While I appreciate the "customer facing-ness" of this approach, this is a exactly why the 2010 UI needs to be put back in the oven. Somebody please...please... have the force of will to restore and support the Classic UI as the default condition. Simply expose the Ribbon as an option for customers while the bugs/iterations/gestations/infestations/genuflections are being worked out.
Debating the pros and cons of various UI iterations under the guise of "maybe-we-will-maybe-we-won't-we-can't-really-discuss-future-development-while-under-no-obligation-regarding-forward-looking-blogging" seems a huge distraction.
- Is this really customer facing?
- Is this the best way to design?
- Should a $2billiondollar software company designing a flagship AEC BIM platform solicit meaningful customer feedback via Survey Monkey? What about Ouiji Boards? Or better yet, headless chickens? You know - something along the lines of this.
Because what's really disruptive is if you design the thing to design the thing and then release the thing into the wild - but then it quickly becomes obvious that it wasn't ready for prime time and it actually needs a lot more work to be usable. By this time it's too late as customers are faced with a moving target of:
- Trying to use a tool that keeps morphing after it's picked it up, while
- Simultaneously being asked to help guess the next permutation, which
- Until a few weeks ago was not officially available without an option to work in a familiar, stable, environment.
Would someone please raise their hand?
