Previously, I used ProVision. I started with it when it was a Proforma company, which was approximately in 2004 and 2005. Then they were bought out. It was sold to a couple of companies. The first was Metastorm and then it was bought out for that tool by OpenText. When OpenText bought it, the product was shelved in many ways. They didn't appear to want to evolve anything and just left it to die. Many companies will buy their competitors, then they disappear and then all of a sudden it's released as a new solution.

The tool is very useful, but it was more of a business process management with some EA and more EA functionality being built into it. 

The tools are expensive, as they are very niche tools.

In the federal government where I do most of my work, they're stuck on a tool called QualiWare. I don't particularly have a high opinion of it due to its complex integration and complex configuration. It is not really easy to use out of the box, and it lacks the decision support capabilities. So, I use the Abacus tool as an example of what enterprise architecture tools should be doing, which is providing decision support capabilities. It is not being used that much, but it is definitely a tool that more people should be using. Abacus is a better tool.

I have used a different solution previously, and it was called Provision by Metastorm. I stopped using Provision pretty much when Metastorm took over it because they stopped developing the real true EA capabilities of the tool. That's when I started searching for a different solution, and I came across Abacus.

I have also played with MEGA HOPEX a few years ago.

I used to use OpenText, which was the follow on from ProVision Enterprise Architecture. OpenText neglected its sort of development as an EA tool. It wasn't worthwhile to continue that relationship. I've always kept my eye on the EA tool market to see the trendsetters and the value-added tools, and ABACUS has always been a leader and one of the visionary type of tools. So, I decided to go that route.

I have worked with similar products in the past, including ARIS. The difference is that the customers are very happy with the support. They are based in Germany, and when the customer asks a question they get an answer very quickly.

It is also a more stable product than ABACUS and does not crash as often. They can continue working, whereas with ABACUS the customers are stopping because of the crashes and they do not know what to do.

To me, these are the biggest differences between these two solutions.

We did not have a previous tool to do architectural modeling and planning. ABACUS was our first choice for this type of solution.  

I started off with this solution. 

Yes, Abacus is more powerful and easier to implement.