Finally…!
This has been quite an ordeal. On 20 October 2022, TOG released ArchiMate 3.2. Given that I have to do this is my spare time next to more demands (like a real job) I started working on an update in January 2023. I had to fix something having to do with fonts and that was problematic. I produced the updated diagrams and the ArchiMate overview ‘cheat sheets”. But during the fall of 2023 I was actually doing the update and then disaster struck: when I was editing my document in InDesign, InDesign would hang. I told people about it here.
The story became a nightmare, as documented in the Adobe community question here. Looking back, I suspect that my ‘contact’ at Adobe actually was a Large Language Model, especially given the typical sorts of mistakes I got in the mails I received when I put in another reminder. Example, when I send a reminder early August what the status of my bug was, I got a reply telling me “it would be fixed in InDesign 19.5″. But InDesign had been released a month before. When I replied that, I was told it would be fixed in InDesign 20.0 which was due at the beginning of September. But that reply also contained the request to send a small document that triggered the bug. That is also something a ‘lead engineer’ would not do for two reasons: (1) I already had explained months before why that wasn’t possible (or needed, they had my entire document) and (2) you cannot say a bug will be fixed in a version out in two weeks and at the same time ask for material in order to find out what the bug actually is. Such mistakes are typical for Large Language Models, and I can know, I did quite a bit of research into LLMs and wrote/spoke about them. I am not certain of course, but I do not exclude that Adobe has set up a fake persona that is in fact an LLM behind the scenes.
Eventually, I worked out the trigger of the InDesign bug myself and I was able to finish the update.
So, here we are.
A couple of key things
The main page can be found here:
Home page for the book Mastering ArchiMate Edition 3.2
I have extended the ‘free language excerpt’ with the short BPMN primer from the book.
I still have to do the support for the update process for existing readers. This means implementing the PDF update for existing readers. That means I have to create a mailing, coupons for those eligible, etc. This I will do a.s.a.p. My standard upgrade policy applies:
- if (and only if, but in this case I have) I produce an upgrade, everybody who purchased the book after the release of the update of the ArchiMate standard itself (20 October 2022) gets a free upgrade. This is implemented by me creating the ‘purchases’ in bulk and people will get download mails for the new version. People are supposed to have accepted the EULA (which I tell them in the mailing)
- Those that purchased the previous edition before 20 October 2022 get a discount. Regardless of the huge amount of work for me, I have set the discount very steep: instead of €26.99 the discounted update will go for €6.99. As always, this carries over, if (and only if) there is another upgrade, it makes you eligible for the next discount.
I also still have to set up the hardcover at Ingram. This I will do after the PDF has been fully released. Ingram will take several weeks (I need to set up the title, have my material checked, get a proof, etc.)
That’s it for now. Go to the book’s main page and get the free excerpt or the full PDF, the latter if you’re not already in possession of the 3.1 version and want to wait for the free/discounted option of course. And enjoy.