Open letter to Hans Beckhoff

[@schiang]

Thank you for speaking out. Testing between versions is important, and so is the release notes. It encourages the user to update their software and reduces fragmentation.

[@mahmudulhasanrussel2673]

Well said and a very clear-cut message. Thanks for bringing it out.

[@AndreasRoitherVoigt]

Fully support the request for release notes - not only for TwinCAT Engineering and Runtime but also for the TwinCAT functions. In addtion to that I would suggest to Beckhoff to open some channel for the community for providing S/W and Firmware, H/W feedback so the development team at Beckhoff can benefit from the community feedback.

[@sanjabarasingha802]

This is an important issue and I hope they change it as soon as possible. Speaking of things that could be improved: Is anybody else bothered that Beckhoff doesn't offer an online shop? Instead of a few clicks on an online shop, you have to write an email to their sales team and wait for their offer. And after that, you'll have to wait weeks until you get an estimated date of delivery. I feel like their sales team could be doing much more valuable work than just replying to these inquiries. Heck, it's 2023, everybody and their mother has a website to sell their goods. I can buy everything imaginable in online shops, everything except for Beckhoff products.

[@GwenVanheusden]

Totally agree! I really hope they reconsider.

[@aaqilkhan]

Totally agree 100% with what you said. Thank you for highlighting this issue about TwinCAT release notes.

[@seantan4702]

Pls listen beckhoff, it’s the basic.

[@chudchadanstud]

It's not just release notes, it's also documentation. They update documentation and wipe the old along with not dating updates. A lot of the documentation still references TwinCAT2 or Windows XP.

[@bsaele]

I subscribe the open letter! For "production" environments I stopped updating until deep testing of new releases... And then online there are a couple of unofficial changelogs...

[@mezzer34]

I have a list of bugs and issue sin TC3 that I know about, and with every release I have to go see if they've been fixed. It's quite frustrating, when there could be a feature list telling me the same. I've complained to my Beckhoff reps before about this, but I think I'll make the case again.

[@olivierjohanns5134]

I couldn't agree more! 200 % on your side with that

[@ramazancakr8008]

I had updated because I was getting errors in my current version. In the update they changed the TC_MC2 library and I realized that I cannot control the servo motors as before. After struggling for 1 day, when I looked at the change date of the library, I noticed that it was updated. If you're working with Beckhoff, don't forget to "Do not update if running".

[@TomCaudi]

Well said Jakob. Completely agree.

[@larsdorka]

I agree with everything being said. Also I have to say, that as someone coming from software engineering I never understood the versioning principles of Twincat. It's just confusing.

[@edgarmarinovelandiaduarte5944]

hello I total agreed whit you, we loss many time after upgrade new version and the last very hard stop many areas. Thanks for your amazing Videos Jakob. Edgar

[@SiBex_ovh]

+1 for changelog

[@miken1574]

Could you perhaps make some videos about communication protocols, such as ethercat , what is it and how it compares to modbus tcp, modbus rtu, profinet etc.

[@smarttech2513]

unfortunately, always there are errors in Twicat3 versions specifically e.g with I/O scan and virtual machine.

[@vincentbechler1561]

I'm 100% agree with that. Please, publish your release notes.

[@Industrial-Automation-4Fun]

Even Mitsubishi has clear update logs that can be checked for reference... I can't believe Beckhoff can't do it........i need updata all Packaged program

[@ndubgolfer]

So many things frustrate me with Beckhoff.

[@bennewman8006]

Codesys has been doing release notes for years. They just publish the list of issues titles closed on a release from there Jira instance. Super simple

[@TomScryleus]

I will never forgive Hans.

[@rickmaida2874]

I agree, it's a problem.

[@blaisofotso3439]

Hallo Jakob, I am a student in Mechatronics and would like to ask if you offer training on plc programming with beckhoff. Blaise

[@JakobSagatowski]

Hi Blaiso! Please contact me at my website www.sagatowski.com.

[@DamianJurkiewicz]

Hi. I have an idea. If you have a contact with the official Beckhoff support just ask them casually if they can provide a changelog, for example, for the newest version of TwinCAT. It's not improtant which one. It doesn't have to be true, that you need any. We should just ask them as often as possible. This might help.

[@reneullrich7256]

I have been doing this for years. I also asked them in person minimum twice a year. No results yet...

[@stanleykubrick8786]

This is the state of this industry. An industry leader like Beckhoff doesn't do something as fundamental as provide basic release notes and relies on outsiders to provide quality training instead of providing it themselves.

[@williamliu8985]

Maybe they can "hire" a ChatGPT to do so 😁

[@sanjabarasingha802]

They dont need to hire anybody. They just need to publish their internal changelog documentation. Simple as that. Could be done really quick. I too feel like beckhoff is withholding important information from its customer. They should become more transparent as it would help development immensly.

[@nicolascuor2378]

100% agree