Where the hell did 11 go??
The software world and their asshat marketing gimmicks never cease to amaze me.
For the record, I'm still using Summer 09 thanks to the ridiculous slew of quirks in 10.
Altium have had more changes in version number direction and release schedules than you can poke a stick at.
It used to be 2.X, and then it was a yearly system so you got 99/99SE, and then it was 2004 with the DXP tacked on.
I started there when it went back to version 6.X, with major releases "whenever they were ready", and everyone was happy happy with that system, no complaints, it worked well.
Then they tried the ridiculous Summer/Winter thing and started and the 6 monthly release cycle. Even the employees couldn't remember which version was which (was Summer 09 before or after Winter 09?), and each release was rushed to market to meet the 6 monthly promise, and had to be patched many times to get a stable version.
They got sick of that eventually and then went back to versioning, but instead of being "Version 10" it was "Release 10", or R10, which was so famously late the running joke was the latest ship date didn't specify a year. And then the whole campaign to get everyone onto maintenance with the new patching system that allowed frequent updates from "the cloud", and no more concept of "major releases".
The problem with that approach is that it locks you into the "R10" name forever, and well, ain't ain't that good for marketing... so now we finally get (as everyone guessed) a change to "Release 12" where it's actually not a major release, just a name change to make it look fresh.
And I probably missed a few changes in there too.
It's all just bat-shit crazy. I don't understand, they have the easiest job in the business. They have one (generally excellent) product, a loyal customer base that uses it for one thing (PCB/SCH), and the world at their feet. All they have to do is improve the core product and come out with a new major release every year or two. They could have used the same model for 20+ years and it would have worked. But for some reason they feel the compulsive need to chop and change all the time and chase imaginary markets. None of it has ever gotten them anywhere.
I know that's boring, but what's wrong with just sticking to winning formula and being the world's #1 PCB/SCH CAD company and being filthy rich?
Dave.