@mike lucey said:
I've been reading / following all the posts made on this topic and feel that most of the steam has now blown off. Regardless of what one thinks or doesn't think about SU 2013, I feel there is no excuse for your, what appears to me, personal attack on John Bacus.
Long post and certainly alot to digest so let me reciprocate.
First off, let my say clearly I left here after those last posts and never came back until 2013 was released... and I only came back to make it absolutely crystal clear that this release was deficient. You can check the forum logs if you like to verify this as fact.
John Bacus is the head -- ultimately he is the one responsible for everything that the SketchUp team does or does not do do... when things go well he deserved credit, when things go wrong he deserves blame.
When a company goes down the tubes it is expected that a CEO gets fired or steps down -- this is no different. I'm sure Bacus is a very nice guy with alot of really endearing qualities -- but he has proven an incompetent leader of the SketchUp team at the very least.
There are alot of people here with ulterior motives to stay on his good side, it is of personal and professional benefit to them that he, being the man in power, see them as "on his side". I have no such limitation -- so I am free, in all the ways you are not, to voice my 100% honest opinions. I actually expected to be banned by now... I can't imagine Bacus is happy about some guy on the forums calling, repeated and clearly, for his head
I've always been 100% for forcing users to move to Pro -- check the posts and verify the facts. But there is a right way and a wrong way to do this. The right way is to make the upgrade to Pro so compelling that users cannot resists opening their wallets. This is done by adding actual features and really honoring the desires of the users base. The wrong way is what we got -- judge for yourself.
I'm not opposed to spending real money on my applications, provided they are worthwhile -- SketchUp is not and has not been worthwhile for a long time now. Are there perfect alternatives? Not really, but those alternatives will never have the chance to fully materialize as long as people keep throwing good money after bad towards SketchUp.
To be perfectly blunt I would have rather see SketchUp die at this point and have the market forced to move onto alternatives now, rather than wait years only to have the process be that much harder in the long run. Not a popular sentiment here, I know -- but I'm not here to win any friends, and I don't care a whit if I make enemies. However I always hope against hope that I will become such an foul irritant, and Bacus will be so put out, that he will actually do something productive with SketchUp just to shut me up.
Best,
Jason.