Future of powerbasic

Theo Gottwald · October 14, 2013, 07:29:35 PM

Powerbasic is UP again. 14-10-13 / 19:28

Mike Stefanik · October 14, 2013, 07:51:25 PM

It's kind of like an alien abduction. They disappear, no one knows where they've gone and a few days later they're back with no memory of what's happened to them.

Nick Luick · October 14, 2013, 08:40:54 PM

Powerbasic last post 10/13/13 6:37 AM EST
down
Powebasic next post 10/14/13 10:59 AM EST
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down time 28 hrs 22 minutes

Really, for all the dogs nipping at Powerbasic, is that really a long time for a Sunday. I've had my broadband provider offline for days, and then say it was my lines or equipment. I put a sock in their mouth when I told them it must be the same equipment failure occurring with all my neighbors.

Mike Stefanik · October 14, 2013, 09:04:47 PM

Quote from: Nick Luick on October 14, 2013, 08:40:54 PM
Really, for all the dogs nipping at Powerbasic, is that really a long time for a Sunday. I've had my broadband provider offline for days, and then say it was my lines or equipment. I put a sock in their mouth when I told them it must be the same equipment failure occurring with all my neighbors.

It depends on how long you think it's acceptable for your complete website to be down, including the ability for people to place orders. 28 hours? If one of our servers are down for more than 10 minutes, weekend or not, we have folks jumping around like their hair is on fire.

Patrice Terrier · October 14, 2013, 09:17:14 PM

From a nipping dog perspective:

Quotepreparing to launch new and innovative products

thus no time to detect a server failure, especially during the weekend.

Nick Luick · October 15, 2013, 01:42:25 AM

Patrice,

Why should you even care or pay attention You already confirmed long ago that you don't use Powerbasic anymore. You never have any positive comments. I realize things have changed, but how may here are posting about Microsoft when it completely drops a product you have been using. Or breaks your software with upgrades.

Bob offered a solid compiler at a very good price, and to date and distant future, it does what you paid for, with very few glitches or work arounds. The forums have always been a plus. A few years back, I took a chance on Cad software that had a forum, but they discontinued the forum when plagued with hackers, but I still use the software. I think Planet Squires did something close, when it limited access to its forum to only version 3+ users.

I gave my opinion, enough for me.

Patrice Terrier · October 15, 2013, 09:40:11 AM

QuoteYou already confirmed long ago that you don't use Powerbasic anymore

Wrong you are, i keep using it among the other languages from my toolbox, but i am not limiting myself to one single tool and i am using the most appropriate to solve specific tasks.

I needed a 64-bit compiler, and that forced me to master a syntax that i do not like, but i keep dreaming in Basic not in C++.

QuoteYou never have any positive comments.

Like you, i express my opinion, and i did that long before the passing of Bob Zale, as you can read it in my "SDK programming" section

Being able to make comparison is what makes me free, it is like those who never went out of their native country and think that the whole world is eating fast food.

Jim Dunn · October 15, 2013, 03:11:04 PM

Yep, I enjoy all the comments, it has opened up my world, now I'm programming in BC9 and MINGW-NUWEN (C++) and Tiny-C and Perl... all thanks to differing opinions and conflicting comments...

Jon Eskdale · October 20, 2013, 03:46:07 PM

PowerBasic site appears to be down again! Perhaps we are not meant to work on Sundays!!
Jon

José Roca · October 20, 2013, 04:01:58 PM

David Roberts · October 20, 2013, 05:33:11 PM

The IT guy is on holiday this week so the site will be up again on 28th October.

We should look on the bright side - he could have taken a fortnight.

Brice Manuel · October 20, 2013, 08:23:14 PM

QuoteIt has been a issue Since the passing of Bob, they don't bother to post any advance warring , send out emails or use twitter. It has a lot of people nervous thinking about all that has happened with Bob Passing.

When the company no longer cares about their product or takes pride in it, demonstrates a severe lack of work ethic, and no longer cares about the users, there really is nothing one can lay their hope on and try to be positive about. I do not blame the people who are nervous or the people who have jumped ship. Heck, PB Inc. has kinda jumped ship themselves. You can't blame the users for treating the product with the same lack of respect that PB treats the product with and you can't blame the users for treating PB Inc. with the same lack of respect that PB Inc. treats the users with.

QuoteIMO, the beginning of the end sadly began with the death of Bob on 6 Nov 2012

IMHO, I put the beginning of the end a couple of years before Bob's death. Bob's death merely hastened the timeline along.

QuoteThe best thing that could be done now is the company put up for auction before it is really too late!

That time has passed. The complete mismanagement of this past year has all but destroyed any legitimate value the company and products held. Unless PB Inc. is going to pay a company to take ownership of PB Inc. and the products, I can't see anybody trying to buy it when PB Inc. has all but destroyed the user base over this past year. PB Inc. might want to consider just shutting their doors for good and leaving the site down and just disappearing now, instead of prolonging things and eventually finding themselves in bankruptcy, severely in debt, or something equally as unpleasant. PB had a good run. Bob is gone. With Bob gone, it seems to be like a lost episode of The Three Stooges at PB Inc. Vivian has lost her husband, is reported to have some health issues and should worry about herself and her family and not have to deal with the stress of PB Inc. anymore. There is no shame in shutting the door on PB Inc. and nobody can say she didn't try to keep it going.

QuoteIt has been well over a week since Vivian said that a new team was in place, but not a peep out of the them though she said that communication was high on the list to fix. They are not off to a good start.

Is the second or third new team? I have lost count. Each team seems to get progressively worse.

QuoteIt is every time the same, they feed us with lies and false promises and think we're stupid enough to believe that, but that's a mistake, most people have long understood that the company is at the end. Mrs. Zale is obviously no longer able to solve the problems of her company. I've rarely seen that a company is going so unprofessional!

It is almost to the point where it feels like you have people taking advantage of a widow.

QuoteHey Nick, it's not the downtime that suck, it is the fact that it happens all the time, and apparently no one is doing anything about it. Most of the users have already been therefore fed up. Even the business conduct is under each level!

It truly is a case of "just when you think things could not get worse"...

QuoteWhy should you even care or pay attention

Given that this is a programming site and not a dating site, I find it disturbing that you have such an emotional investment in what Patrice thinks or cares about.

QuoteYou never have any positive comments.

Given that Bob Zale was well-known for his negative comments, Patrice would fit right in with the PB Community, no? However, I have yet to see Patrice make a negative comment, he has simply expressed an honest opinion. Honesty is a positive, not a negative. Just because you disagree with Patrice's opinion does not make his comments negative. If a negative light is cast on something, it is generally because of the person holding the flashlight and doing the observing.

Quotebut how may here are posting about Microsoft when it completely drops a product you have been using. Or breaks your software with upgrades.

Getting upset about Microsoft making a screw-up would be like getting upset because a baby wets itself. It is one of those things you expect. Bob held his products to a higher standard than Microsoft. The shape PB Inc. is in now, where they can't even function well enough to stick CDs in an envelope and mail them to the customer who ordered them and paid for them, is unfathomable to most users.

QuoteA few years back, I took a chance on Cad software that had a forum, but they discontinued the forum when plagued with hackers, but I still use the software.

There is a big difference between a compiler and a CAD program. Unsupported software is often not allowed to be used in a corporate environment. Even for paid contract work, some people would not ethically use PB at this point, because it is all-but unsupported due to the state of flux PB Inc. is in.

QuoteThe IT guy is on holiday this week so the site will be up again on 28th October.

With the continual changes of "teams" at PB, nobody has even been on staff long enough to be entitled to any vacation/holiday time.

Mike Stefanik · October 20, 2013, 08:35:03 PM

Quote from: Brice Manuel on October 20, 2013, 08:23:14 PM
Is the second or third new team? I have lost count. Each team seems to get progressively worse.

To be honest, I doubt very much that there is any real "team" and it looks like there isn't even really an intact company at this point. I agree with you that their actions (or lack thereof) are eroding the inherent value in PowerBasic itself, and that's a shame.

Edit: I do feel for those developers with businesses who largely (or solely) depend on the PowerBasic ecosystem. What PowerBasic is doing just doesn't affect their customers, it also has a negative impact on those third-party tool and component developers who have invested so much in the language.

Brice Manuel · October 20, 2013, 08:46:16 PM

Quote from: Mike Stefanik on October 20, 2013, 08:35:03 PM
To be honest, I doubt very much that there is any real "team" and it looks like there isn't even really an intact company at this point. Their actions (or lack thereof) are eroding the inherent value in PowerBasic itself, and that's a shame.

I agree 100%.

James Klutho · October 20, 2013, 11:35:47 PM

A couple of months ago I checked the forum membership, and it looked pretty consistent that 400 to 450 new members were added each year going back almost 10 years. I have to believe this is some proxy to new licenses. Through August 21, 2013 only about 50 new forum members were added this year (and none since then in part due to the forum being abandoned). From my perspective, the big payday was always the upgrade, but the new licenses kept the place running during the interim. Assuming PB truly has employees, the company has to be bleeding money and I understand Vivian's desire to keep Bob's life work going but at some point she has to look out for herself.