TopBraid 7.1 Public Beta Announcement

[TopQuadrant]

Dear Users,

TopQuadrant is pleased to announce the beta release of TopBraid EDG 7.1!

This release contains a new visualization tool, the EDG Diagram, available as a new panel that combines the display of model elements with the display of data.  This release also introduces a new development tool: TopBraid EDG Studio. Additionally, there are also  new features, as well as UX and performance improvements.  These features and improvements are described in more detail in the release notes.

As always, we appreciate your participation in our Beta test program and look forward to your feedback.  Please submit your input by December 1st,  2021.

Downloads:

TopBraid Composer Maestro Edition 7.1 Beta: https://www.topquadrant.com/topbraid-composer-install/

Licensed users of TopBraid EDG can access the enterprise server and EDG Studio distribution here: http://download.topquadrant.com/live/edg.  If you are an EDG user, have a license for TBC-ME and would like to test EDG Studio, please contact support to request a license file.

 *Note that product documentation including user guides is still being updated and will be out of sync with the newly released Beta changes.

For questions, please do not hesitate to contact us:

Thank you,

The TopBraid Team

[Tim Smith]

I downloaded the new 7.1 Beta TBC release.  Since my TSM is currently expired, when I start 7.1 Beta, it tells me that my TSM has expired and TBC will not work.  It still opens and I can navigate the workspace but, of course, nothing works.

Two questions:

1. Should a beta release work without a TSM?
2. In the neutered version that starts, the TopBraid Applications menu is missing.  I thought we would still be able to run EDG from TBC in 7.1.  Is this option missing because my TSM has expired and neutered 7.1 or did I read the change log incorrectly and EDG access from TBC has been removed?

Thanks!

Tim

[Irene Polikoff]

Hi Tim,

7.1 Release separates EDG from TBC. With 7.1:

• TBC users can continue to use TBC for ontology modeling, RDF data and SPARQL query. However, starting with 7.1 TBC will no longer serve as an IDE for EDG 7.1. Thus, EDG is not available. 
• A separate, new IDE for EDG is provided. It is called TopBraid EDG Studio. If your organization is a user of EDG, you will get EDG Studio licenses for each TBC license.

In other words, if an organization has TopBraid EDG and has also procured 3 TBC-ME licenses for its power users/developers, it will get 3 TopBraid Studio licenses co-termed with the EDG license. 

TopQuadtrant will e-mail new licenses to all users when 7.1 is officially released. During the beta test period, we will provide TopBraid EDG Studio licenses on request to any EDG customers interested in participating in beta testing.

We are running webinar next week to get users more familiar with all aspects of 7.1. Please sign up to learn more:

• Next Tuesday for the US https://www.topquadrant.com/whats-new-in-topbraid-edg-7-1/
• Next Thursday for Europe https://www.topquadrant.com/european-run-whats-new-in-topbraid-edg-7-1/ and Asia Pacific https://www.topquadrant.com/asia-pac-run-whats-new-in-topbraid-edg-7-1/. 

Regards,

Irene 

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[Tim Smith]

Ok... So for clarity...

1. Should a beta release work without a TSM?

1. Is the only way to access EDG is to purchase a (very expensive) server license even though the need is for a single user?

If #2 is true, that's an interesting but not unexpected business decision as I had sensed some bristling over the last couple of years at the notion of people using TBC-EDG as a personal EDG instance vs strictly for EDG server development.  You have effectively eliminated the growth path for customers like me to demonstrate enough value to warrant the large investment in a server version.  Hopefully other RDF/SHACL engine providers will seize on the model-driven user experience to support a broader array of use cases.  

[Irene Polikoff]

On Nov 11, 2021, at 6:30 PM, Tim Smith <smith...@gmail.com> wrote:

Ok... So for clarity...

1. Should a beta release work without a TSM?

No, because, in their capabilities, beta releases are no different from the generally available product. The product requires a current license - whether it is a beta or not.

2. Is the only way to access EDG is to purchase a (very expensive) server license even though the need is for a single user?

Not quite. Let me provide a bit more information.

The first thing to say is that TopBraid EDG was never designed as a tool for single users. Its bundling with TBC served two purposes:

1. An IDE for developers creating customizations and/or preparing data for EDG. 

This need is now addressed by the TopBraid EDG Studio in a way that we believe to be better than what was possible with TBC

2. Some users were using it in order to explore and evaluate EDG prior to the purchase which, as you say, requires a more significant commitment than TBC.

This need could be addressed by requesting an evaluation server from TopQuadrant. It is true that this would be for a limited period e.g., a month or two. However, this approach is not unique to TQ. It is pretty much industry standard.

Beyond the beta, there is no technical reason why we could not license TopBraid EDG Studio to users who do not have EDG. We have not made this option available at the time of 7.1 beta because we are still considering what would work best for our user community and for TQ. We also are looking at other alternatives that may be better aligned with our move towards SaaS e.g., offering a hosted “Community Edition” of EDG that would have more limited features.

In the meantime, we appreciate users input on what they would prefer and why.

If #2 is true, that's an interesting but not unexpected business decision as I had sensed some bristling over the last couple of years at the notion of people using TBC-EDG as a personal EDG instance vs strictly for EDG server development. 

As stated in the release notes, running EDG within TBC was never exactly the same as running EDG server. Supporting this mode complicated certain aspects of our codebase and still was not 100% the same. We decided to simplify the code in order to provide more reliable, maintainable and better optimized software for our customers. For example, EDG Studio does not have any Eclipse in it and it does not use Jetty.

At the same time, for users who are only interested in TBC having EDG in TBC delivered no value and, instead, created some inconveniences for them e.g., slow start up due to the need to initialize the server.

So, after careful consideration we decided to separate the two tools. It is a change and changes can take getting used to. However, we believe it is a change for the better and we do not intend it to leave any current or perspective customers in the dark. Functionally, the same options exists with 7.1 and we are actually considering what else we could offer to the community.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/topbraid-users/b8432bfa-54e1-412e-8836-07fea01a1e2dn%40googlegroups.com.

[Bohms, H.M. (Michel)]

I support this view very much.

I just loose my edg.....

Incl. the maintained importers exporters etc.

Can tq tell me how much i have to invest now to get the same functionality ie kind of edg light for personal dev. use.

Thx michel

Op 12 nov. 2021 00:30 schreef Tim Smith <smith...@gmail.com>:

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/topbraid-users/b8432bfa-54e1-412e-8836-07fea01a1e2dn%40googlegroups.com.

 

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