All service packs should be useable for the version you own, regardless of your SSP status. Currently, service packs are only good if you have a SSP active or had enough forethought to buy it in the middle of the year between versions.
All service packs should be useable for the version you own...
Just to clarify:
Do you mean that LV2009-SP1 should be available to all owners of LV2009 (regardless of SSP status), while LV2011-SP1 would only be available to owners of LV2011 and above?
If so, I definitely agree!
I was once burned by thinking that the SP was an "add on" to my existing version, but in fact the SP is considered by NI to be a "new" version... Go figure.
Service Packs are fixes to defects that should not exist in first place. Of course, any product may came with defects. This fixes should come for free with apologies for any inconvenience that they may have caused.
Imagine if you buy a car and the automaker charges you for a recall.
Somebody correct me if I am wrong, but all SPs came only with corrections, right?
For improvements or new features it's fine to be charged.
If I remember correctly all LV versions since 2009 have not worked for us until their corresponding SP1 was released. With LabVIEW 2012 the situation is the same, as you cannot register an array of user events without your code breaking for instance. This is supposed to be fixed in LV 2012 SP1, so I can't use LV 2012 until then.
I'd be quite mad if I had paid tens of thousands of dollars for a 2 year SSP for instance, expecting it to include (a working version of) LV 2012, just to find out that I needed 2012 SP1 to use it which my SSP didn't include.
I didn't have any problems with LV2012. Took me a day to have LabVIEW updated. The new "NI Update Service" worked fine. I had just some "resumes" to bug be in the process. I wonder if somebody without SSP are being able to use it.
I didn't have any problems with LV2012. Took me a day to have LabVIEW updated. The new "NI Update Service" worked fine. I had just some "resumes" to bug be in the process. I wonder if somebody without SSP are being able to use it.
Yes, even if your SSP expires the day after LV2012 is released then you are still able to install updates (patches) for that version. The problem is that LV2012-SP1 will be considered to be a new version, at which point you will be unable to install it.
Maybe there are to parallel lines of thinking at NI. One did the SSP program, thinking that it would be partial releases, like 2012 (12.0), 2012.1 (12.1), etc... The other line though: let's release a version per year at NIWeek to make each new version a big thing, with lots of new features. With the new online updates, Service Packs will be just a way to reduce the amount of updates after a clean install.
The main idea remains: no new features, no charge.
I'm not quite feeling you here.... Sorry but what are you doing without a SSP? The comparision to Automobile recalls is absurd recalls are initiated for safty related defects. If there were such a safety related defect in LabVIEW I'm sure SSP status would not be considered. For other defects I buy a warrenty. In fact I carry an SSP for HOME use despite having access to service through my employer.
It may come as a surprise that in many funding and business environments it makes more sense (or the only possibility) is to buy a product such as the LV IDE. While well intentioned, the one year SSP is a bit odd in relation to the release cycle. I have an orphan version of LV10 which is not as ready for prime time as LV9.1. 10.1 fixed my biggest complaints, but that has to wait for the next opportunity.
No doubt NI tries to do right by the small users but they certainly know that their bread is buttered by the large shops and their perennial subscriptions. From a business perspective turning bugs into a revenue stream is genius. When I see an AE respond to a bug report that the solution is to upgrade, while I appreciate the honesty I do get a bit of a tick and usually have to step away from the keyboard.
@Jeff: so you find it fair to pay $10,000 to get a severe bug fixed, which you could rightfully have expected not to be there in the first place? I don't think many people can pull that amount of money out of their private budget each year for a toy (which LabVIEW is if you only use it non-commercially).
