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FreeCAD suffers from the same issues that much open-source software suffers from: it has bugs. Bugs erode user confidence. Apparently, there are now > 500 bugs

FreeCAD suffers from the same issues that much open-source software suffers from: it has bugs. Bugs erode user confidence. Apparently, there are now > 500 bugs open. When commercial software has bugs, you don't even know they exist often. Sure, but there are also ways to make bug free software, but hardly any open-source software exists that uses those development techniques.

virtualritz 2y ago
I can only talk about professional visual effects (VFX) software like Maya and Nuke. Let's just say I've seen their (internal) bug trackers. TLDR; you couldn't be more wrong. When OSS software has bugs, at least someone with an interest in the issue and the skills can do something about it. For closed source software nobody can. Even the people working at the resp. company who are developers rarely or never decide about priorities. And as an added hurdle, adding features always has higher priority as it drives sales.
imtringued 2y ago
And here I thought it is cripplingly obvious UI problems. The attachment editor is horrible, for instance. If you want to attach a sketch to a datum plane, it will be attached at a random orientation. There is no preview for this, since datum planes are just planes, except you know, the part where it actually is an LCS with a default attachment orientation internally. So now you have to go into the sketch and draw an arrow pointing up and then rotate the sketch into place so that it actually points up. You will have to do this for every single sketch. It is so painful and an every day occurrence that surely someone should have come up with the idea of fixing it years ago, right? There is usually no preview for additive parts unless it successfully creates the final model. The idea of displaying a transparent preview of just the operation itself never occurred to them. Also, there are hardly any interactable UI features such as draggable arrows in the 3D editor, you mostly enter numbers in the left panel. I haven't had much trouble with "bugs". The attachment editor thing is considered a feature by the way.
rcxdude 2y ago
It has that in common with CAD software which has 5 figure annual subscriptions. Find me a CAD user who doesn't notice bugs in the software they're using and I'll show you someone who has <1 hour of experience.
- iancmceachern 2y ago
  This is true, but when I encounter a bug in Solidworks there is someone who's job it is to fix it,and they do.
  - rcxdude 2y ago
    That would be novel in my experience, they seem far more interested in cramming in features (with more associated bugs).
    - iancmceachern 2y ago
      I, for one, love those new features. Often they save me hours a day. About 10 years ago they released a new feature, slot sketch tool, so instead of drawing 2 circles, two lines, trimming, now it's one click. If you use the new feature to save significant time, like me, it's wonderful.
echoangle 2y ago
You think professional software is bug-free? I have some experience with NX and I can tell you it’s not exactly bug-free either. It’s very likely better than FreeCAD, but requiring zero bugs is just unrealistic.
- delfinom 2y ago
  Sadly a lot of people think that way. Particularly younger engineers have their mind blown over the concept of not immediately upgrading all your software just because there's a new version. In the physical engineering spaces, it's more valuable to keep using the same software version you started a project with, rather than have hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages because of a dickhead bug.
- iancmceachern 2y ago
  This is true, but for customers of nx, solidworks, etc it's someone's job to fix the bugs for you
  - alpaca128 2y ago
    Which doesn't necessarily mean that job will ever get done.
    - iancmceachern 2y ago
      In my experience it always has, every single time.
      - Gracana 2y ago
        How do you get Solidworks bugs fixed, and on what timescale? We have ~20 solidworks premium seats, plus a handful of licenses for other dassault products. We've complained loudly about various issues, submitted and voted on feature requests, talked to our VAR at length and in many on-site meetings, and nothing seems to happen as a direct result. At best, a bug is incidentally fixed in a later release. It's still better than FreeCAD, though.
jonathankoren 2y ago
It’s not just that. It’s also ugly and awkward to use. I tried to use it after learning Fusion360, and it’s just lacking. I wasn’t even trying to do anything particularly complicated, and it just kinda sucked. You see the same problems with a lot of “flagship” oss ware. Gimp seems to have the same awkward feature set for 25 years. Apparently the only thing that has changed is they no longer compile against Gtk 1.0, and they decided to have all images in a single window. Still can’t do smart background erase. Inkscape kinda works, but it always seems like attachment points for easily alignment, and a non sucky text editor are forever out of reach. I’m sorry. I know software is hard, but it’s been literally decades of stagnation.
- prokoudine 2y ago
  > Gimp seems to have the same awkward feature set for 25 years. Apparently the only thing that has changed is they no longer compile against Gtk 1.0, and they decided to have all images in a single window. Off the top of my head: - Full color management - Non-destructive filters - 32-bit per channel precision - Late binding CMYK support - Unified transform tool - Vastly better selection and cropping tools - Vastly better text tool Should I go on? :)
  - jonathankoren 2y ago
    You’ve proven my point. A bunch of data loading crap, but nothing substantial on the usability. This is a simple tutorial task. Is it this easy in Gimp? No. It’s not. But hey, we have the same crappy ScriptFu plugins from a quarter century ago. Anyway, you have the source! Shut up and be grateful you insensitive clod! https://youtu.be/K25F9RPrP9Q https://youtu.be/K25F9RPrP9Q
    - bee_rider 2y ago
      The last 3 seem like usability upgrades. Substantial, I dunno.
      - jonathankoren 2y ago

virtualritz 2y ago

I can only talk about professional visual effects (VFX) software like Maya and Nuke. Let's just say I've seen their (internal) bug trackers. TLDR; you couldn't be more wrong. When OSS software has bugs, at least someone with an interest in the issue and the skills can do something about it. For closed source software nobody can. Even the people working at the resp. company who are developers rarely or never decide about priorities. And as an added hurdle, adding features always has higher priority as it drives sales.

imtringued 2y ago

And here I thought it is cripplingly obvious UI problems. The attachment editor is horrible, for instance. If you want to attach a sketch to a datum plane, it will be attached at a random orientation. There is no preview for this, since datum planes are just planes, except you know, the part where it actually is an LCS with a default attachment orientation internally. So now you have to go into the sketch and draw an arrow pointing up and then rotate the sketch into place so that it actually points up. You will have to do this for every single sketch. It is so painful and an every day occurrence that surely someone should have come up with the idea of fixing it years ago, right? There is usually no preview for additive parts unless it successfully creates the final model. The idea of displaying a transparent preview of just the operation itself never occurred to them. Also, there are hardly any interactable UI features such as draggable arrows in the 3D editor, you mostly enter numbers in the left panel. I haven't had much trouble with "bugs". The attachment editor thing is considered a feature by the way.

rcxdude 2y ago

It has that in common with CAD software which has 5 figure annual subscriptions. Find me a CAD user who doesn't notice bugs in the software they're using and I'll show you someone who has <1 hour of experience.

iancmceachern 2y ago
This is true, but when I encounter a bug in Solidworks there is someone who's job it is to fix it,and they do.
- rcxdude 2y ago
  That would be novel in my experience, they seem far more interested in cramming in features (with more associated bugs).
  - iancmceachern 2y ago
    I, for one, love those new features. Often they save me hours a day. About 10 years ago they released a new feature, slot sketch tool, so instead of drawing 2 circles, two lines, trimming, now it's one click. If you use the new feature to save significant time, like me, it's wonderful.

echoangle 2y ago

You think professional software is bug-free? I have some experience with NX and I can tell you it’s not exactly bug-free either. It’s very likely better than FreeCAD, but requiring zero bugs is just unrealistic.

delfinom 2y ago
Sadly a lot of people think that way. Particularly younger engineers have their mind blown over the concept of not immediately upgrading all your software just because there's a new version. In the physical engineering spaces, it's more valuable to keep using the same software version you started a project with, rather than have hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages because of a dickhead bug.
iancmceachern 2y ago
This is true, but for customers of nx, solidworks, etc it's someone's job to fix the bugs for you
- alpaca128 2y ago
  Which doesn't necessarily mean that job will ever get done.
  - iancmceachern 2y ago
    In my experience it always has, every single time.
    - Gracana 2y ago
      How do you get Solidworks bugs fixed, and on what timescale? We have ~20 solidworks premium seats, plus a handful of licenses for other dassault products. We've complained loudly about various issues, submitted and voted on feature requests, talked to our VAR at length and in many on-site meetings, and nothing seems to happen as a direct result. At best, a bug is incidentally fixed in a later release. It's still better than FreeCAD, though.

jonathankoren 2y ago

It’s not just that. It’s also ugly and awkward to use. I tried to use it after learning Fusion360, and it’s just lacking. I wasn’t even trying to do anything particularly complicated, and it just kinda sucked. You see the same problems with a lot of “flagship” oss ware. Gimp seems to have the same awkward feature set for 25 years. Apparently the only thing that has changed is they no longer compile against Gtk 1.0, and they decided to have all images in a single window. Still can’t do smart background erase. Inkscape kinda works, but it always seems like attachment points for easily alignment, and a non sucky text editor are forever out of reach. I’m sorry. I know software is hard, but it’s been literally decades of stagnation.

prokoudine 2y ago
> Gimp seems to have the same awkward feature set for 25 years. Apparently the only thing that has changed is they no longer compile against Gtk 1.0, and they decided to have all images in a single window. Off the top of my head: - Full color management - Non-destructive filters - 32-bit per channel precision - Late binding CMYK support - Unified transform tool - Vastly better selection and cropping tools - Vastly better text tool Should I go on? :)
- jonathankoren 2y ago
  You’ve proven my point. A bunch of data loading crap, but nothing substantial on the usability. This is a simple tutorial task. Is it this easy in Gimp? No. It’s not. But hey, we have the same crappy ScriptFu plugins from a quarter century ago. Anyway, you have the source! Shut up and be grateful you insensitive clod! https://youtu.be/K25F9RPrP9Q https://youtu.be/K25F9RPrP9Q
  - bee_rider 2y ago
    The last 3 seem like usability upgrades. Substantial, I dunno.
    - jonathankoren 2y ago