If you have some time today, go search out Indusoft's channel on YouTube. They have some straightfoward "jump-start" introduction videos, and some really excellent advanced feature seminars there.
Here's an example of a function that customers very often asked for in FTView ME; "I want a button that opens a new window *and* sets a value in a PLC tag".
In FTView ME, you can configure Parameter Files, to substitute sections of similarly named tags when you open up a new window. But that doesn't let you take an action to set a tag, it just redirects the new window to different tags. The only workaround I ever found was to let the newly-opened window set the "active window" global value, then use the PLC to detect that value and take action. And it didn't work for small "on top" windows.
In IWS, I go to the Command tab for the button, select VBScript, and write two commands: one to Set a tag value, the other to Open the new window.
Similarly, in FTView ME, you can configure a Macro Button, which runs a separately configured "macro" that sets several tag values with a single button press.
In IWS, every button can set a dozen tags based on native-language Expressions, and can do it on Press, Release, Double-Click, or Multitouch. And that's an ordinary function for any button, not just a special kind of button.
VBScript in IWS is certainly limited in power compared to VBA, or VB, or C++, or Java. But in FactoryTalk View ME, there is no scripting language at all.
FTView ME does have an advantage with the FactoryTalk diagnostics display and log; if you fat-finger a single tag it will show up as failed, while in IWS you only get to see which block of data has a bad tag. That definitely makes you careful in typing out tag names. And FTView's RSLinx Enterprise tag browser is fantastic for quickly linking an object with a tag in a ControlLogix.
But I'll take IWS driver sheets any day. Want tags to update at a different rate in the background ? In IWS, create a driver sheet for DINTs, another for REALs, another for BOOLS, and set up a flasher bit to trigger them. In FTView.... sorry, one scan rate, per-screen, only.
Data logging ? In FTView, create a single data log model with a single update rate. In IWS, create as many Trend data logs as you want, with their own update rate. And if you like, install an SQL server on your computer and put them into a non-proprietary database.
Double-clicks ? Multi-touch ? Hover text for mouse users ? FTView is touchscreen and F-Key oriented because it is aimed at the PV+ hardware only. IWS can get pretty fancy with a multitouch screen, and I do some really elegant things with the HINT hover property and the mouse position tags on mouse-driven applications.
Deployment and testing ? In IWS, you can be connected to the runtime terminal from your development terminal. As soon as you hit "save", the runtime terminal screen flashes and your changes appear.
In FTView, you create a Runtime file (and get a coffee) and do a download (deep breaths, stretching exercises) and reboot the terminal (time for a smoke).
Installation ? I have IWS 7.0 and 7.1 running on the same computer and they don't conflict. I don't even upgrade FTView Studio on an engineering workstation; I always get a new Virtual Machine and start from scratch.
My company gives more latitude to engineers than I would like when it comes to HMI hardware. Looking back over the last handful of IWS installations we've had Hope Industrial monitors and B&R computers, then Dell rugged mini desktops and Dell 22" touchscreens, then Advantech, ADS-TEC, and Tangent all-in-one waterproof panel PCs.
Choose a panel PC (or just a screen + remote PC over HDMI and USB) vendor like Moxa or Advantech and ask them some pointed questions about lifecycles.
