Dear Colleague,
This letter is the first of many in which we will provide an insight into the future of MOSES. Although it can certainly evolve into something more, our basic goal for this round was a companion to the release documentation for Rev7.06, which you will be receiving shortly. For the complete release documentation please click on the following link:
http://www.ultramarine.com/r_info/gen7/rev706.htm
In essence, this release is a collection of small improvements in
details. The major new capabilities are the addition of NORSOK,
ISO, and EUROCODE code checks in structural post-processing and
new process post-processing commands. A particularly nice feature
is the ability to compute the minimum distance between a piece and
a set of points.
Over the years, the main complaint we have heard is that MOSES is "hard to use" We have attempted to address this difficulty with three new interfaces throughout MOSES' 30-year tenure, but regardless of our efforts we still hear the same comments. My conclusion is that the problem is not necessarily MOSES (or its interface), but the class of problem that MOSES solves. MOSES is designed to solve hard problems and no snazzy interface or cute buttons will make the real difficulty of the problem go away.
In upcoming releases, we are working on the fourth generation user interface. Our two primary goals for this new interface are:
- A graphic interface utilizing "buttons" (or wizards) This will help the user by offering online detailed documentation for all commands and their related options i n a centralized location.
- Building a concept that we are calling "tools". The purpose of a tool is to solve a specific set of user-defined problems. An example of a tool is the STATIC PROCESS Menu. In this menu, you can lift a single hook or flood a specific set of tanks. This greatly reduces the complexity of the analysis and yet it remains useful for a large percentage of jacket installations.
No, we are not turning our back on the fundamental premise behind MOSES. MOSES is a tool for simulating all aspects of offshore operations with the utmost precision. Instead the goal is to make MOSES' power more accessible to more users.
And finally, we would like to announce the expansion of the Ultramarine team. After reinforcing our support team last year with Sujesh, we have decided to expand the development team as well. Many of you have already met Neel Datta, our newest hire. He holds a Masters degree in Computer Science and has worked with MOSES and Ultramarine for many years. Neel and I will be working together to bring these exciting new features to MOSES in coming releases.
Thanks again for your support for over 30 years and we look forward to being your ally in the future.
R. Ray Nachlinger
President