LV8 only Saves back to 7.1? WHY?!!

[Vr6Fidelity]

LV8 only Saves back to 7.1? WHY?!! No 7.0????

Great, another way for NI to screw you into buying yet another licence. I recall "fully backwards compatible" listed as one of the features. Apparently that should read "backwards compatible to last weeks usless version" Apparently i will just spend another day re-writing software i have already tortured myself to write in the increasingly usless "new" version. NI is the most greedy thieving company i have ever encountered.

All i want to do is save to 7.0, not a huge request. im not performing any black magic here like saving back to v1.0

Apparently i should have coughed up another grand per computer to update my dozens of LV computers to 7.1 for the month that 7.1 was current.

Thanks NI, i figure at this upgrade frequency and cost, the owner of NI will eclipse Bill Gate's new worth in about 6 months or 35 LV versions.

[Vr6Fidelity]

bump ttt for a soulution

[AnalogKid2DigitalMan]

In the past, people have attached 7.1 vi's to their post and kindly asked others to revert them back to 7.0 for them. Whether that practice is still followed remains to be seen...

[Vr6Fidelity]

Is there some sort of earth shattering difference between 7.0 and 7.1 i am un aware of?

As far as i can tell this is just another example of intentional screwing of of the end user. A practice NI is quite fond of as far as sofware revisions are concerned.

[tst]

Every LV version includes new features which are not supported by older versions (timed loops in 7.1, for instance). Saving backwards is not simply a matter of changing a few bits inside the VI but of adapting some of the code accordingly. You'd think that the code that was written to convert from 7.1 to 7.0 could be reused in 8.0, but that would certainly include further planning and debugging, and apparently it was decided not to invest the time. This has been so for a long time.

Personally, I would prefer it if newer VIs would open in the older versions and just say "we couldn't get A\B\C to work. You will need to rewrite that piece of code".

[altenbach]

---

Vr6Fidelity wrote:

Is there some sort of earth shattering difference between 7.0 and 7.1 i am un aware of?

---

The best way to find out: Download the various LabVIEW release notes and upgrade notes.

LabVIEW 7.0 (April 2003): Release notes, Upgrade Notes .
LabVIEW 7.1 (March 2004): Release Notes Upgrade Notes .
LabVIEW 8.0 (Aug 2005): Relsease Notes, Upgrade Notes.

As you can see from the release dates, LabVIEW 7.1 was current from slightly more than your one month estimate ;))

And Yes, LabVIEW 7.1 added many new features, e.g. Timed loops, Radio buttons, Storage VIs, Bluetoth connectivity, etc.

[Vr6Fidelity]

I think Altenbach that you do get my general point though. The difference between the countless releases are so minor, so insignificant to 90% of the programmers that perhaps it would be better to wait and release a nev version that is Extremely upgraded, with massive functionality improvements. Not just radio buttons, and bluetooth.

Now dont get me wrong bluetooth is sweet, but a future technology. I have literally never seen anything bluetooth yet besides a cell phone.

Now im sure there are thousands of people out there who are currently using it and programming for it everyday.

I barely scratch the surface of labviews capabilites. ALL i use it for is to aquire and strore data files. maybe a nifty gui and output here or there. I need zero bells and whistles. And yet NI continues to litter the sofware with all sorts of dazzling capabilities i could care less about (bluetooth) And they shove it down your throat by making the software intentionally not backwards compatible AND by not selling previous versions.  If i didnt work for the government i would never ever buy a thing from ni that was new i would just re-install my 7.0 software on machine after machine. it does all i would ever need. (except FFT)

This is my problem with NI, and its a big one that needs to be fixed soon.

Are there any competitors software? perhaps i will abandon NI totally.

[altenbach]

Personally, many of the new features are great, especially in LabVIEW 8.0. Look at the improvements in fitting routines, for example.

To upgrade or not to upgrade? This is a decision you have to make yourself. If the new features are not worth the upgrade for you, you should stay with LabVIEW 7.0. Nobody forces you to upgrade anything. There are plenty of particiants here is the forum that still use e.g. 6.1 😉

(I still have a LabVIEW 4.0 installed on an old computer. No "undo", no event structure, etc.etc. ;))

[Vr6Fidelity]

You are no longer listening. I work for the government, by contract all software must be self sufficent E.G. no upgrade discs or licence transfers. So yes i Have to upgrade. I even have all versions from 5 on but i cannot access them they are "government property"

[Vr6Fidelity]

Not to mention i have to have seperate folders on the server for VI's written in different versions of LV. God forbid you open a VI in 8 that was written in 7.0 because it will be gone forever.