UC Whiplash?

[Greg_Mattis]

Did anyone else receive UC Whiplash regarding information about ArcGIS Pro and ArcMap depreciation?

Before the UC, I heard from a Customer Advocacy Lead at Esri that ArcMap is going away and then Jack said at the Plenary that it isn't going away and will continue to be supported. Then during the UC, many of the Esri employees that I talked to and presented both in the Expo Hall and at the in Sessions said that ArcMap is going away and even a few of them even provided a date range of 2022 or 2023. But then Jack in the closing session said that it isn't going away and will continue to be supported? Which one is it? It can't be both?

If people have thoughts or also shared my experience I would be interested to know.

[RebeccaStrauch__GISP]

Nice Curtis.....now if I could only get a license for my personal use at home....... (sigh)

BTW - I have it working on Windows 7...and I think I've had it running on Windows 10 too

[DawnWright]

Rebecca Strauch, GISP‌ have you seen ArcGIS for Personal Use Program | ArcGIS for Desktop Advanced for Personal Use ?

[RebeccaStrauch__GISP]

Hi Dawn Wright ....lol  yes, I was actually talking/joking about the old reliable ArcInfo Workstation     Which you can't even purchase anymore....especially since you can't buy new concurrent use licenses.  I'm old school and just going to miss having access to it (I have access at work).    But I actually do have the personal use  too.

[DawnWright]

I know what you mean! Those were some good, productive days!

[Robert_LeClair]

A few of my students still use ArcInfo Workstation along with the AML scripts written 20 years ago - it just keeps on going!

[DawnWright]

It sure does! The EPA Western Regional Lab in Corvallis, OR still runs their AML scripts successfully too!

[Greg_Mattis]

Rebecca,

When Pro was first launched it was authorized by your ArcGIS Online Named User from the entitlement and therefore required you stay current on maintenance. However at future releases of ArcGIS Pro, they enabled users to authorize with their Single Use license or their Concurrent Use license. By doing that it made it possible to use ArcGIS Pro even if you were not current on maintenance. You just would not receive access to ArcGIS Online and wouldn't be able to use some of the functionality of ArcGIS Pro. I hope this makes sense.

Greg

[JeffRoland]

Greg, I had the same question about the future of ArcGIS Desktop. I've just spent 10 minutes on the ESRI site looking for ArcGIS Desktop. I can't find it. If you go up to Products, it isn't listed as one of the main products. If you click on More to see all of ESRI's products, it is listed. HOWEVER, if you click on it then you are taken to the ArcGIS Pro page. ??? It seems as if they are already trying to wipe it from our memories.

I have spent the last 2 days trying to learn to do one of my projects in PRO. There are a few things I like such as anti-alias maps, but there are far more things I don't like such as the lack of customization of the user interface. The old method of opening any tool bar and docking it where I liked is far superior to this ribbon user interface. Switching between ribbons is counter productive. It's also harder to customize the ribbons. Gone are the days when you could just make your own toolbar with the few tools you needed for a specific repetitive task.

Grant it, I'm still learning PRO and I'm sure it will grow on me in time. However, I don't think it's quite ready for prime time yet. I experienced several bugs just trying to edit tables and it doesn't seem to have all the capabilities that ArcMap does.

[JimMcKinney]

Hi Jeff,

Sorry it was not clear where to find current information on ArcMap.   I'll let the folks who look after the website know this.

Here's the link I think you were looking for.   http://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/

This is a good thread,  lots of good opinions!    I'd like to add mine if you don't mind.  And a shout out to the Arc/Info users and AML scripters,  that's how I grew up using GIS as well.

None of us can control what Jack says, Jack is Jack.   But in my last conversation with him,  he was very clear,  and our development teams are very clear,  that we will continue to support ArcMap for a long time. We know the critically important work our users do that has depended on ArcMap for a long time,  and will for several years to come.   We will support you in this work - I think that is the essence of Jack's statements and our collective goal, to serve you well and support you in your work.  That's our job.   When he reads this,  and he will, because he reads everything sent to him amazingly,  he can speak for himself,  or correct me.   Having said this,  many new software opportunities now exist (beyond ArcMap) that Esri is very excited to share with our users,  because we truly feel you can do even more amazing and valuable work using them, if you choose to do so.  This is the ArcGIS Platform, and the Web GIS pattern - ArcGIS Online, Enterprise, Apps, Solutions, the Living Atlas (and more) and of course, ArcGIS Pro supporting both stand alone GIS workflows,  and as a powerful connected desktop to the ArcGIS Platform - AND ArcMap,  working as a system.  

We hope what was shown and discussed at the UC last week,  and throughout the year,  helps you understand this (new) value better with more opportunities for our global community to make a positive differences in the world.   We worked very hard on the UC Survey answers,  and our messaging at the UC,  but we are human, and sometimes say things unclearly in the spur of the moment,  please forgive us,  we will try to do better here.  The details of what a "support" statement is can be found in many web sites,  such as described above and http://support.esri.com/en/other-resources/product-life-cycle.   These are up to date good resources,  but please balance the quest for these details with our spoken statements and actions,  which is to support and serve our users while building great GIS software.   The rubber meets the road when you call Technical Support for help or an issue,  and you get support - for ArcMap - and or we ship a software fix if need be,  and you will.

I'm responsible for the development of both ArcMap and Pro,  working with a large team of highly motivated, intelligent and caring amazing people who work hard to ensure your success.  We are one Desktop Team, responsible for ArcMap and Pro simultaneously, always thinking about both, and ArcCatalog, ArcScene and ArcGlobe too.    Our team is working hard on 10.6 right now and it will include the best ArcMap we have ever shipped with new focused functionality and support for better global use, as well as performance and quality improvements.   We plan to ship 10.6 by the end of 2017.  10.6 is the next release of ArcMap,  its not the last release of ArcMap.    Into 2018,  expect to see updates to ArcMap in 10.6.1, 10.6.2...etc, normal release cycles like how we released 10.4 and 10.5.  

We are an agile software company (believe it or not),  and our plans can change dynamically based on a number of factors that I won't go into.   So,  the timelines we shared at the UC last week in the Plenary and at the road ahead sessions are really our current active development plans, I presented them myself in my sessions.   But they could change,  I'm just being honest about this.    We were asked to be more transparent here,  so our Desktop team now shares our development plans for Pro in geonet,  because that is where the bulk of our innovation is going now  https://community.esri.com/community/gis/applications/arcgis-pro/blog.   We hope people find this valuable for planing around migration from ArcMap to Pro if they are thinking of doing so. 

So I started this reply with a simple URL for ArcMap information and it turned into several long winded opinions on lots of topics, maybe a little preachy, my bad, sorry.  But, I would like to end this reply with another URL for you to consider, on your schedule, when you're ready, not because of an "ArcMap is going away" assumption or feeling, which it is not anytime soon.  Give it a try,  let us know what you think: http://pro.arcgis.com 

 Best, 

Jim

[BrianOevermann]

I "virtually" nod my head in agreement with many of the comments here. Some days I miss Workstation, too, having 'cut my GIS teeth' on it. Desktop has allowed me to be productive in all of tasks I routinely perform--and it should given how long it has been around. Not so with Pro.

ArcGIS Pro is definitely not ready for prime time! Add more than a few layers and I seem to be waiting for screen re-draws more than doing actual productive work. I have a recent, decently configured machine, though not a humongous workstation or Cray supercomputer.

I was elated when we were allowed to convert Named User accounts to Concurrent licenses for Pro. The Named User account structure/cost is my largest concern moving forward with our GIS program (we are a city of 35K population). While virtually all of our data is public, we do keep certain data, such as utilities, less "open" due to security concerns. The steady move to require a Name User account to even view data in our interactive map apps unless access is publicly wide open will, given the current cost of NU accounts, price us entirely out of using Esri software because a majority of our internal staff utilize some number of internal "non-public" layers/data (and, thus, require yet another NU account). I'm already beginning to track open source and other options more closely--something I've never felt the need to do.

Either that or take a cue from the Workstation holdouts and become a technology "hermit"...

Brian