Well, I just feel that if there's already a superior tool for editing tabular data, why spend effort upgrading the runner up that could be spent on adding features that MUST be in the programming package?
I will field this one. @Controls Guy, trust me when I say that you are pretty advanced in your knowledge of PLC's. For most users they don't want or even sometimes know how to drop a program or documentation into Excel and edit it. The thought has never occurred to them that it might be possible.
This isn't to say that anyone is dumb either. It's all a level of programming efficiency and suitable mentoring. I know when I first started at AutomationDirect, I thought I knew a fair amount. After a month there, I felt like I was just a beginner again. I learned an amazing amount from the other Tech Guys as well as from users that I talked to on the phone. Almost 13 years later my programming efficiency is incredibly more advanced than I ever would have achieved on my own and I had been programming everything from Mainframe computers, PC's to PLC's since the early 80's.
Let's say for argument's sake that 5% of a particular device's users are beginners. 15% are "Experts". That leaves 80% as some sort of intermediate user. In that 80% there is an amazing diversity of ability. Now let's postulate that of that 80% intermediate that only a handful are going to make it to "Expert" status. The rest are stuck in what one author has called the "perpetual Intermediate" state. That is to say that they will never have enough time, willingness or for some some other reason just cannot make to being an "Expert". Maybe it's because like a lot of people doing controls work they have to wear too many hats.
"I'll only get to send a week programming this PLC, then I have to make final documentation, do the start up and then on to my next project." This guy just can't get enough time in to advance properly. But. He is still a competent programmer who does a fair amount of business buying PLC's and programming them for a living.
So wind this whole thing up, we (ADC and HOST) have to accommodate a very large span of users who have incredibly different programming styles and competency levels. We would be shooting ourselves in the foot just to cater to the 15% of the "Experts" or the 5% of the "Beginners". We can't ignore the Beginners or the Experts, but we can't just make features that only appeal to either group as well and do nothing for the Intermediates. Therefore my vote would be to ditch the leading underscore and make the documentation editor just a little bit more friendly for everyone involved.
