SilkTest Question 63: Does Silk Test have any future?

Many test automating tools for functional testing like Silk Test haven't changed as much as development tools in the recent years. Where is integration with unit testing tools and source control tools? Where is cool keyword coloring and code refactoring to simplify program structure?

Let's take a look in biased opinions of one of the Borland employee posted not long ago:


I believe Borland is more dedicated to meeting QA tool users' (your) needs than any other "big" vendor in the QA automation market.

SilkTest is not going away. It is powerful, adaptable and proven. We will continue to "reward" loyal customers by protecting their investment with expanded functionality. We've released two major (SilkTest 8, SilkTest 2006) and at least 3 minor versions of SilkTest since the acquisition of Segue. Rest assured that another major release is forthcoming (no dates can be shared publicly at this time).

4Test is not going away. It is easy to learn, useful and provides extremely robust, easily maintainable test scripts. Other test tool vendors have introduced "new" products (and charged for them) at the cost of alienating users of their "old" products. I believe this is a terrible way to treat loyal users.

Customers want scripting in common languages --- we hear that loud and clear.

SilkTest is arguably the most technically powerful functional automation tool in the market (I knew this prior to my joining Borland - but, of course, I'm biased)

Borland has consolidated development to 4 main dev labs - 1 dedicated soley to Silk products - to reduce costs and maximize efficiency (using our own ALM principles). Segue had segregated development teams that did not facilitate good integration, innovation or agile development. We now have a large, dedicated and experienced team on SilkTest co-located with all the other Silk development, and we have a full and exciting roadmap!

Borland technical support is a marked improvement over Segue support of the past (from reputation and customer feedback, not personal knowledge).


I'm hoping that I would be able to see all above implemented in the near future. And I hope that it will be true. At least may be Borland would update SilkTest user's guide and perhaps starts to print SilkTest books ...

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

It seems to me this is a first question without an answer in this blog. :)

As for your questions...
For instance, TestComplete has both integration with unit testing and source control systems.
http://automatedqa.com/products/testcomplete/index.asp

However, I still prefer to use SilkTest when I need to work with any application which is supported by Silk.

BTW: why did you turn off RSS subсription? It was nice :)

karkadil@gmail.com

MB said...

It appears to me full content RSS feeds are actually helping and compounding the splog (spam blog) problem.

Anonymous said...

Hello,

considering that you are an experienced 'Silk' person I would like to ask.
Basically, I am looking for any good training type documentation, a book, or a manual, that could be used by a person who didn't work with Silk before. Where can I buy it? Do you have any good suggestion?
Thank you,
Gary ( Atlanta)

MB said...

I already mentioned all official free SilkTest manuals at
http://silktest.blogspot.com/2007/06/silktest-question-60-where-can-i-find.html

Anonymous said...

Thank you MP for your input.

I have a couple more questions. Do you know of any SilkTest users forum?

Is there a book for SilkTest users that is available/distributed through regular book stores?
Thanks,
Gary

Unknown said...

Hi,

I'm very new to silk test automation. Now I'm just learning basics of 'C' since I don't have basic programming skills. Now, I can understand the concept of function. But I don't know how to use the same in Silk test. When I go through the help file I'm totally confused. Help me in this regard with the small example with the syntax.

Regards,
Rajasekaran

Anonymous said...

I have a document from a SilkTest course and there are so many spelling and grammar error it was obviously not checked. Why are there not any 3rd party books available?

SilkTest interview questions for QA Testers