130 replies to this topic

[Dan Borman]

You're not the only one waiting for the v9 Klaus and not the only one forced to extend your toolkit just in a case... Not sure whether that cheers you up though ;-)
We decided to abandon manifold for our web dev and are quite happy with the new tools while we are still patiently (more or less ;-) waiting for an upgrade. Manifold is still our tool of choice for heavy lifting. Having seen it a while ago does not help - one of the preview versions was a great piece of software and I hope that when 9 hits the market eventually it will kick ass again. It ought to happen soon... I believe...

Ahh, I wondered where this discussion had gone to having been deleted so many times from the GeoReference forum!

[BCowper]

Ahh, I wondered where this discussion had gone to having been deleted so many times from the GeoReference forum!

Manifold's recent update to the forum's terms and conditions make it impossible to vent on the delay, I don't blame them tbh, it's getting a bit embarrassing now.

[rudy]

Well, no such restrictions on this site! If a company has to put those sort of restrictions on any discussions of its software, then obviously there is a problem. Customer service was never their strong suit.

[BCowper]

Well it's not all bad news as Manifold 8 still has a lot of life in it: I have been using Relates in ArcGIS, linking to a largish table (DBF) that was taking 5-10 minutes to get results. Imported the same data into Manifold and ran an Inner Join SQL query to mimic the same relate and it takes about 5 seconds.

[Roamer John]

I came across an interesting website yesterday while searching for any hints of information about Manifold 9. Take a look at www.polygonware.com. It is run by the Manifold folks.What I found most interesting was the download link indicates a version 9 number. However, the file contained in the downloaded zip d is the current version 8.

I emailed Sales to ask about it. This is the response I received:

Polygonware.com products are OEM products primarily for Chinese language markets, requiring 1000+ unit minimum purchase for OEM contract. Manifold Polygon brand products have first position in China for advanced GIS capability embedded into OEM products!

Do you have operations in China? If so, please let us know in which cities you have offices, your bank reference in China, the products you sell in China and for your preference of Mandarin or Cantonese telephone contacts and we would be happy to have our OEM sales staff contact you directly to begin negotiations for your use of Polygon brand software technology.

Thank you for your interest in Polygon brand software products!

Sincerely,

sales@manifold.net
www.manifold.net
Manifold Software Limited
多种软件
Hong Kong

[Dan Borman]

I came across an interesting website yesterday while searching for any hints of information about Manifold 9. Take a look at www.polygonware.com. It is run by the Manifold folks.What I found most interesting was the download link indicates a version 9 number. However, the file contained in the downloaded zip d is the current version 8.

I emailed Sales to ask about it. This is the response I received:

Polygonware.com products are OEM products primarily for Chinese language markets, requiring 1000+ unit minimum purchase for OEM contract. Manifold Polygon brand products have first position in China for advanced GIS capability embedded into OEM products!

Do you have operations in China? If so, please let us know in which cities you have offices, your bank reference in China, the products you sell in China and for your preference of Mandarin or Cantonese telephone contacts and we would be happy to have our OEM sales staff contact you directly to begin negotiations for your use of Polygon brand software technology.

Thank you for your interest in Polygon brand software products!

Sincerely,

sales@manifold.net
www.manifold.net
Manifold Software Limited
多种软件
Hong Kong

Very interesting. I had a look for the www.polygonware.com address, but on my computer at least, it seems to have gone as I get a:
Firefox can't find the server at www.polygonware.com.
error.

[Roamer John]

Very interesting. I had a look for the www.polygonware.com address, but on my computer at least, it seems to have gone as I get a:
Firefox can't find the server at www.polygonware.com.
error.

That is interesting. I just tried again and it is indeed gone or blocked.

[Jason]

That is interesting. I just tried again and it is indeed gone or blocked.

I have no problems getting the page to load. Here is a partial screen shot:
 Screen_shot_2011_06_02_at_3.49.17_PM.png   101.69K   35 downloads

[Dan Borman]

That is interesting. I just tried again and it is indeed gone or blocked.

I have no problems getting the page to load. Here is a partial screen shot:
 Screen_shot_2011_06_02_at_3.49.17_PM.png   101.69K   35 downloads

Works for me now too. Must have just been a glitch.

[Roamer John]

Working for me now as well. Still interesting to note the version number in the zip file name from the download link.

[KlausDE]

Working for me now as well. Still interesting to note the version number in the zip file name from the download link.

... and there apparently is a 9 kernel in this product as it has a version for an in internal DBMS optimized/extended for parallel computing. On the other hand a download size of 22 MB looks familiar and there may be hope for a smooth transition with the "toolkit" wrapper and OEM licensing being the main difference to Manifold as we know it.
Let's hope that now that sales has taken possesion of Polygon X the development of this new producte (and probably it's military version) have matured and give room for engeneering slots for Manifold.

[Jimbo]

Let me shoot out an untrue conspiracy theory just to lighten things out regarding what seems to be a lost cause product: with the US dollar going down & down it's becoming cheaper to buy Manifold GIS. Already in Canada if Manifold 9 came out today the upgrade cost would be less then $50.00 when at one time it was well over $60.00. At the rate things are going Manifold 9 or a jump to 10 might end up costing me under $40.00 assuming the US dollar becomes more worthless.
I'm all happy with that idea as a buyer but conflicted & feeling sorry that the economy continues to tank.

[mika]

I don't think this could be a problem. They could always switch to euro or any other currency that suits them ;-)

[Sab]

According to their website:
Get more for your money. Don't waste money on old-fashioned, overpriced, unreliable GIS products in a tough economy.

I guess their costumers were led to Free and Open Source GIS (QGIS, gvSIG, uDIG, GRASS...just to name a few)....they should have been a bit more careful in what they were suggesting their customers!

[Jimbo]

According to their website:
Get more for your money. Don't waste money on old-fashioned, overpriced, unreliable GIS products in a tough economy.

I guess their costumers were led to Free and Open Source GIS (QGIS, gvSIG, uDIG, GRASS...just to name a few)....they should have been a bit more careful in what they were suggesting their customers!

ESRI take note. But there is one problem with those products you just mentioned I don't like the fact that I have to remove those products manually & then install the updates after. I prefer an automated remove of the previous version & install of the new version.