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Ask the Reader: What Version of SolidWorks Are You Using? (Oh, and Tips.)

Published
by
Josh
on July 2, 2008
in SolidWorks Tips
. Tags: , , .

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Right now, I currently have 3 versions of SolidWorks installed on my computer - 2007, 2008, and 2009Beta. oh, and 2005 till just recently. It’s crazy I tell ya. I use 2008 mostly right now, but have to switch back to 2007 for some models. It made me wonder what everyone out there is actually using.

I imagine 3 installations is the exception. Most probably wouldn’t want to attempt this. It works fine for me and makes it easy to do comparisons between versions. What about you?

What Version of SolidWorks Are You Using?
View Results

What are your reasons for not upgrading?

Generally, I would say it’s incomprehensible not to upgrade, especially if you’re paying for subscription service. However, some companies just cannot “afford” to make the move because of hospitalized CAD managers and various other reasons. The most common I’ve seen from a poll for SolidWorks 2008, is waiting for bugs to be worked out. There’s some validity there, I’ll agree. But because there might be bugs, I don’t think it should keep at least one station from being upgraded for testing.

A better reason and one you need to be sure of, is if the companies you work with can also accept the upgraded model files. It’s just embarrassing when they get that “Future Version” message. There’s a whole other argument here, (that SolidWorks should accept newer versions into older version) but avoiding that, let just make sure we check with those companies we share data with, k?

Tips for upgrading SolidWorks
Look out, cause September well be here before you know it and… I’m going to get into this more near the release of SolidWorks 2009, but here are some general guidelines to force upon yourself when upgrading to a new version of SolidWorks.

  • Install the new version with the old version
    I do this so I can save out an Options Settings Reg file for the new version. I’ve already got one for 2009. Since I still have 2008 installed, when I install 2009, it pulls in those settings and I don’t have to remember what my setting are.
  • Walk somebody else through the process
    We can make documents and follow installation procedures, but it’s just not as beneficial as actually showing someone. Grab your boss (Shhhh! he’s not doing anything!) and show him how your job as “SolidWorks installer guy” works.
  • Convert a Small Data Set
    Before converting everything to the new version, copy your best data set (use File, Pack and Go) to run a conversion test on. I’ve run into issue’s where the construction brings up errors. This kinda stuff should be reported to SolidWorks.

Hope this gets you thinking about upgrading and whether you should. If anything, just install it on another workstation. Test. Join Beta. Get involve. smile. slap yourself, ah! gotcha!

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Viewing 13 Comments

    • ^
    • v
    Josh,

    The only people I know still using 2007 are companies that arent on a subscription, or companies whoes IT department hasnt been around to upgrade the software. Certainly by SP4.0 there is no reason not to upgrade, and those that are stubbornly resisting 2008 just because of pride, are not benefitting from the performance enhancements available to them in 2008. What I find funny in the 2009 beta forums are the people that were so vocal about 2008, now posting comments about 2009 saying they wish it was working like 2008! Some people will never be happy!

    Anyhow on a lighter note, see you in Barcelona! I will be arriving early on Wednesday, and I'm staying behind and flying home on Sunday. It should be a fun time!
    • ^
    • v
    Mike,

    I think you are interpreting things incorrectly. I'm using 2007, 2008 and 2009. I am on subscription. It's not a matter of pride, it's a matter of what my customers require. I had one customer recently who has no CAD at all, so I did that project actually on 09 Alpha, just to get the feel for the new version. I know Devon uses 07 also because his customers require it.

    Who on the forums said they wanted 09 to work like 08? That's just wrong. I haven't seen that. I haven't seen (or made) any sweepingly negative comments about 2009. Most people seem very optimistic about the new version.

    Josh,

    For some reason, I can't vote in your poll, so it didn't record my 2007 vote.

    You guys will see what you want to see.

    Look at this link:

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books/3939...

    This changes hour to hour, but on the average, my 2007 book is above a whole slew of 2008 books. What do you divine from that?

    Anyway, I'll see you guys on the Med coast!
    • ^
    • v
    Hi Josh-

    Yep, just like Matt, my customers determine which version of SolidWorks I use. Of my 29 plus clients, 2 use 2008, that I know of anyway.

    Here's what I see; the longer a customer has been using SolidWorks, the less likely they are to use the lastest version. The "bloom is off the rose" so to speak for long time users. Remember, most users feel that upgrading is an expensive task, one that can't be charged to a specific project...same for Service Packs.

    Devon
    • ^
    • v
    Hi Josh,

    I too have 2007, 2008, and 2009B installed on my computer (for another week or so, anyway!;)

    Our company as a whole just moved to 2008 a month or so back due to a program we were working on. I held off rolling everyone because I didn't have the time nor inclination to support the different versions, not to mention the library/template/file problems that were possible. I won't go into all the details, but it definitely wouldn't have been a show-stopper if we had already upgraded, but I just couldn't convince a VP... Again, it came down to responsibility with no authority!
    • ^
    • v
    Josh,

    Your poll should really have allowed for multiple versions. I would like to have seen numbers for the primary version (which is what I gave you, only having one choice) and the secondary versions.

    We run multiple versions because we don't automatically convert all of our old files when we start using a new version. Too many parts get broken and we usually don't have time to try and fix them in the midst of the pain of switching. Eventually we either convert the parts or they get so old that nobody cares about them anymore.

    Being a design guy, I only have 2008 and 2007 running now. I believe some of the guys in production still are running 2006 as well as 2007. Someone may still have 2004 loaded.

    Jerry
    • ^
    • v
    Currently, I am still on 2007. Our company has a bizarre setup on Solidworks and other software now. Our location is at the corporate HQ in Clayton, MO. We manufacture in Phillips, WI. The division in Phillips now controls our licenses and will not permit us to upgrade until they do. Now, this is pretty bogus since each of our engineering departments are totally separate and we are on completely different servers for our files and neither department has access to the others servers. The Phillips IT department has all the control over our computers and software, yet the corporate IT department gives us the support and runs our network and servers.
    • ^
    • v
    have 2007 on my desktop and 2008 on my new laptop. not sure the 2 year old desktop can handle crunching 2008 data? it has 3G of RAM. any thoughts?
    • ^
    • v
    @bald
    i have 2008 on my nw8440 mobile workstation and it works just fine.
    And it only has 2 gig of ram.
    But your always limited in complexity of you products on every computer. I am always finding that limit... :(
    • ^
    • v
    We switched to SW2008 a month or so after it was released, and it was quite a re-learning experience at first. I think we've got the hang of it now, but considering how radical it seemed compared to the old version, I don't think we'll be switching to 2009 right away.

    Unlike some of you guys, we only ever use Solidworks internally, and only send PDFs out to suppliers. It doesn't really matter what version we use. The only reason we decided to switch to 2008 really was because of what new features there were available.
    • ^
    • v
    John, I think it will definitely be less of a change going to 2009 from 2008. The interface hasn't changed (again) and some of it's aspects have gotten better.
    • ^
    • v
    We have been using SW since before the 2000 version, but have had similar experiences with budgetary issues regarding making the case for footing the upgrade pricing. We have one fellow on a current 2008 license and one still using 2004, both are developers that work with customers and vendors alike.

    Being the IT guy (and not the actual user of the software), it feels fairly strange to me that DSS doesn't do a better job towards backwards and forwards compatibility - we have run into several issues due to version conflict between 2004 and later versions in trying to trade model files back and forth (though mostly with customers). If you happen to open a file in a newer version, it tends to create several issues when then trying to open it in an older version after that (though I imagine PDMworks and its library functions help to address that).

    I empathize with other folks so far in that there's not as much of a reason to upgrade with some of the newer versions, and I suppose it's questionable whether those features are always worth the $$, but from DSS's perspective it saves them more overall in support costs to have more people using current stuff.

    I wish we could go to network licenses so we could install the software everywhere and slowly increment the license count to what would be adequate. Someday.
    • ^
    • v
    We use 2006, 2007 and 2008. 2006 is for historical only. 2007 is retained due to some of the issues have to do with model handling and current production compatability. I'm expecting to move 2007 to historical sometime later this year as we bring the older models forward and recertify them.
    • ^
    • v
    Well, our Company is into Design & Engineering, and while we like to use the most current version for performance reasons (although our boss always avoids upgrading because of the costs :), we have to use the version our costumers demand, which is mainly 2007 and 2006, only few use 2008 and even fewer actually still use 2005. So we have 4 Versions running at our bureau - although never all on the same computer - that would be a safe bet for catastrophe :)
 

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