Hi gang,
2.5 years ago (yes, I checked 
) I picked up the Modeler edition of Visual Paradigm’s Smart Development Environment for NetBeans, which I ran on Linux (Ubuntu). My main motivations for the why and how can even be seen in a previous post below.
I’ve been active on this forum for a while but eventually work and personal issues got the best of me, and a lot of stuff has changed since then. Moved to another town, started my own firm (I knew it was a good idea to pick up on Modeler; which allows for commercial usage! :mrgreen:) and even replaced my Linux workstation entirely for Windows 7 (which replaced Vista on my windows pc).
I’m still no professional programmer, but programming is still taking up a big part of the stuff I do. And I just felt writing up how much I appreciate that in those 2.5 years your product covered my back BIG time. I’m truly impressed with flexibility, and… oh well: see subject for the list 
Seriously; Flexibility… I’ve been using Linux as a workstation for years. I did everything there; programming, network administration, writing letters or documentation (OpenOffice FTW!) and everything else I don’t want to mention here :mrgreen: As such I’ve started using SDE on Linux as well, that’s when I got my modeler license.
Things changed. When running your own company its no longer fun if you need to spend several days on upgrading your workstation (which is what happened to me when trying to upgrade Ubuntu LTS 8 to version 10). After 1 day I gave up and decided to move everything I used over to Windows 7 (I was using the professional version for a while by then). Moving over NetBeans was easy; simply installing the new product since its free of charge anyway. How about VP SDE ?
Yes; very flexible and very impressive. All I did was simply go to my customer service page, grab the Windows version and re-grabbed my license and that was all there was to it (actually; I didn’t even needed to grab my licenses again because I could have used the data from my Linux backups easily as well).
Now that is flexibility for you. The reason I’m impressed here is because I have experienced otherwise… A new hobby I picked up, synthesizers and sound synthesis in general (see my hobby website (link)) is fueled by some commercial Windows software as well. Some of those even had a bump during my upgrade from Vista to Windows 7 (as in; had to re-apply for a key). NOT so with VP SDE.
Durability… I know a good deal when I pick it up as such I made sure to renew my support license (a fraction of the costs of the original product) and I can tell you one thing… SDE NB-ME has evolved A LOT. One of my favorite features is the Textual Analysis (I’ll leave you to guess why :mrgreen:). Now, I’m not 100% sure here but if I recall correctly (“iirc”) that feature wasn’t present when I picked up on SDE NB-ME. And man, what I have at my disposal now is totally incomparable with what I used a year ago.
Well; product value should be a given by now…
Still… What triggered my current post is the flexible way your software works. (as well as a good reminder as to why I’m using UML when being asked to pick up on a 1.5 old project). Anyway… Here I was using SDE NB-ME. I’m still a die-hard Java user (as much as I dislike Oracle I can’t and won’t give up on Java), but my hobby (more a passion) introduced me to a new programming environment, one fully aimed at multimedia purposes; a visual programming environment called Max.
In the beginning all was well (building tone generators, oscillator scopes, etc) but at this point my patches (“Max programs”) are getting more and more complex. And just having done a major upgrade (NB 7.0.1 & SDE 6.3) I figured you guys might be able to hold my back here as well.
SO… I go to the install directory (“VP Suite 5.3”) and to the “bin” folder. There I start “VP Suite.exe” and tell it that I want to use the Visual Paradigm for UML. After a while I now have “Visual Paradigm for UML 8.3.exe” added to that same folder. And I’m done! (I can easily do the “technical stuff” such as creating links myself).
All which was left now was to apply for a community license for this one. I develop Java on a professional basis now, but this is all hobby related. Well, one e-mail away and I can now use VP UML on a stand-alone basis as well which fully fuels my Max projects.
I love it!
Your software STILL manages to prevail. Even on totally unsupported environments 
Sure; the community version doesn’t do as much as my Modeler version does, but I can fully confirm that its still very good value to pick up on. Yes, I am “missing” options (grids anyone?) but rightfully so. Honestly; I think you guys have found a good balance between versions. Community is fully useful. But if you want a little more; get Modeler! Not too expensive, very good product value and well…
I’m biased but after 2.5 years I still say VP rules!
