The last build of the wildly popular ArcGIS Explorer Desktop (AGX) application (build 2500), was released February 12, 2013. Since its release, many users have supplied input to the Forum and technologies have advanced. Just over a year later, we are still wondering when the next build of AGX will be released. Responses to user questions regarding a release timeframe have included:
"The next release of ArcGIS Explorer Desktop will be 10.2 and the timing of future releases will fall in-line with the ArcGIS Desktop (ArcMap) releases."
"This will be fixed in the next release of ArcGIS Explorer desktop. It is just taking longer to get an update out than we had originally planned."
"We are planning to have ArcGIS Explorer desktop ready for release with ArcGIS Next. Q3 at earliest ??"
No disrespect to the hard working members of the development teams, but does Esri's AGX team develop under the Agile Method or Waterfall Method? With releases once a year or longer and no intermediate builds with bug fixes, it appears that development is driven by the Waterfall method, which puzzles me. Scott Morehouse, Sud Menon, Jim McKinney and others gave a talk at last year's User Conference and they described Esri's use of the Agile method for development. ArcGIS Online is getting updates every three to four months, which fits with the Agile method. ArcGIS for Desktop and Server get patches and service packs throughout the year between major releases. I think that many of us are wondering why AGX is not following a similar Agile path with updates and releases. Are we tacitly being turned away from AGX desktop and steered toward ArcGIS Online for Organizations?
Sincerely,
