What software or system do you hate using the most?

[Liam Moran]

I use a lot of different control system platforms and software packages while doing my projects, but one stands out as being the one I absolutely hate using the most. I have used a fair bit of ASi Safe stuff in the last few years, it does make the wiring pretty simple. What is not so simple though is the ASi master system from Bihl and Wiedemann and their software Asimon 360. I have always found it to be a bit of a lucky dip of sorts, sometimes I hit trouble like I did yesterday when I went to add an additional safety device to the system. A simple job took hours to get up and running.
Anybody else got any pet hates?

 

[PLCDontUQuitOnMe]

I have ASi on a few machines going through a B&W master and the addressing is just a pain.


However the one piece of software that comes to mind as the worst I have ever used is Connected Components Workbench.


I know it has gotten better over the years, but I was working on a project sometime around 2015 I think and I was programming away and CCW crashed on me and I lost a couple hours worth of programming. Just a glitch I thought, so I started programming again and sure enough 30 mins later, another crash. I got in the habit of saving after every rung as the crashes got more and more frequent.



I told the engineer who spec'd the hardware to never order a micro800 again

 

[mylespetro]

Most AB/Rockwell Software is alright to use when it works. When the licensing doesn't want to work, or your project files don't want to open for no reason that has ever been documented either by tech support or the internet, it can be the most infuriating experience ever. Every job that should take two hours ends up taking four because it never just works when you need it to. For how expensive it is, there's no excuse, and for paid tech support to be as poor as it is is borderline criminal.

 

[goghie]

SoMachine Basic (now EcoStruxure Machine Expert - Basic) is by far worsts software that is still on market that I worked with. There are few that I really don't like, but are in reality dinosaurs from past, and are still alive because of good HW. They were good when they started to sell them, but now are to masochistic for use. Just to name few Fatek WinProLoadder and Unitronics U90 Ladder.
Interestingly enough all mentioned PLCs have surprisingly good hardware.

 

[ojz0r]

I hate software that do what i tell it to do and not what i want it to do - so basically i hate all software i work with.

 

[BITS N BYTES]

I have ASi on a few machines going through a B&W master and the addressing is just a pain.


However the one piece of software that comes to mind as the worst I have ever used is Connected Components Workbench.


I know it has gotten better over the years, but I was working on a project sometime around 2015 I think and I was programming away and CCW crashed on me and I lost a couple hours worth of programming. Just a glitch I thought, so I started programming again and sure enough 30 mins later, another crash. I got in the habit of saving after every rung as the crashes got more and more frequent.



I told the engineer who spec'd the hardware to never order a micro800 again

Couldn't agree more. CCW is a complete disaster! Will never use for ANY project.

 

[Karsten]

Danfoss +1 guide

 

[janner_10]

We are probably 60/40 AB & Siemens.

After you have designed a HMI with TIA and you then have to use anything FT - f**k that awful s**t!

We have done a couple of jobs with easy builder, that is quite nice to use.

We don't need the work enough to change from AB / Siemens thankfully!

 

[nyanpasu]

I may just be an irascible jerk, but I find that whatever I'm using at the moment is the worst software I've ever used. Honestly, there's something that drives me up the wall about all of them.

However, the worst I've used is by far and away CCW. Even in 2021, it still crashes, it's still feature-limited, download and online changes are still hilariously slow, the editors in every language still blow (ST in particular is reminiscent of pre-30 RSLogix and we know how trashy that was) and don't get me started on the PV800 line. There was even a thread on this forum about how the PID instruction in CCW mislabels the filter and derivative gain variables. CCW is the dump's dumpster.

However, I cannot say enough good about Omron's Sysmac Studio. To be fair, it is a bit quirky (it likes to bury useful stuff in menus), but it is fully featured, stable and easy on the eyes. I've only done one project on this platform but every day I wish there is another coming.

 

[Matthew Modar]

TwidoSuite

 

[Peter Nachtwey]

I hate the old Step 7 for the S7-300. I made some pretty strong rants about Step-7 in the past. Most had to do with the lack indirect addressing using LAD. I had to spend too much time supporting PLC programmers who couldn't use STL to do indirect address.
I also don't like GXWorks. It is awkward. It requires moving my hand from the keyboard to the mouse too much. GXWorks 2 allocated data in structures backwards.

 

[bill4807]

MotoSim.
It crashes my computer very time i try to open it. Unusable.. but I Love the robots though.

 

[AustralIan]

Microsoft Windows

 

[LadderLogic]

I hate them all, just some a bit less than others.

 

[drbitboy]

i hate them all, just some a bit less than others.

+1!!!!!!