Software

[Jerry McClain]

I know I am going to be vilified by all the ecabinet lovers but I wish that a little less time was spent on making this a sales tool and more time for the actual production side of the software. I am finding that a cabinet shop like ours that needs something fast, effiecent and reliable that this is not as good as it should be. We have yet closed a deal because of the rendering capabilities of the software but I can tell you that we have suffered production efficiency because of the delays for large kitchen layouts. I am going to go out on a limb here and say that build 3 broke as many things as it fixed. Tomorrow I may feel better about this but for now that is how I feel. It just seems that ecabinets is trying to be the end all for everyone but the bulletproof mission critical software we need for our customers.

[Michael Yeargain]

Jerry McClain,

When you say

I can tell you that we have suffered production efficiency because of the delays for large kitchen layouts.

What exactly do you mean? I have no problem rendering a full kitchen cabinet set with counter tops, and produce a cut list for the shop all in about 5 hours. Most of the clientele we work with generally take a day or two to finalize their decision to use us or not. I do high end custom homes with kitchens, master baths, shared baths and, wet bars; produce a proposal and print the cut list in a good 8 hour day.

Grant it, I did spend a week creating my library, to include bar panel with corbels that I can re-size without errors. I do have an extensive library. My library also has vanities that I don't have to re-size from my standard cabinets.

I think maybe you are in a crunch. and most of the time when we find our self (me included) in a position like this everything seems to be at it's worst.

I am sorry that you feel so hard about the software. I would like to help if possible.

• What type of cabinets does your company build as a standard?
  What joinery do you use?
  Do you outsource your doors?
  Do you order through e_cabinets?
  And last but not least , Do you have a good library?

[Kerry Fullington]

Jerry,
We all experience frustration using software from time to time. What you are suggesting comes out just about every time a new version or build is released. Here is a link to a thread from about six months ago. Ken explains it quite well toward the end of this thread. It is nice to note that all of the issue that were so frustrating in this thread are no longer issues. They have been fixed.
Software has to grow and improve or you fall behind your competitors. You have to be the innovator to survive. Bugs are part of the process. If all of the things that are bothering you today were fixed, there will be other problems that can creep up because of those fixes. As I said in another post. It is the \"nature of the beast\"

We all have our list of wants and needs. Given time eCabinets will address them all.

Kerry

[Justin Melhiser]

Jerry
I would like to know what kind of graphics card you have and the memory size of this card. If you have any questions give me a call at 1-877-880-4638. ext.227

[Kirt F. Bowman]

Kerry
I agree that frustration we all experience is a nature of the beast, but I do disagree how thermwood is handling the process. First, since all builds seem to throw everyone a bunch of problems that process is flawed. We all know that if you have a number of fixes released to the wild all at once it is extremely difficult to fiqure out what fix broke something else. Everyone that has used computers and software knows when you have problems you incrementally try to isolate each issue to figure it out, I propose thermwood TRY and release patches for 1 or 2 problems then if we ( the user base ) don't find anything then move on to the next issues. Wouldn't it be eaiser for the programmers to tighten things up when they can focus on one problem at a time. I think the user base because we are all beta testers have to be critical or nothing improves. Nothing grows in a vacuum ,however since this software package is designed to sell routers, router owners are financing ecabinets so as a router owner we expect a real mission crtical package. One of biggest illusions of FREE software is a lower tolerance for performance. Is this software more complicated than Autocad, or Mastercam, or a digital movie or audio daw. All those programs run with less resources and require major heavy Lifting. So what makes ecabinets different maybe it is how it is programmed. Maybe it has become a monster that the original architecture can't handle. I am amazed that a program like this has not been rewritten to take advantage of duo-core processors. If it is so COMPLICATED then why aren't all the resources utilized? Why wasn't this program ready for Vista when there was a 5 year window to prepare for it? Either ecabinets is not a priority or the programming team needs more help. Maybe this is 2 guys in closet that work 100 hrs a week. sorry guys you need more help.

My 2 cents

[Kerry Fullington]

Kirk,
I don't think that any of the things eCabinet Systems users are facing are unique to eCabinets. I visit forums for other cab software companies as will as some software for architectural drawing and they all have similar complaints. Builds and patches don't come fast and often enough and when they do they break something else. I have also seen that most are still not Vista Compatible and the companies don't recommend Vista yet.

It is my understanding that eCabinet Systems has one of, if not the, largest group of programmers working on a single cab software. I have to think that they have a plan and know better than I do how to execute that plan. Just like all of us, they won't make every customer happy every day, and they service a whole lot more people than any of us have to.

It is also my understanding that the funds generated from selling product through the eCabinet Systems Cooperative is what pays for the software development. I am sure that routers may pay for some but not all of it. The Thermwood guys can correct any information that I get wrong.
I get frustrated too at times because certain thing don't go well or they worked yesterday and not today. It is an important part of the system to report any of these problems to the programmers. Report them with steps to re-create the problem and they will be fixed promptly.
I think that the eCabinet Systems Cooperative is much bigger and more involved than just software to sell routers. I think we all should continue to suggest improvements and report flaws but do it in a manner that is helpful instead of critical. For me that is what the \"Cooperative\" is all about. None of us are prisoners in an eCabinets jail.

Just another opinion.

Kerry

[Joseph Fusco]

Kerry,

I’m 50/50 on this one. Sometimes a critical eye is just what’s needed to push “something” over the top. I think the whole plan at Thermwood was/is a good one. I like the fact that they provide a good piece of software for free that can do the things that this software does.

But, if I were paying for it I wouldn’t be at all happy. Some might say that since the cost of admission is zero, people shouldn’t complain and I guess that’s why I don’t. I’m grateful for the effort the Thremwood team puts forth, but that still doesn’t mean that there aren’t many issues that still need to be addressed. I'm sure that in the end things will coalesce, but the ride is a bit bumpy.

Joe.

[Jerry McClain]

I have emailed the files to Justin, I will wait to hear back from him. I appreciate all of you who offered to help me with this. It may sound like I am saying this is the worst software I have ever used and I am a long way from that claim. I just think it could be done better, it just doesn't seem very production friendly. I may have to take a different approach than what I am doing. It just seems to me that for most jobs making a base and an upper seed cabinet will get most of what you need. Then you should be able to adjust these few cabinets to make most jobs. If I had to make a huge library of cabinets and not modify them I would use 20-20 and just order box cabinets. Once again thanks for all who responded.

[Jason Susnjara]

I know I am going to be vilified by all the ecabinet lovers but I wish that a little less time was spent on making this a sales tool and more time for the actual production side of the software. I am finding that a cabinet shop like ours that needs something fast, effiecent and reliable that this is not as good as it should be.

Hi Jerry,

Since the conception of eCabinets we decided to take members feedback on what they wanted to see added to the software and then those items were implemented. Because of this we are to the point that we are at now in which eCabinets is a piece of software that can do just about everything, although, the ability to do everything does add complexity to any software. As far as I recall we have not added anything to the sales portion of the software. The room layout (for example) has not been touched in a number of years. For the production side, we have added drawer boxes, construction for face frames, 5 piece door cutlists, mdf doors, etc..

We now have a plan that will take us into a different direction. One of the main complaints is that the software is too hard to learn. This new direction is to simplfy the software still giving members the ability to fully customize their products yet keep it easy for the beginner. There are many areas that we plan on simplfying like the room layout area.

I am sorry that you are having problems and hopefully Justin will be able to help you out. If you have any suggestions on what you would like to see added or fixed, you can also use the Feedback area of the software. You can also give me a call if you want to discuss this further.

thanks,