An overhaul of the user interface is necessary after some time but poses a dilemma for every software company. Just as a home could use a fresh coat of paint to avoid a tired, dated look, so could software apps. Every software company knows but puts off big UI changes because that is a)expensive and b)could cause a riot.
AutoCAD users practically rioted when Autodesk changed their command line driven UI and took away their shortcut-filled tablets of a DOS-based system to a mouse-driven interface that matched the Windows look and feel. SolidWorks users grumbled a little. Heard was “don’t you guys have anything better to do? Like fix the crashes?” But having grown up on Windows, they didn't riot. The SolidWorks UI team was able to get away with modernizing the UI with better icons, less clutter, etc. Let's face it. SolidWorks had grown to do so much that rows and columns of icons crowded the screen and turned their working area into a peephole. None of the functionality was lost with the UI changes but it still took a little getting used to. Users were annoyed to have to hunt for their favorite tools.
PTC faced huge changes going from minicomputers like the DEC VAX to the PC and from Pro/ENGINEER to Creo. But it all seemed to be contained. I did not hear of Pro/E users leaving the flock in droves.
A UI refresh is a huge undertaking. But when announcing it, one has to be careful. You may want to blare the trumpets and reveal the results of the massive undertaking, so proud are you, but then you have all the users who have gotten by now, are quite used to your software the way it was.
Don’t even think of telling the users that the new UI will make the software easier to use. For the users who knew how to use it, anything new will be harder to use.
Volume Graphics, makers of VG Studio, a CT scan processing application, has chosen to release their UI update (read about it here on engineering.com). Although it has a radically different marching menu, the change comes with version 2023.1, a point release. It’s a genius approach. It will look as if the company is saying the UI change is no big deal, nothing to be scared off, not like a big annual release -- while still having a thoroughly modern look in their current release.
For whom a fresh coat of paint is important, i.e., new homeowners, the clean new look means everything. This house may be old (that’s good, it’s built to last) but look how well it’s been kept up.
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