Depreciation Plans for ArcGIS 9.3.1 With a Little What’s Coming in 9.4
ESRI has an updated FAQ which outlines depreciation plans for the 9.3.1 release and what is coming at 9.4. Some key highlights:
ArcGIS Desktop 9.3.1
- ArcGIS 9.3.1 contains the last release of the Crystal Report Wizard in ArcGIS Desktop; we will no longer provide this technology in ArcGIS 9.4. Much more here (http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2009/07/15/esri-arcgis-9-4-reports-updates/).
- ArcGIS 9.3.1 was the last release supporting Microsoft Visual Basic 6 (VB6). All I can say is move on guys…
- ArcGIS 9.3.1 was the last release supporting the Microsoft Windows 2000 operating system for all ArcGIS products. Please anyone tell me they are still running Win2k. I’d love to know.
- ArcGIS 9.3.1 was the last release supporting Microsoft Visual Studio 2005.
- ArcGIS 9.3.1 was the last release to support Internet Explorer 6 (IE6); we will no longer support this browser with the release after ArcGIS 9.3.1. w00t!
- ArcGIS 9.3.1 was the last release supporting Sun Solaris 9 for ArcReader and ArcGIS Engine. We are all running Solaris 10, right?
ArcGIS Workstation 9.3.1
- ArcGIS 9.3 was the last release of ArcInfo Workstation on AIX; we will no longer support this platform at ArcGIS 9.4. We are dropping this platform as we no longer see demand for it. *side note: I don’t miss AIX at all!
ArcIMS 9.3.1
- ArcGIS 9.3.1 was the last release of the ArcMap Server Extension to ArcIMS; we will no longer provide it in ArcGIS 9.4 release. So if you want to roll MXDs, you have to use ArcGIS Server 9.4.
- ArcGIS 9.3.1 was the last release of ArcIMS on HP-UX; we no longer support it in ArcGIS 9.4. HP-UX is not a popular platform for ArcIMS and will be retired due to limited demand. So you HP-UX users have no one to blame but yourselves for letting the rest of us abandon the platform. But don’t feel too bad because ESRI will continue to support ArcSDE technology on HP-UX on the Itanium processor.
ArcGIS Server 9.3.1
- ArcGIS 9.3.1 was the last release of ArcSDE for Oracle 9i. We no longer support it in ArcGIS 9.4 due to this platform no longer being actively supported by Oracle. Sounds like fighting words to me…
- Solaris 9 is dropped, but you can still roll ArcSDE on it.
- See IE 6 note above.
The Tragic Prelude beyond ArcGIS 9.4
ArcGIS Desktop 9.4
- ArcGIS 9.4 will be the last release of Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA); we will no longer support VBA beyond the ArcGIS 9.4 release. Microsoft no longer promotes or updates VBA. So unless you want to be like your VB6 friends, time to move on.
- ArcGIS 9.4 will be the last release of Solaris support for ArcReader and ArcGIS Engine; we will no longer support the Solaris platform for this functionality beyond ArcGIS 9.4 due to limited demand for this platform. So if you migrated from Solaris 9 to run 9.4, know that it was all a wasted effort because 9.4 drops Solaris support for ArcReader and ArcGIS Engine.
ArcGIS Workstation 9.4
- At ArcGIS 9.4, ArcInfo Workstation will be decoupled from ArcGIS Desktop 9.4, so users will be able to upgrade to newer versions of ArcGIS Desktop without impacting ArcInfo Workstation. See any writing on that wall?
- At ArcGIS 9.4 ArcInfo Workstation will be supported on Windows 7 (this will be the last expected Windows platform upgrade). I see the end don’t you?
- ArcGIS 9.4 will be the last release of ArcInfo Workstation on Solaris; we will no longer support this platform after ArcGIS 9.4. So the abandonment of Solaris by ESRI users is just about complete.
- The next major release after ArcGIS 9.4 will be the last planned release for ArcInfo Workstation on Windows, which will be the last supported platforms. Users will continue to be able to use their existing versions, but we will not release newer versions. Ah there it is, the end of ArcInfo Workstation is here.
ArcIMS 9.4
- ArcGIS 9.4 will be the last release of ArcIMS on Solaris; we will no longer support it after ArcGIS 9.4.
- The next major release after ArcGIS 9.4 will be the last planned release for ArcIMS on Windows and Linux, which are the last supported platforms. So there you go, more writing on the wall. ArcIMS is near the end. Time to move on folks.
ArcGIS Server 9.4
- ArcGIS 9.4 will be the last ArcGIS Server release with support for Solaris (with the exception of the ArcSDE technology component); we will not support this platform after ArcGIS 9.4 due to limited demand for the Solaris server platform. We will continue to support the ArcSDE component of ArcGIS Server on the Solaris platform beyond the ArcGIS 9.4 release. So essentially after 9.4, only ArcSDE will be supported on Solaris.
since you’re asking; yes we still run win2k on our desktops (about 1200 seats), we will until at least some time Q1 of 2010, maybe longer
Well no ArcGIS 9.4 for you then…
But 9.4 won’t be ready by Q1 2010 so it won’t matter.
Win2K shows up in about 9% of my web logs. IE 6.0 shows up at 4-12%, depending on the site.
Looks like a lot of the technology we currently use will no longer be supported at 9.4: ArcIMS, ArcMap Web Services, VBA, VB6, Visual Studio, Oracle 9i. Time to get rollin’ with the new tech. Glad to see ESRI moving us along; makes it easier to sell the project as a priority to management.
Wow, what a list of abandonment. Good for ESRI because we GIS pros are notorious for clinging to old outdated ways.
Here it is, almost 2010 and we are talking about HP-UX, AIX and Solaris support in the workstation.
Now if we see ArcSDE Informix support dropped, then I know things are changing.
ha ha. they may be outdated but were less buggy and actually worked and were faster. we did a comparison with ESRI and an open source GIS software for stream analysis. ESRI took 12 days…open source software took 45 minutes. No brainer there but very difficult to sell to management because they have drank the ESRI kool-aid and so much money is already invested in monstrous SDE databases for the province.
IE 6 is interesting to me. ESRI won’t be supporting IE6, but that probably means consultants will have to do the heavy lifting.
Of course the work around is to just use Flex or Silverlight with IE6. Doesn’t help with administration of ESRI web services, but at least you could consume them.
No IE6 will give the three-letter-acronym (TLA) agencies major heartburn. Most work units are still on XP with IE6 for security reasons.
Until they improve the performance on the desktop side. Workstation all the way for certain functions. Don’t go away workstation, don’t!
“Please anyone tell me they are still running Win2k. I’d love to know.”
I saw not a few oil cos. base their common desktop environments on Win2K, I heard the same with gov. agencies especially overseas.
Sad to see the upcoming end of Workstation. For certain raster anlaysis workflows, it has been the ONLY way to go. Under all of its shiny python and toolbox exteriors, the “modern” ArcGIS struggles with memory management for large datasets. This will probably force some of us into a GRASS environment for large raster datasets.
I think ESRI should drop the support for ArcIMS on all platforms after the 9.4 release. It would be better if ESRI spent that time/money on ArcGIS Server instead. The version after 9.4 (10?) won’t be released until 2011-2013 which mean that ArcIMS could still be around for a long long time..
“ArcGIS 9.3.1 was the last release supporting the Microsoft Windows 2000 operating system for all ArcGIS products. Please anyone tell me they are still running Win2k. I’d love to know.”
As Andrew says above, a number of very large energy companies still run Win2k, and I work for one of them.
Win2k will continue to be an important platform for us until Q4 2010. Large companies also are often more conservative in their software release cycles, partly by choice, partly by very rigid IT environments and policies that sometimes hinder agility.
Issues such as support deprecation of both OS’s and Oracle versions are big things for us – the oil tanker analogy is both apt and very relevant – planning for a turn needs to happen many months in advance, and has to take into account a massive range of variables, many of which have little to do with ‘just’ ESRI software.
Also note MapIt is not supported on XP – only Vista, Windows Server, and Windows 7.
Maybe I am missing the obvious replacement, but it seems like with VBA gone there will be no way to store code within an MXD. And this is a good thing because….?
If VB6 is no longer supported, does that mean DS Map Book will no longer work? It’s not a supported program now anyway, but it is used by a lot of people.
You can do more with Python and map layouts at 9.4. Much like how we used to do it with ArcPlot.
The loss of VBA, or at least no mention of an equivalent, is the most worrying to me.
I can think of several good reasons why it should be kept, mainly due to prototyping and ease of use. A few more details at http://geographika.co.uk/?p=106
A good reason for not having stored code in an MXD’s is MXD’s get bloated and corrupt enough. They don’t need to be storing code also. Another reason is updating and sharing code. Its very difficult to have updates to code when there are various versions running around an organization.
[...] James Fee links to updated ESRI deprecation plans, and there are a couple of interesting bits. Notably: no more Crystal Reports Wizard, no more MS VBA, no more MS VS 2005, and no more IE6 support. And prepare to kiss Workstation goodbye. [...]
I sure hope ESRI finds a replacement for what DOCELL does in Workstation GRID before they retire workstation. It seems like F# would be a logical replacement, and would support some cool cellular automata modeling. Interesting info here: http://www.ffconsultancy.com/dotnet/fsharp/
i can only support you.. DOCELL and IF THEN in ArcGIS (yeah). for a start would be fun and save me a couple of lines in python. and for efficiency … start a simple thing of moving window statistics on a small or large dataset and compared times between python and old arcinfo workstation..big time..
if workstation goes.. well i will think about going to grass as well.. — Maybe we could convince ESRI to put workstation code under any public licence if the stop support.. that would be worth a try…
[...] recently learned from James Fee’s blog that ArcGIS 9.4 will be the last version that supports VBA. I can see why this is being dropped [...]
[...] James Fee’s blog the other day I noticed this article about what is coming up in ArcGIS 9.4. One note that caught my eye was this: ArcGIS 9.4 will be the [...]
Regarding VB and VBA, please be aware that both technologies are already unsupported by Microsoft itselft (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_Basic#Legacy_development_and_support). It is mandatory then for ESRI to move on and switch to Python or any other scripting platform
New doc: http://downloads2.esri.com/support/TechArticles/ArcGIS_931_and__10_Deprecation_Plan.pdf
Most interesting to me was “ArcGIS 9.3.1 was the last release of the ArcMap Server Extension to ArcIMS; we will no longer provide it in ArcGIS 9.4 release. Â So if you want to roll MXDs, you have to use ArcGIS Server 9.4[10].” I could be wrong, but doesn’t the removal of the ArcMap Server Extension from ArcIMS pretty much gut the part of ArcIMS that 99% of us are still using? Why didn’t they just kill off ArcIMS all-together?