9 minutes ago, gr5 said:I know many of the employees. I chat with a few of them almost daily. It's a small company. I know enough. They are trying to do the right thing.
I truly hope they are "trying to do the right thing". Unfortunately, their idea of what the "right thing" is may or may not agree with how we feel on the matter. Thus far UM has given no indication that they intend to return all, or even most, of the deprecated features, so they don't seem to be doing what I personally would define as "the right thing".
-
1
.thumb.jpeg.0b7a05eafc09add17b8338efde5852e9.jpeg)
Recommended Posts
ESokkoEVBL 9
I also voiced my concerns to our supplier and they just replied that some of the features are returned to management console. They personally updated and checked what features were returned.
I will also update when ever I get the chance and I will reply here as well 🙂
EDIT: The features are there.
Edited by ESokkoEVBLLink to post
Share on other sites
smNOVT 9
Yes, now they are there. Thank you.
Link to post
Share on other sites
mrender 25
8.1.2 is great many thanks. Also Digital Factory seems much more reliable lately.
Link to post
Share on other sites
Josnoww 15
Hi @smNOVT,
Thanks for reaching out! I am sorry I could not respond to you sooner.
Please try out firmware 8.1.2. I hope this includes everything you were missing. If there are particular features that you feel are important and still missing please let me know.
I will try to answer this without going into too much technical detail: We have made some changes to the backend of the printer, and build new functionality on top of that. Simply reverting to the 'old' web interface is no longer possible, because that would break newly introduced features that come with 8.X.
It is not impossible to recreate it, however the amount of effort we have to put in to put everything back as it was is significant. This means if we bring everything back, we have to let go of other scheduled features, since we can only spend our time once. Therefore we have to make a (tough) decision on what has priority. We try to base this decision on what would benefit most users, in this case, that could be that most people are fine using Digital Factory.
This might not be the answer you would have hoped for, which I completely understand. However I tried my best to explain that sometimes its a tough decision.
I hope this won't discourage you from sharing your feedback in the future, as we do really value and appreciate your feedback.
I hope this helps. If there is anything (else) you'd like to discuss, or if you have questions, please feel free to reach out. And I will make sure to check the forum a bit more often when possible.
Jos
Link to post
Share on other sites
nurban 8
I signed up just for this thread, and to echo similar feedback.
We have one S5 onsite, and were taken by surprise when half the web interface suddenly disappeared. Hoping this was a firmware glitch, we tried to be patient, and waited for a future release to put things back. After updating to 8.1.3.0 and seeing no changes, I went searching for answers, which led me here.
The old web interface functionality was extremely useful to our workflow. We used it to log and schedule maintenance tasks, track print completion rate, and record material type usage, to name just a few. The S5 exists only on our LAN, behind a firewall, with no plans to use any cloud functionality. I imagine we're far from the only company with this setup.
What was the logic of removing these features from the web interface? Even if they're available somewhere else, having all maintenance information available to everyone on the LAN without needing special accounts, access, or software was extremely valuable. I'm not going to be hyperbolic and say we're going to toss the printer out over this, but it's definitely disappointing and frustrating to see features disappear from any product, and especially after you already bought it.
Link to post
Share on other sites
rachael7 73
The stated rationale was to unload the processors in the printer to make room for future capabilities. It seems to be related to the S7 release, so figure that in there somewhere. The unspoken, but logically likely, reason for removing the features was to force us onto their cloud platform where they can then try to tempt/force us to upgrade to a paid level of the cloud service. It hasn’t even been made clear, to me at least, if we get the reporting features back with the free version of Digital Factory.
UM has made it quite clear that they have no intention of rolling things back to where they were. They grudgingly gave us back the ability to reprint from the queue, but that appears to be all they’re willing to do for their longstanding customers.
It is definitely disappointing, there’s no question about that. I have stronger feelings than disappointment, but I’ve said what I needed to unthread. I will say that while I’m not prepared to yeet the machine out the window just yet, this whole incident has so soured me on UM as a company, that I simply cannot envision myself ever buying another of their printers, and I’ve been with UM since the early days.
Link to post
Share on other sites
gr5 2,172
That's just not true. Don't be so suspicious. Ultimaker has nice people. For example HP will over charge you for ink once you buy the printer. Slimy move, hiding the true cost of the printer in the ink. Ultimaker does the opposite and sells you print cores for almost "at cost". Because it's a "consumable" ultimaker made them so cheap they barely make a profit. Same with the teflon parts that need replacing in the UM2.
Trust that people try to do the right thing. Most people are good people and not trying to con you.
So the truth is that the programmers feel like they can add many new features more easily when using the cloud. Most of those features are free. Ultimaker tries to make money off the hardware, not the software but there is indeed a premium cloud service that gets you less features. Yes, less features. Plugins are limited in that mode.
Some people have an outdated model of security where they have a walled garden LAN. This outdated model doesn't work well with cloud services.
Modern IT departments know this is a bad model and you have to assume the "enemy" is already in your LAN. Unless you have a "no electronic devices" policy for your walled off LAN (e.g. no cell phones, no USB sticks, no electronics, no music players, no microwaves, no watches, etc).
What *does* frustrate me is the world's reliance on The Internet. The Internet will go down some day and people will realize you need to be able to run your business without it - they will need a backup way to run their business. I'm not sure what the solution to that is as The Internet is quite useful and convenient. Um printers have a backup way to use them if there is no Internet.
Link to post
Share on other sites
nurban 8
I don't want to veer off-topic, but this perspective is very wrong. Regardless of whether you use cloud services or self-host, it's always going to be best practice to poke as few holes in your firewall as possible. There are also strict requirements when it comes to internet access and cloud data storage in some regulated environments. The advent of cloud services didn't suddenly make LAN security or firewalls obsolete.
Link to post
Share on other sites
rachael7 73
You don't even know that. You said yourself that you don't even work for UM, so you certainly have no special insight into their C suite meetings about long term plans. And sure, many of the people who work there are wonderful people, kind and doing their best to help. Lots of cops are lovely people too, but that doesn't change the fact that they work in a screwed up system and are bound to follow the rules and ethos of that system. And since you don't know the leadership ethos of UM, especially after the merger, whether the individual employees are "nice" or not is completely irrelevant.
What matters is the actions of the company. I've been using UM printers since the original flat-pack days and still happily run an UM2 among my other machines. I bought the S5 Pro Bundle with no reservations or hesitation whatsoever, and with every expectation of the same reliable performance and good service as my previous UM printers. I haven't gotten that reliable performance at all, and now I'm being not-so-subtly pressured to move to a walled garden environment where I will be dependent on the internet writ large and UM's servers specifically, in order to have all the functionality that originally came with my $10,000 printer. You can try to look behind the actions and discern motives all you like, but I am taking the actions at face value and listening to the other users on this thread who are similarly impacted and unhappy about the move.
You yourself go on to acknowledge the vulnerability of systems that rely on the internet and you casually disregard the concerns of people using medical, industrial, and governmental networks that still must work within those security requirements, whether you think those requirements are outdated or not. You post on these forums a lot and you've shared a lot of your time and knowledge (including with me), which is appreciated; but you should remember that you don't work for UM and you do not need to post on every thread. Your reflexive and logically inconsistent defense of the company, in the face of pages of angry customers with valid concerns, is unwelcome and not useful. Maybe take a break today, @gr5.
Link to post
Share on other sites
gr5 2,172
I know many of the employees. I chat with a few of them almost daily. It's a small company. I know enough. They are trying to do the right thing.
Link to post
Share on other sites