Bah... Just wait until you spend a week toying with FactoryTalk. Then you will know what frustrating really is
Saw a thread complaining about Rockwell software, expecting to see comments about FactoryTalk (View), wasn't disappointed.
Aside from the confusing name (What people call "Factory Talk" is probably Factory Talk View HMI line, not to be confused with Activation, Asset Centre, or Directory (which is closely tied to View, and sometimes to Asset Centre)
There is:
-Old applications not importing to FTV studio on 64 bit computers
-Users/passwords getting lost if FactoryTalk Directory isn't imported with application when making modifications
-Studio flashing 9,456 times in the 5 minutes it takes to load an application
-Very difficult in Studio to select items that are layered on top of each other
-Touch Screen from a PV+6 not working on PV+
-Dropping RIO support in PV+6, when the same module will still support DH+ on the 6.
-PV+ crashing the DH+ which no other type of device causes
-No indication (that I've seen) of the number of displays in an application, making it hard to tell the required licence for Runtime.
-No indication till a difficult to read error log at export time if you're trying to use an unsupported feature when exporting application for older firmware level
-How responsive and quick to load Red Lion HMIs are in comparison
-The fact that it's easier to work with obsolete 16 bit Windows 3.1 based PanelMate software to the point that I use it to build up quick commissioning screens.
-The PV+ based "ForGe" interface for the PowerFlex 7000 medium voltage drive is the worst interface I've ever seen. It takes at least 7 steps to open "Quick start", and subsequent steps to launch the "HIM" equivalent display for the drive. It is easier to (accidentally) reset the IP for the drive than it is to open the display. The display was designed for a desktop computer with mouse, not a PV+ 1000. It's very hard to properly tap the small targets, and for some reason to modify the value of a parameter you have to tap the "value" column header. To enter Basic permission level doesn't require a password, but for some reason the password keypad must be brought up just to hit enter.
If there's something I've seen bring Engineers together from different companies, it's complaining about FTV / PV+.
When you have the ladder editor window open, look in the bottom right corner of the screen. You should see the text "APP". That indicated you are in Append Mode and any new items will be added after the cursor. If you right-click on that text you can select Insert Mode so that new items will be added before the cursor.
Learn something new every day. This was going to be part of my rant. We use a lot of RSLogix 5/500/5000. When copying and pasting rungs the behavior of 5000 was inconsistent with the older platforms. This fixes it.
Abandoned Rockwell after RSLogix 5000 came out. So many confusing pricing options based upon what software you need.
. . .
Sorry AB, you HAD a great product years ago but are now milking everyone for your bottom line profit margins with a crappy, poorly designed, clunky, confusing and overpriced software suite.
And as for your pathetic attempt to break into the lower cost brick style PLC's with Connected Components Workbench you will ultimately fail. AWFUL software and badly designed.
My 2 Cents
I think I'm the only person at our facility that understands their licencing. I spent I don't know how long arguing with someone that we only need to buy Full licences, not Pro licences, because we have more than enough licences of RSNetworx, and Emulate, which are the only real benefit of Pro over Full.
Rebranding RSLogix to Studio 5000 caused untold grief. I don't know how much time was wasted explaining it's just the new name for RSLogix 5000 for newer firmware levels, and the licence is (effectively) interchangable.
5000 does seem a lot less stable than 5/500. .NET updates randomly will cause RSLogix to crash, which is why it's best to use a VM that gets no updates.
Upgrading RSLogix 20.01 to 20.03 wasted weeks of my life for no real gain.
5000 in general is a lot less stable, and more bloated than 5/500.
5/500 in not perfect. On some machines, for no reason, the legs of "branches" become graphically corrupt. The PLC Instruction toolbar very slowly over time creeps to the right, with the only correction an occasional Window-Arrange-Default Toolbar.
Our physical environment is very tough, and Rockwell PLCs (particularly the 5, and the associated 1771 IO) have proven themselves to be very robust, but their software is terrible. Especially for the price.
On CCW, for drives I tried to like it, but I still find Drive Executive a more compact, easier to use product. Plus it doesn't pop up irritating update windows every time I boot my PC.
On the positive, FactoryTalk Activation, once you understand it and get used to it, is a lot better than Master Disk activation, particularly if you can have concurrent licences sitting on a central server.
