New PowerCADD screenshot!

[revival architecture]

A quick update on PowerCADD v10. We are currently testing PowerCADD 10 with our distribution and development partners as well as a few users. We are producing weekly updates of PowerCADD 10 and getting regular feedback from the test group. The feedback has been positive and very constructive. We are very encouraged by the interest level and the amount of time the testers spend using PowerCADD 10 and sending us their feedback. At this point, we are keeping the test group small so that we can properly manage the feedback without slowing down the development process. We hope to expand the test group soon as PowerCADD 10 matures a bit more.

Some have asked if Todd is involved, and the answer is that he is the lead developer, and he is working with other members of our development and support teams.

We get a lot of questions as to when PowerCADD 10 will be released. The reality is that we underestimated the effort involved in the migration of legacy PowerCADD to today’s macOS operating system. We believe that it is in the range of a few months from release, but we do not have a specific date yet. We approached this project with the goal of producing a solid long-term solution not just a quick fix.

The good news is that the PowerCADD core is working well, PowerCADD 9 files open and perform well on PowerCADD 10, PowerCADD 10 is running on the latest operating system versions and is native on the latest Apple M1/M2 hardware. Most of the remaining work to be completed is some UI elements and tools which we are hard at work on as we write this note. We will share more information soon.

Thank you for your continued patience.

Not sure what "UI elements" are but the update is much appreciated. I have renewed hope and that means a lot. I can hardly wait for the update!

[Howard in Durham]

Not sure what "UI elements" are

User interface elements Who knows just what?

[arogerr]

Hi Alfred

V10 is what I’ve be been referring to all along - I’m fully aware of its development and the current beta testing.

My and I think everyone else’s frustration on this forum is the total lack of any meaningful update.

I second that frustration. The hoops we all have to jump through just to hold on for an impending major update with little to no information wouldn’t be tolerated by most in any other business! You are loosing customers with that attitude

[Steve Woolf]

The tombstone reads, "He waited as long as he could for v10."

GOOD ONE. We all deserve that tombstone.

Speaking of tombstones, I’m 81, [skip the following parenthetical if you wish]

(and while no longer using PC professionally, I continue to use it for every other graphic activity in my life, including working drawings for my own home renovations, schematic designs for friends and family, shop drawings for woodworking projects, planning landscaping projects, mapping forest trails, teaching drawing and painting, technical diagrams for my wife’s computer science publications and grant applications, party invitations, charts of our medications, birthday cards, photomontages, picture framing, designing logos, stained glass windows, and signage, furniture layout for my grandchild’s apartment, mockups for new kitchen flooring… …All on a Mac with an antiquated OS, where I am)

….organizing my most important graphic work, professional and not, in a folder called “FOR MY SURVIVORS.” Obviously the prospect of all my precious PC9 files being buried with me has been a source of profound anxiety, but now I’m so happy to know that my survivors (with their normal up-to-date computers) will have PC10 to open these files. I’ll ask my lawyer to amend my will with a clause advising my executors to store those files in a safe place until the new version is launched. If you’d like her to copy you on that, let me know!

Steve

[eugarps]

Steve,

I too am closing in on a departure and the only Mac I own with an old OS is an ancient iMac. I’m wondering just how to pass along my files. I may have to swap an old MacBook I’d gifted my son for my newer, but still Intel chipped MacBook Air. I’d sure like to ditch my AutoCAD LT subscription but I still do some work in master planning for missions organizations. They tend to like ACAD. I’ve been using PowerCADD to mark-up the intern’s files for a bunch of projects. Those are now archived as PDF files in a cloud file the mission organization.

I’d like to keep doing that with v10, because I still travel for projects overseas. The interns seem to like working with the PDF markups and it would keep me from having to but full AutoCAD just to do volunteer work. Mark-up and clouds in ACAD are a real pain. I may as well just have drafted it myself! But, the interns wouldn’t have learned anything. These kids take a few months after graduation to go on a short term mission trip and work in, in my case, Civil Engineering in a challenging environment for about four months. I want them to have some fun, à rewarding experience, and learn something. Until now, PowerCADD has been a vital part of that process. I hope soon that I’ll be able to continue with v10.

Maybe we’ll both live to make the transition without continuing to rely on a legacy, orphaned OS.

Best,

Bill

[morrieg]

Not sure what "UI elements" are

User interface elements Who knows just what?

As a software developer who has worked on a lot of UIs, I can tell you that getting the user interface right, especially when the whole infrastructure to support it has changed, is one of the most challenging aspects of a development project and most difficult to predict. And this is especially important for PowerCADD whose strength is its snappy, responsive interface. I really sympathize with the developers and will continue to wait patiently, as long as I know it is coming.

[joseph]

Is it time for a public beta?

[Howard in Durham]

Powercadd 10 is somewhat like the Ukraine spring offensive- we know its going to happen- we just don't know where or when.

[laurent]

Is it time for a public beta?

Good question,
i agree !

[EONorton]

Ugh! I logged on HOPING for more positive news on V10! I've been keeping an old MacBookPro alive so I could run Power CAD and now it is in the shop for another potentially expensive repair. Meanwhile I can't get any work done. I've got to decide if I fix this, buy another used Mac just for PowerCADD while I wait, or give up. I REALLY don't want to give up since I have a number of jobs in progress which will be hard to transfer while also learning a new program.

Does anyone invoilved in v10 know how much of a learning curve this will be for v9 users? If I have to stop working to learn a whole new system for v10 there is less reason to wait, I might as well just go with VectorWorks or something else. I really WANT to wait for v10, but this is getting harder and more expensive as I keep an old machine going just for this.

Also, has it been announced whether this will be a subscription product or a single purchase, and do V9 users get any breaks on the new price?? If that were announced and we do get a break that might keeps some of us patiently waiting for a bit longer!

Escott
EON Design Co

P.S. In case anyone is interested I have a new use for PowerCADD, I'm doing highly detailed illustrations for my own series of architectural coloring books: https://ColoringHistoricTheatres.com