Since 1999, LEDAS has provided software development services to clients in a number of areas of hi-tech engineering, and as a result our team of developers works with a broad set of software tools.
At the very least, we need project management software, a compiler, and an operating system. In fact, we need more software than on that short list, but for now let’s focus on these three categories. They are the most critical for any software developer.
At LEDAS, these three main categories are represented primarily by Jira, Visual Studio, and Windows. Some other programs, such as for version control, text documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, are now freely available, so anybody can avoid those licensing costs.
Jira
Jira is often considered a leader in the market for project management software. In February we decided to buy a license for 100 workstations, our biggest ever purchase of this software.
There were two reasons as to why we made this decision that cost us more than US$15,000. Firstly, there is an increasing number of developers and QA engineers at LEDAS; our plans for the future envision further growth in the number of projects we take on and the number of employees to execute them. Secondly, Jira was planning to switch to a subscription model (now implemented), which would have greatly increased our total cost of ownership. By buying permanent licenses earlier, we avoided expenses related to ongoing subscription fees in the future years.
We will use the new 100 Jira seats on our biggest projects related to CAM, additive manufacturing, digital medicine, and BIM.
Management of 3D Machine Learning project in Jira
Prior to this, we had been buying packs of Jira in different sizes, from small ones to licenses for 50 developers. In many cases we tailor separate environments for each customer, and so we bought packages appropriate for the project size, as required.
Interestingly, the pricing of Jira packages is an example of superlinear growth: the price per license increases as the number of licenses in a pack increases. So we saved money when we made a separate Jira installation for each programming team.
Visual Studio and Windows
And now we have pre-ordered the newest release of Microsoft Visual Studio 2022, available as a preview version and expected to be released next month. Another US$15,000 will be invested into this product, which is crucial for most of our C++ and C# projects. (A smaller number rely on Linux GCC compiler.)
CAD projects tend to be huge nowadays, so we appreciate that MSVS 2022 will be the first true 64-bit release. It still will generate 32-bit code, which is important for the CAD/PLM industry.
The new release advances support for the C++20 standard. BTW, you may be interested in reading what our developers think about the features added to this standard, and read our technical articles on industrial C++ programming.
Editing C++ code of 3D Machine Learning project in Visual Studio
We plan to buy Windows 11 licenses when they become available as of October 5. Some of our customers definitely want us to build new versions of their products for Windows 11. Of course, support for Windows 10 will still be needed for most products we develop for the next several years.
By purchasing Jira, MSVS, and Windows 11 licenses we equip 30+ additional development workstations, which fit in well with the next steps our company plans in extending its business.
Do not hesitate to contact us for our software R&D services, particularly when your project is really challenging and requires high-skilled software engineers. The ability of LEDAS to complete your projects is proven by the company’s success stories, and its results in accomplishing large and demanding hi-tech projects.
We are continuously extending our team of software developers and mathematicians, and now also making large investments into licenses of the key software running on additional workstations.