UC Whiplash?

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07-19-2017 01:26 PM
Greg_Mattis
Occasional Contributor II

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.

Greg Mattis, GISP
GIS Analyst
City of Visalia
25 Replies
AdrianWelsh
MVP Honored Contributor

Greg,

From what I understand, each new ArcMap release will have like six years of support for it. So in 2018 with 10.6.1 comes out (according to data from the Plenary session) (or possibly even 2019 when it comes out), this version will be supported until 2024 or 2025. 

Though, take a look at this support roadmap

http://support.esri.com/en/Products/Desktop/arcgis-desktop/arcmap/10-5-1#product-support 

It might answer some questions and might muddy up more...

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Greg_Mattis
Occasional Contributor II

Hi Adrian,

Yes I understand about the product life cycle support however when Jack mentioned at the closing session that they will continue to support it, he didn't mention at what level they will support it. For instance being certified on newer Operating Systems. From what I heard all over the place at UC from Esri employees is that ArcMap is going away but that is contrary to what I heard Jack say.

Greg Mattis, GISP
GIS Analyst
City of Visalia
Robert_LeClair
Esri Notable Contributor

Greg - in our ArcGIS Pro:  An Introduction Technical Workshop, David Watkins and I presented a 75-minute presentation/demo on Pro with a group of commonly asked questions.  The first "Will ArcGIS Pro replace ArcMap?"  The response - yes.

With that said, ArcMap will continue being part of the ArcGIS Desktop for the near future meaning 10.6.x.  I don't know what the ArcMap Dev Team will do past that (i.e. ArcGIS 11) as I'm in Training Services.  If you look where Esri is investing $$$ into for Desktop, it is ArcGIS Pro.  ArcMap will have minimal new enhancements but continue with stability and bug fixes, that's it.  Adrian is correct about the 6-year support cycle for products.  Figure 2023-2024 for 10.6 retirement, then 10.6.1, and 10.6.2 after that.

KoryKramer
Esri Community Moderator

Greg,

The Q & A for this year's UC provides the answer to your question.

Will ArcMap be replaced with ArcGIS Pro? http://www.esri.com/about/events/uc/get-involved/q-and-a#id=1584

"Yes. ArcGIS Pro will eventually replace ArcMap. We will continue to support and maintain ArcMap. However, our focus is on making ArcGIS Pro the world’s best desktop GIS. There are still some capabilities of ArcMap that are not yet in ArcGIS Pro, so some ArcGIS Desktop users will be using both ArcGIS Pro and ArcMap till Pro has everything you need to fully support your work."

What is the retirement schedule for ArcMap? http://www.esri.com/about/events/uc/get-involved/q-and-a#id=1586

"While Esri has moved most of its development efforts to ArcGIS Pro, we will continue to provide support and minor bug fixes in ArcMap for a long time (you can find the ArcMap Product Life Cycle on the Esri website). This means that users will be able to use legacy ArcMap applications and workflows long into the future. At the same time, all ArcMap users have the ability to use ArcGIS Pro in their desktop environment. There will be many sessions at the conference this year that show the new features and the advantages of migrating to ArcGIS Pro."

The link to the Product Life Cycle is above, but here is an example:

I hope that this information helps to solidify the answer, but please let us know if something remains unclear.

Thank you!

AdrianWelsh
MVP Honored Contributor

It sounds like we're all answering the same way without answering the real question of whether or not Jack Dangermond is contradicting what all of these sites are saying. I would assume that what is in the product life cycle sites from Esri's site would be the "law" so to speak and not something Jack said during the opening or closing sessions. Especially the Q&A site - I feel like that is supposed to come from Jack and the Esri staff as a whole, right?

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RebeccaStrauch__GISP
MVP Emeritus

You have to keep in mind that Jack speaks in broad strokes at the plenary (and to an extent at closing) to try to excite and boost energy for the week and beyond.  In the same way that tech support and trainers will always defer any licensing specifics to customer support/distributor, Jack is not contradicting, it's just that " it isn't going away and will continue to be supported" is really a matter of relative time.  Eventually it may be replace (and per the life cycle that does seem to be the case), just like Arc/Info Workstation still works (with concurrent licensing), but is no longer sold or technically support.

Case in point of something Jack said a few years ago at the plenary (paraphrasing)  "if you have Desktop, you automatically get Pro" (could be applied to named users too).  In general terms that was correct, but the details that were not mentioned at the Plenary/Closing were: 

  • that is only true for licenses on maintenance,
  • but if you are using concurrent licenses, that is only true for the number of seats you have on maintenance, not just because you have Desktop installed.  ()note: since that time, you can now have concurrent Pro seats, so this can be true)

So, although it all was technically true, and everyone got a bit excited, it wasn't 100% true for all cases.

So, in my opinion, the statement is true in that it is not going away "in the short term", which is a line he didn't say, and which is of course a relative time-frame anyway.  As a user that still remembers my Workstation roots, the once constant with the GIS software is change, and use what works for you, but keep an eye on the moving technology front.  (Just hope ArcCatalog remains or a Pro equivalent is made..vote up https://community.esri.com/ideas/12671 )

Robert_LeClair
Esri Notable Contributor

As a fellow ArcInfo Workstation veteran, I have seen the evolution of GIS software from Workstation->ArcView->ArcGIS Desktop->ArcGIS Pro over the last 25 years or so.  This current phase of migration from one Desktop mapping application to a newer model is really not new and has occurred 2-3 times.  What is different in this case is ArcMap has been with us for a very long time - 1999 to present.  18 years public release, 20 years if you add in development time.  ArcView GIS was only with us for what 5-6 years?  ArcGIS Pro is a modern GIS application that is very close to ArcMap equivalency.  It will get there soon and then go well beyond ArcMap capabilities.  In my opinion, ArcMap really wasn't usable for me until 8.3 and really didn't hit it's stride until 9.2.  My favorite saying in life - "the only constant is change..."

curtvprice
MVP Esteemed Contributor

Say it brother!

curtvprice
MVP Esteemed Contributor

It should be said (and I have this on good authority from the excellent Margaret M at Esri Support) that there are still people quietly and happily using Workstation out there. One reason is it is extremely stable, as its underlying framework is still supported by Windows and Unix, and there is no ongoing development to break things. (Interestlying, workstation 9.x performs better than 10.x on x64 Windows for some reason) 🙂  I bet it runs great under Linux's WINE but I have not personally tried it. Workstation still executes with minimal issues 20 years later. Pretty amazing!  I have a neat Python tool that allows me to run Workstation command-line stuff from a Pro toolbox haha. It works great.

ArcInfo Workstation Guidance