Deskpack and Illustrator CC2014 - Waiting on Esko, AGAIN!

[macdevin]

However if there is a big technology change then that can cause a problem, and of course that's something that is not always obvious to a user as very often it's the same functionality with no additional benefit just with a different technology underneath.

Also imagine what needs to be tested. With Apple releasing an OS every year that's 4 OSX versions we support for Macintosh with PitStop, plus of course Windows, plus multiple Acrobat versions. That's a lot of permutations.

I could not agree more. If people don't see a visual change in an update they assume not much has been changed. I fight that with our internal staff..

 

[abc]

When I said 'bad about Dates" I'm Referring to you guys publicly stating a date on when the new version in coming out.

Gotcha Devin, personally we don't do this for competitive reasons, but as you're one of our PitStop beta testers you will get to know sooner than most.

 

[wim.fransen]

Sorry to keep you waiting but it took us a while to test all functionality of each of the plug-ins on the final builds of CC 2014 for Mac and Windows and to update the product installers and test these on all supported Ai versions and operating systems.

As of today, we have stable BETA builds of the DeskPack plug-ins available for you. BETA versions of the Studio plug-ins will follow in a couple of weeks.
Contact [email protected] in case you would like to participate in the Pre-release program for DeskPack for Illustrator 14.0.1.

There have indeed been a couple of internal changes in CC 2014 related to HDPI support and we are currently working to support HDPI in the user interfaces of all our Illustrator plug-ins. The customer release (including HDPI support) is planned in the last week of September.

As for Yosemite support, our plan is to have at least BETA versions of the plug-ins available by the release of 10.10 in the fall followed by a customer release in December. We will provide more news and updates on compatibility via mysoftware.esko.com and via the knowledge base (Esko Help Center).

 

[chevalier]

Wim thanks for responding. Good to see someone at your level within Esko (or any vendor for that matter) is at a minimum reading feedback from endusers let alone responding publicly. Much appreciated! (cross posted)

 

[simonl]

Sorry to keep you waiting but it took us a while to test all functionality of each of the plug-ins on the final builds of CC 2014 for Mac and Windows and to update the product installers and test these on all supported Ai versions and operating systems.

As of today, we have stable BETA builds of the DeskPack plug-ins available for you. BETA versions of the Studio plug-ins will follow in a couple of weeks.
Contact [email protected] in case you would like to participate in the Pre-release program for DeskPack for Illustrator 14.0.1.

There have indeed been a couple of internal changes in CC 2014 related to HDPI support and we are currently working to support HDPI in the user interfaces of all our Illustrator plug-ins. The customer release (including HDPI support) is planned in the last week of September.

As for Yosemite support, our plan is to have at least BETA versions of the plug-ins available by the release of 10.10 in the fall followed by a customer release in December. We will provide more news and updates on compatibility via mysoftware.esko.com and via the knowledge base (Esko Help Center).

Just installed Studio 14.0.1 and it doesn't work with the latest release of Illustrator CC 2014 (October Build - 18.1.0). Looks like Esko are a step behind Adobe with their releases. Haven't tried previous versions of Illustrator CC 2014 as it's a pain in the backside to keep downgrading. We have a copy of Illustrator CC (non 2014) that we use just for Studio - to avoid these problems. Must admit it's a real pain not being able to use it in the latest version. Hopefully the next release will work - until Adobe release again and the cycle continues!

* Just received word from Esko that it only affects the Mac version and that a fix will be issued tomorrow (09/10/14).
This is much quicker than I had expected - so well done Esko. (Fingers crossed that this one works!)

 

[StillWaiting]

And now we have to wait 3 months for Desk Pack to be compatible for Adobe CC 2015. Ugh!

Esko plug-ins will support Adobe CC 2015 by the end of September - Esko

 

[Stephen Marsh]

Looks like those 18 month release cycles in the old perpetual license model had more than one benefit to users and 3rd party developers.


Stephen Marsh

 

[chevalier]

3 Months isn't terrible but hopefully they'll take that time to clean up and rebuild a lot of it. A lot of the DeskPack 14.0.X panels don't work correctly (won't collapse/resize or expand). Lately it's been band-aids or ostrich behavior when you point something out that's very glitchy.

 

[JoshS]

Always a step behind. I guess we just have to plan on having one machine updated that can downgrade all of the customer's newer AI files to previous versions. Before Adobe CC this wasn't as much of an issue because customers took their time to upgrade. Now that everyone has instant access to the lastest versions, it is a problem for prepress techs who rely on 3rd party plugins such as DeskPack. Extensis usually updates plugins within a couple weeks, wish we could see the same from Esko!

 

[WI-Flexo]

And if you have not noticed yet, Esko now pushed their release back to October. So we should have our plugins by maybe the end of the year. But with all the existing bugs included free of charge

 

[WI-Flexo]

And now we can pay monthly for our software we can't use... Gotta love it!
http://www.esko.com/en/company/press-and-news/news-overview/2015/saas/

 

[japa]

And if you have not noticed yet, Esko now pushed their release back to October. So we should have our plugins by maybe the end of the year. But with all the existing bugs included free of charge

There is some misunderstanding: Esko releases the last day (sometimes there is a delay of at most 1 week) of March/June/September/December, meaning customers get the SW at the beginning of April/July/October/January. Therefore some people talk about e.g. June or September release and some about July or October.
This is the same case: Esko intends to release 14.1.1 the last day of September.

 

[japa]

3 Months isn't terrible but hopefully they'll take that time to clean up and rebuild a lot of it. A lot of the DeskPack 14.0.X panels don't work correctly (won't collapse/resize or expand). Lately it's been band-aids or ostrich behavior when you point something out that's very glitchy.

A lot of these issues (that are specific to AI 2014.1, BTW) were fixed in 14.0.2 (March/Aprial release). The last known issue (Instant Trapper) was fixed in the 14.1 release. If you know any such issue still present in 14.0.2 or 14.1, please let Esko know.

 

[japa]

For those interested, Esko is preparing a Prerelease program for DeskPack for CC 2015, like a year ago for CC 2014. Still this month.

 

[WI-Flexo]

There is some misunderstanding: Esko releases the last day (sometimes there is a delay of at most 1 week) of March/June/September/December, meaning customers get the SW at the beginning of April/July/October/January. Therefore some people talk about e.g. June or September release and some about July or October.
This is the same case: Esko intends to release 14.1.1 the last day of September.

Japa-
Thanks for the clarification, but I was simply pointing out that the original news release from Esko said September and now it says October. And FYI we have been down this road before with posted release dates and then a revised date and then another revised date etc. So lets keep fingers crossed for October!

As far as the issues still present in Deskpack the big one referred to by Chevalier of sizing panels STILL has not been fixed and has been present for what the last 3 Deskpack releases. And I'm sure I am not the only one who HAS let Esko know of the issues and all we get is "hopefully that will be fixed in the next release". So if you have some inside access to the new version of Deskpack can you confirm that say, the Ink Manager panel can now be resized?

Also looking forward to the Prerelease coming out this month. It would be wonderful to actually use the latest versions of our software.

 

[Jose Gonzales]

So if you have some inside access to the new version of Deskpack can you confirm that say, the Ink Manager panel can now be resized?

Working fine with CC2014 and the 14.1 release...

 

[WI-Flexo]

Working fine with CC2014 and the 14.1 release...

Jose-
You are correct, I misspoke. Ink Manager does resize but Trim and Media box still do not.

 

[Jose Gonzales]

But why would you like to resize this Panel? All options are available. Even when switching to "all page boxes" the window resizes automatically to the optimal size for these extra options. I see a need with the ink manager. But not with the trimbox. After all the standard AI align panel is also not resizable... like many more panels.

 

[WI-Flexo]

But why would you like to resize this Panel? All options are available. Even when switching to "all page boxes" the window resizes automatically to the optimal size for these extra options. I see a need with the ink manager. But not with the trimbox. After all the standard AI align panel is also not resizable... like many more panels.

Simple, because it takes up 2/3 of the width of my second monitor. And forces all panels docked with this panel to the same width. And because that is a basic function of any UI. When switching to "all page boxes" it does resize but I don't use that view so thats of no use. And just so you know ALL AI panels can be resized!!! Just grab the right side of the panel with the <--> arrow and drag to resize. We have lived with it this long so not the end of the world but it should be fixed along with the handful of other bugs in desk pack. Not looking to nitpick and debate all the issues with Deskpack, they have been logged with Esko and we have learned to just deal with them as the most common response we get is. "Well, thats expected behavior" or like you said "Why would you want to resize that panel". I expect it to work like any other UI. I really do appreciate the concern from you guys though, its more interest than we usually feel from support. So thanks and if by chance you want any more details on specific issues in desk pack feel free to PM me as to not totally derail this thread.
Thanks!

 

[chevalier]

Simple, because it takes up 2/3 of the width of my second monitor. And forces all panels docked with this panel to the same width. And because that is a basic function of any UI. When switching to "all page boxes" it does resize but I don't use that view so thats of no use. And just so you know ALL AI panels can be resized!!! Just grab the right side of the panel with the <--> arrow and drag to resize. We have lived with it this long so not the end of the world but it should be fixed along with the handful of other bugs in desk pack. Not looking to nitpick and debate all the issues with Deskpack, they have been logged with Esko and we have learned to just deal with them as the most common response we get is. "Well, thats expected behavior" or like you said "Why would you want to resize that panel". I expect it to work like any other UI. I really do appreciate the concern from you guys though, its more interest than we usually feel from support. So thanks and if by chance you want any more details on specific issues in desk pack feel free to PM me as to not totally derail this thread.
Thanks!

Glad to know that I'm not the only one who feels this way. I log a lot of tickets about stuff like this that just get closed as "wish-list". Basic UI functionality is not a wish it's a @$#!ing expectation for paid software on contract licenses. The practice of treating me like some nitpicker instead of just fixing it with the next rollout has really turned me off with Esko and on to the independent companies that compete with them. The only reason I haven't made some investments is that I'm currently locked into a multiyear contract with Esko and cannot justify the redundant expenses.