Gary
Sun Feb 08 04:38:51 CST 2004
Hi All,
As a Project professional that has used many different versions of PM
software products I think that there is a fundamental flaw in some of the
arguments being put forward in this thread. In particular Microsoft Project
2003 is way, way more sophisticated than Sure Trak and offers a wealth of
features simply not found in Sure Trak.
If you compare the Project Pro/Project server model with Primavera then the
MS offering is a very attarctive solution for many corporates requiring a
true EPM solution. Of course if you a building a Space Shuttle then P3 may
be the tool of choice BUT consider the increased cost of P3 compared to MS
EPM, both in terms of purchase and implementation costs. In addition the
learning curve on P3 is very steep and long, and the product is really
designed for those people who are planning all day, every day (you de-skill
pretty quickly if you don't use it all the time). Unlike MSP whcih is
designed for the more modern PM who does not want to spend all their time in
front of a screen.
Its just my view - but I do know a number of companies that have migrated
from P3 to MSP or MSP EPM very successfully.
Regards
Gary
"Steve House" <sjhouse.remove.this@to.send.hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:4020e06e$0$488$45beb828@newscene.com...
> Perhaps MS considers sending time-limited evaluation copies to be more
> effective marketing that stripped down limited-functionality model
> products. Perhaps it's just personal preference - I'd rather work with
> the full for-real product for limited period of time than just see what
> is effectively a slide show of how they hope the product will perform in
> my environment. As to waiting time for CD to arrive, given the price
> and organizational implications of rolling out MS Project, I'm not going
> to be making spur-of-the-moment decisions anyway so the time difference
> in acquisitions time between a download and snail-mail is not going to
> impact my decision cycle to any extent at all. What does NOT make any
> sense to me is that MS had the same "one CD - one CPU" activation scheme
> on the evaluation disk that they do on the regular product. It seems
> counter-productive - that as a marketing tool they'd *want* you to order
> an eval disk and install it on as many desktops in your company that you
> can. Couldn't get better free advertising than to get the eval into as
> many hands as possible and get them used to using it. Then when it
> times-out in a few months there's bound to be a groundswell of demand to
> purchase it.
>
>
> "Jason" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:C5C90EEC-3F66-4EED-9567-D7A189216672@microsoft.com...
> > No, P3 does not have a demo version available for download...however,
> it is not the comparable product to MS-P (as you stated). SureTrak is
> more of a direct comparison to MS-P.
> >
> > Looks as though Microsoft did not do as thorough of a job as Primavera
> in defining what was necessary for a demo product. Doesn't it make more
> sense to have a non-expiring demo, but with a limited number of tasks?
> This way many could share and evaluate the product, without the
> temptation to actually use it to plan a real project.
> >
> > Steve: Would you rather spend 1-2 hours downloading a demo, or wait
> 5-10 days for a CD in the mail?? Especially with the number of people
> who have broadband access at home, work, or both.
> >
> > I guess my point is that Microsoft needs to learn how to discover what
> the customers' real needs are....not just what MS 'believes' they are.
> I have been an MS product user since the days that Office was purchased
> on 28 3.5" floppies, and would like to continue to be so....but not if
> their over-confidence in themselves causes them to loose sight of
> customer needs/wants.
> >
> > ----- Arthur wrote: -----
> >
> > Primavera's SureTrak Project Manager is available as a "working
> model"
> > download. No functional limitations or timestamp, but a limit to
> the number
> > of activities. Primavera's much more sophisticated (compared
> with either
> > SureTrak or MS-P) "high-end" solutions do not have either
> downloads or demo
> > CDs.
> >
> > "Steve House" <sjhouse.remove.this@to.send.hotmail.com> wrote in
> message
> > news:4018e8b6$0$77257$45beb828@newscene.com...
> > > It's rather large to download. I don't know what the demo for
> Primavera
> > > contains but the Project demo is actually the full retail
> version of
> > > Project Standard. It has all the functionality of the full
> product but
> > > times out after the evaluation period expires.
> > >> --
> > > Steve House
> > > MS Project MVP
> > > Visit
http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs
> > >>> "Jason" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
> message
> > > news:B62F8E92-11FE-4BE0-B283-E5278022E766@microsoft.com...
> > >> I see on the MS Project website that there is a demo version
> of 2003
> > > available, but that it must be mail ordered. Does anyone know
> where
> > > this demo might be downloaded instead? Wouldn't you think that
> the
> > > largest software company would offer something other than snail
> > > mail?...especially when Primavera has demos available for
> download.
> > >>
>
>