OOn Sun, August 12, 2018 7:46 am, John Pelham wrote: <snip> > That's not enough. What happens if Neal (or Joe, now that he has the key > maker) changes his mind, or dies? > > Neal should > 1. Produce a version that doesn't require registration and release it, and > 2. Make DXbase open source. That is, put the source code on GitHub so > that other developers may do the work of improving it and updating it. > > 73, > John W1JA
Neil does not owe you this. It might be NICE if he did, but what he has done is "enough" - he could have just stopped issuing licenses too. Interestingly, although I've never seen the code, just being a developer, and having talked to Neil years ago, I can tell you that the reports/print module uses what at least used to be called "List and Labels" by Combit GMBH. At one time it was sold in the USA by a company called Microhelp. One of the issues you will run into is the cost of L&L. The Pro Version of the current product is 1428 Euros, the "standard" edition is 733.50 Euros (Gross Price - the price without VAT is there) (Disclaimer - Last time I used L&L was in the days of VB3 - not .NET!) I also gather that the code base used some things that are now very obsolete, and porting is not going to be fun. I don't think it is in .NET, and BTW, those prices above are for the .NET version, I don't think they sell the old versions anymore. Basically you are going to have some huge issues For all intents, Microsoft no longer supports MDI forms (yes, Winforms Still does - but) This is the Window that contains all the other Windows - Microsoft has said "Don't do that" The Database is in Access 2.0 format. Again, don't do that, in fact, they really don't want you developing against Access - You develop against SQL Server Express. If you are going to make THAT change, you are probably better off going to MySQL. Honest? The two hardest parts are the database design (and you can see THAT if you open the database in an old copy of Access) and the reports/labels (See L&L above) About 4-5 years ago, I spent a lot of time thinking about writing a logger (THAT was about the time I realized DXBase was never going to have a new version - Sorry Neil). I was encouraged to do so by a few people, and I started to think about the amount of work involved My conclusion was that it isn't viable to write a logger, except as a labor of love. There are a few pretty darned good ones (both general purpose and contest - see dxLabs and N1MM, Logger32 etc) that are free. Hams, frankly, are a frugal bunch (OK cue jokes about how wire was invented), and when you realize that to make a mature logger of say DXBase quality is a multi man year effort (OK, say it is even 1 man year) - today a good developer earns in the 6 figure range. Call it 100K, and the total development effort at $130K. The most expensive logging program out there is Logic - at $200. That means to break even, assuming no support costs, you have to sell 650 units. Doubtful at that price. The answer really comes down to, pick another logger, and go for it, the work to upgrade dxbase at this point is too large to be realistic 73 de KG2V Charlie ______________________________________________________________ Dxbase mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/dxbase Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
