Preparing for ArcGIS 9.2

October 20th, 2006 · 11 Comments · ArcGIS Desktop, ESRI, GIS

With all the new changes in ArcGIS 9.2 I’ve been telling folks to head over to the ESRI training site for some free ArcGIS 9.2 training seminars. I happened to head over there today and was surprised to not see much ArcGIS 9.2 stuff up on the front page. I know there are sessions happening all over the place, but the first place people look is probably the ESRI Training and Education site. Maybe when we get closer we’ll see some more organized ArcGIS 9.2 training.

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11 responses so far ↓

1 anon // Oct 20, 2006 at 11:35 am

I just got off the phone with my sales rep and they said your blog has been nothing but trouble for ESRI and that they have been told not to talk to you. You are on a ban list at ESRI apparently.

Just wanted to say you are doing a great job!
2 Bonzo // Oct 20, 2006 at 12:56 pm

Anon-
I hope you are just kidding. If ESRI really has that attitude toward James and his Blog, then that is a very very low level of professionalism on ESRI’s part. Look how many blogs are related to Google earth (and not all of them are in praise of google!). Yet, google seems to embrace constructive criticism and forge ahead with it. They don’t ignore it. You can’t ignore it, or you go down in flames. James has done a fine job of looking out for the GIS technology in general.
3 a // Oct 20, 2006 at 2:03 pm

I don’t know if ESRI really has that attitude. I’ve been told that “ESRI hates me”. But, then I heard one of their groups “has me up on a pedastal”. So which is it?

Well, I think I figured it out. The people bad mouthing me are the sales folks. The people who “put me on a pedastal” are some of the development team. Now, this was all second hand, so I don’t presume that I am worthy of being put on a pedastal.

But, it become pretty obvious about what is going on here. Developers at ESRI like to work hard, and come up with cool solutions. The sales folks on the other hand are lazy! Unlike a developer, they contribute nothing to the product, and if their job ended, they would go off and sell washing machines.

15 years ago, ESRI salesmen could walk into a place and give expert advice on how to solve a problem, and even sit down in front of ARC/INFO and solve it for you. Not anymore. They are so corporate that their sales people are just that: salepeople.

So, I am not surprised that you heard from an ESRI salesman that they don’t like James. That is par for the course with these guys. The developers and tech folks are another story - they are wonderful to converse with, and always want to know how to make the product better.
4 James Fee // Oct 20, 2006 at 2:19 pm

OK this has gone in a totally different direction than I expected. I almost think I need to have open posts where people can vent from time to time.

While I’ve heard through the grapevine that some folks at ESRI complain about my blog, I’ve never had any of this first hand.

In fact everyone I have ever met at ESRI has been very supportive of this blog, from the interns to directors.
5 a // Oct 20, 2006 at 3:30 pm

they say the same to me James, then I get emails from friends saying things like “watch yourself”, or “ESRI hates you”. Of course they would never say it to your face.

But, I don’t really think this is an ESRI thing. The true hardcore ESRI workers respect people’s critical view (as long as it is done respectfully, and not some outlandish claim). Its the new breed of ESRI salespeople who don’t even know how to use ESRI software. They are lazy, and see criticism as nothing more than an obstacle to selling the product.

I wish Jack would go back to requiring all ESRI sales staff to actually know something about GIS, and know how to use it.

A big joke 15 years ago was that ArcShell was developed so that Jack could give demos. Of course it was said in jest, but there is an important lesson there - even 15 years ago, Jack was committed to being able to use his product. The sales staff were all ESRI users themselves. Of course Jack can’t be expected to give demos anymore, but sales people should be able to talk shop with users - thats what made ESRI great.

Remember, companies like Intergraph 15 years ago had a bunch of stuffed suits selling their products. Now ESRI is starting to look more like that which they loathe.
6 Allan Doyle // Oct 20, 2006 at 6:57 pm

After all James, they also seem to be blocking your access to all the ArcGIS 9.2 stuff on their training page… when everyone else visits that page, it’s full of 9.2 materials.
7 James Fee // Oct 20, 2006 at 8:52 pm

I knew it Allan! They’ve figured out my IP no matter where I am.
8 Bonzo // Oct 23, 2006 at 5:45 am

OK, well, I’ll walk away from this conversation believing that there are a few people at ESRI who don’t get it and who don’t like this blog. Overall, I think most ESRI employees do understand how to deal.

You never can let one person or a few comments be representative of an entire organization..especially one as large as ESRI (unless it’s Jack himself of course).
9 Evan // Oct 23, 2006 at 5:51 am

I found this site to be most helpful in summarizing the new features and showing how to use them: http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/about/whats-coming.html
10 J.B. Churchill // Oct 23, 2006 at 6:20 am

I’m finally going to get to go to a 9.2 rollout very near my (very rustic) home town. I’m pretty excited just to see what is going to be included.

I’m hoping basic things like “refresh” in ArcCatalog (not manual refresh using F5 but from the system) will be included. It bugs me when I browse for a dataset in ArcToolbox only to have it say the file (that I just opened) doesn’t exist.
11 Bonzo // Oct 23, 2006 at 6:56 am

..So, to the comment at hand..

When will 9.2 start shipping, again?