We have been running on 2023.2 and slowly working to migrate our classic screens and custom SSRS reports. We are about halfway completed with the screen migrations but feel we need to get current with our version. I am testing the upgrade from 2023.2 to 2025.2 and the environment is running and we can interact with kinetic via a browser.
Our user base is still accustomed to the classic UI. We want to have everything migrated to kinetic before we go through the fun of retraining everyone. That said, our goal would be to continue to run 100% classic with 2025.2 knowing that is our last step before going full kinetic.
To our problem, when we install the client app, the option to launch classic/modern/kinetic no longer exists. Right now, after entering in a user/pw, it looks like itās trying to launch a kinetic menu, but then times out with an error. Should the environment be going to classic or do we need to do something to force it?
There is no more Classic home screen like you are used to, from at least 2024.1 onward the home screen is Kinetic. You can set menu items to then launch classic but the launcher/home screen itself is kinetic.
Iām not sure about the specific error, when you launch it on your server with the manager account does it launch?
Yes, it will launch correctly from the server. After playing around, seems as with most everything, I had a DNS problem. Even though I have a forward lookup in the sandbox domain controller, it seems the server and clients want to do a random number generator and go back and forth between the local and public IP. Added entries in the hosts file on a client and the server and now I can launch the environment reliably on any of the sandbox machines.
I can also confirm the classic screens come up from the Kinetic menuā¦but man are they slow. Feels like itās launching a completely new shell each time a different screen is opened.
Time to rethink if itās better to stay on 2023.2 and complete the kinetic screen migration and then train folks on kinetic on that version.
You are not wrong about them basically launching from scratch for every screen, if you do it from the browser you get the main loading pop-up each time, Iām not sure about the Kinetic Smart Client since we went straight from Classic to Kinetic Browser.
I will say regarding the transition, once you get over the āOMFG what the H3LL is thisā stage it actually is not as bad as it seems. For us we gave people access to it int he browser for 4 months prior to the upgrade go-live, created a high level power point that went over key differences, expanding tiles vs tabs, that kind of thing, and sat down all department heads and walked them through it so they could walk their teams through it and it kind of became a non-issue. It did take us on the technical side a few extra months before that of using it to get there but it wasnāt as bad as we expected.
That is not to say there are not issues, the forum is littered with them but for most (99%) of our users, we donāt have any issues.
Agreed. We humans just donāt like change. I know the kinetic screens have changed since 2023 so I was hoping to minimize the double dip learning curve and benefit from more features in application studio. I think we will just stay put with 2023 and do the transition to kinetic on that version.
You know your users and company better than me but I would recommend moving to Kinetic. As I said, we did our ātrainingā (really more familiarization with the new UI) as part of our upgrade testing.
The biggest issue I see with doing what you are doing is not actually your end users, I think they will not get the proper kinetic experience but when it comes to the admin/technical side, Application Studio and tools like it have advanced a fair bit and you will run into issues that have been resolved in newer releases.
Switching to Kinetic home screen in the smart client isnāt that bad. Most of our users use favourites anyway, but I set up tabs on the new home screen by department with shortcuts to frequently used items. Nothing broke, maybe a week or so of grumbling from certain users, but no one really interacted with the home screen before except to launch screens so they got over it pretty quick. The classic MES screen still exists so no worries there.
The admin/UI tools are improved in newer versions so, upgrading will help your conversion. Our plan is the same, get to 2025.2 and stay there until we are fully converted. We are not going to be ready to for full Kinetic for at least another year or more, so by being on 2025.2 if we do fall out of primary support, it will be the most supported unsupported version
As for the performance launching apps from the Kinetic home screen, it makes browser-only feel really snappy so when that time comes it will be an easier sell.
Thanks Chris. Compelling argument for sure. Iām probably the one that will feel the slowness pain the most since Iām rarely in the same screen. Lotās to think about.
