Recommend program for UML diagrams?

AndrewAPrice · Post by **AndrewAPrice** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 5:07 am

What program would you recommend for UML diagrams? I use Microsoft Visio but it does not have support for all the types of diagrams I wish to use.

I'm looking for a program which supports the following UML diagrams:
- Use Case diagrams.
- Class diagrams.
- State Char diagrams.
- Activity diagrams.
- Sequence diagrams.
- Collaboration diagrams.

Colonel Kernel · Post by **Colonel Kernel** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 8:31 am

You didn't say whether you were looking for something free

so here's my suggestion: Sparx Enterprise Architect. It sucks much less than Visio. We use the Windows version at work... there's a Linux version, but it depends on a bunch of ports of Windows stuff (MDAC & the MS Access JET DB engine), so the Linux version might be hacky.

Candy · Post by **Candy** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 3:30 pm

I have used Umbrella but can't vouch for its usability.

binutils · Post by **binutils** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 4:23 am

http://www.gentleware.com/

Colonel Kernel · Post by **Colonel Kernel** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 8:24 am

binutils wrote:http://www.gentleware.com/

I used to use Poseidon UML, but it was painfully slow on my old machine (800 MHz Athlon w/ 768 MB RAM), and they turned it into rentware (the Community Edition used to be free)! It basically took my files hostage, not letting me save changes to them unless I agreed to pay a monthly fee. So, I told them to stick it and I bought a license for Enterprise Architect instead (for about $200 CDN). My company has a generous policy for "educational purchases", so in the end it actually cost me nothing.

The moral of the story is -- gentleware BAD! (IMO, anyway)

Candy · Post by **Candy** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 10:06 am

Colonel Kernel wrote:
binutils wrote:http://www.gentleware.com/
I used to use Poseidon UML, but it was painfully slow on my old machine (800 MHz Athlon w/ 768 MB RAM), and they turned it into rentware (the Community Edition used to be free)!

The moral of the story is -- gentleware BAD! (IMO, anyway)

Talk about vendor lock-in. You should've seen THAT coming.

Colonel Kernel · Post by **Colonel Kernel** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 1:23 pm

Fortunately they gave a few months' warning, so I was able to export everything to an XMI file before they turned off that functionality. I imported the XMI file into EA and spent some time fixing up the diagrams (about a week). It was a pain, but at least now everything is working fine.

When will software companies realize how damaging these tactics are to their reputation?

Candy · Post by **Candy** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 1:55 pm

Colonel Kernel wrote:When will software companies realize how damaging these tactics are to their reputation?

When will users learn not to fall for vendor lock-in schemes?

Colonel Kernel · Post by **Colonel Kernel** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 3:14 pm

I ditched their product without paying a dime. Does that qualify as "falling for it"?

In my experience, companies that engage in such tactics are already desperate for revenue, but they're just hastening their own demise.

Brynet-Inc · Post by **Brynet-Inc** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 7:26 pm

Doesn't Microsoft follow those same tactics? they invent their own standards practically daily..

That's vendor lock-in as well...

As Candy so nicely put it..

Candy wrote:When will users learn not to fall for vendor lock-in schemes?

muisei · Post by **muisei** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 1:33 pm

What program would you recommend for UML diagrams?

Visual Paradigm is great.It's Java based.There is a free comunity edition.