Another legacy user here, who has also using the WinAutomation since year one.
To try and answer your questions above:
WinAutomation will naturally be replaced by PAD, with MS Support indicating to me that whilst the last version of it will accept a MS RPA unattended license ($40) and function exactly the same, WinAutomation is unlikely to be supported beyond June 2021. (correct me if I'm wrong)
There is a migration tool (in preview at the time of writing) that seems to work quite well, but as per the release notes towards the footer, there are some Non-migratable actions:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/desktop-flows/softomotive-migrator
Whilst on the subject of Non-migratable actions:
Having built some complex business critical processes in WinAutomation, I've decided to explore PAD to a greater depth this week. Generally speaking, I can see the positive overall direction and benefit of PAD with Flows all being managed in the cloud and easily transferable and triggerable across multiple devices.
That said, currently the PAD Editor is extremely slow in comparison to WinAutomation, and perhaps it's just me, but a little over-engineered in terms of the UI. It is certainly a lot more confusing to read the flow of actions in comparison to WinAutomation - but clearly that maybe just because I've used WinAutomation for about 15 years.
On the whole, as mentioned, all the core actions have been transferred over, however in the context of my use-case, I'm very worried.
Restful API's underpin an increasing number of RPA Processes/Flows; WinAutomation had such a competitive edge in this regard, so to lose 'simultaneous processing' together with 'lock handles' when working with custom daily json/xml product feeds, places me a real predicament. There are simply not enough hours in the day for me to switch to sequential processing, when a single process can run for several hours.
Currently, WinAutomation fully utilises my server, running up to 15 processes at once (with several queued up) to maximise my RPA efforts and keep all my websites product and CRMs up-to-date.
Whereas parallel process execution cannot happen with PAD, presumably due to the established Power Automate architecture. Even if you're not using concurrent processing, anyone simply using WinAutomation's parent-child robot processing, should start explore the new approach of interacting with Power Automate Cloud triggering.
I don't know about "back to the drawing board" - but if I lose WinAutomation anytime soon I'll be looking for a new job!
If you are in the same/similar position to me, I've found a good article here that provides a bit of hope - but even then, when pinging the same Restful API application across multiple RDS users I'm going to run the risk of API requests and updates clashing - I just can't comprehend MS's lack of vision in this regard. 😞
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/desktop-flows/run-pad-flow#run-desktop-flows-concurrently-on-windows-server-devices
Not sure if anyone else is currently using concurrent processing with WinAutomation Lock-hands, but if you are you might want to start exploring your options! Stressful times.
Useful sources of my research thus far:
Any expertise or advice would be much welcomed.
