictions of future releases.
The current shipping versions of DesignWorkshop with live 3D sketch modeling and integrated real-time rendering and walkthrough provide the best design-oriented architectural 3D software available. When it is released, the next generation of DesignWorkshop will be faster, easier, more flexible, and more sophisticated.
I hope you will understand that, with the current DesignWorkshop already of the competition in key areas, our milestones for the next generation of design-oriented architectural 3D software are based on software functionality that has never been combined in one application before -- in some areas, software functionality that has never been seen outside a research laboratory, if at all. Our job is surmounting the daily challenges of pushing forward the frontier of 3D design tools.
In this deeply creative software engineering context, our progress metrics are based on quality -- not on the calendar. I think that is exactly the way it should be. That is how I see _our_ fundamental challenge -- oriented toward engineering quality, not time of completion.
I think _your_ challenge is every day to make the most of the tools you have, for the tasks you want to accomplish. You also have our ongoing free support and application problem-solving along the way.
If in addition you're willing to tell us from time to time about other functions and tools you dream of, we are pleased and honored to listen. If you share those dreams in ways that undermine our product strategy, then you might indirectly delay our attempts to realize them. Alternatively, if you can share your dreams in ways that support our strategy, you might indirectly help them come true a little sooner.
In the eternal triangle of time, money, and quality, given our available funding, we will maximize quality at the expense of speed. Of course, given our achievable level of quality, more funding will allow us to decrease time. (So if you feel like investing another few million, drop me a note.)
I think we, Artifice and our great customers together, share a dream of truly great 3D design software. Please understand there are realities to be traversed on the way to see those dreams come true.
Best wishes,
Kevin Matthews
Artifice, Inc.