Future of powerbasic

[Brice Manuel]

There is only the coincidence  that when ddt came out also during that time a few programmers left

There were several exoduses over the years of varying sizes.

[Edwin Knoppert]

There were several exoduses over the years of varying sizes.

Anyone not leaving in those days was a ...
And now you're stuck in the void...

haha

[Patrice Terrier]

We know there is considerable concern on the Forum about PowerBASIC...when the next release will be...the lack of customer service for the past couple of months...and of course, questions about the future.

With the loss of Bob Zale, there have certainly been huge challenges, and on top of that, we lost a couple of key staff members. A new management team is now on board. Their task is to focus on the technical and customer service issues we've seen throughout the Forum.

All we can do is apologize for the lapse. Please be considerate when posting and know that our customers were important to Bob, and are important to us. We are working diligently to move PowerBASIC forward.

PowerBASIC is restructuring and will make these changes as quickly as possible.

We are striving to maintain PowerBASIC's character and reputation in tandem with preparing to launch new and innovative products.

Sales@PowerBASIC.com

Vivian Zale

...

[Patrice Terrier]

Didn't say anything of substance.

...

[Theo Gottwald]

Saying is never the problem. The problem is what happens substantial.

[Brice Manuel]

Didn't say anything of substance.

... but it says a lot to us! The company is currently not operational and totally overburdened in its present state. In other words, a classic case of mismanagement. No more staff, the widow also sick and the temporary support staff is completely incompetent, congratulations! 

Sadly, due to Jim's accident, it seems that PB is back in the same position it was a year ago when Bob died.  They appear to be starting over, yet again.

They will never be able to recover that which has been lost in this past year of mismanagement.  There comes a time when you have to be smart enough to know when to give up.

[James Klutho]

The compiler market is a tough one to make a buck.  Most development languages appear to be at no cost.  What are the top commercial compilers for large (non-indie) development?  On the C/C++ side, is it just Microsoft?  Intel?  Most compilers appear to have folded and are no longer supported and can be downloaded for free (Borland, Watcom etc.).  Even Microsoft has their Express versions that are free.  Mingw C/C++,TinyC and Pelle C appear great for the hobby programmer.

Other languages like Java, Python,PHP are all free.

The Basic language has FreeBasic (no cost), and others at nominal cost (PureBasic, IBasic)- with Powerbasic actually being near the top end at $200 US (which in my opinion has been worth the price).

Is the money to be made in development in the tool and control market?  Sure does not seem to be in the compilers themselves.  What are people's thoughts?

[Christian Damhus]

Hello,

well this is my first post. I usually prefer to read the comments in this great forum.

Maybe the change is also a chance to put PB in a new direction? Maybe a new leader (or head) or a new team will find new ways and strategies for PB? Maybe somebody will buy the firm? There are many GUI-Tools out there. Maybe someone who has developed a great GUI-Tool will buy PB and merged the products and continue the development. That would be something like PB+.

I don't know if you get my point. My English is a bit rusty.

Best wishes from the Münsterland

Chris

[Brice Manuel]

However it will not be possible without sufficient investment capital.

Unfortunately, PowerBASIC probably has more sentimental value than financial value at this point.

[Patrice Terrier]

Indeed there is a lot of affect with PB, from its community...

However the future is not with the old groupies, but with new customers, and the pragmatics would probably not put a cent on it.

...

[Brice Manuel]

I have been told that Jim Bailey's account at PB is now showing:

Last Activity: Oct 4th, 2013 04:00 PM

[Patrice Terrier]

Yes, that was the time Vivian's message has been posted...

[Brice Manuel]

The only realistic way to attract new customers, is a complete redesign of the old product range. A modern high performance compiler looks different. A brand new advanced IDE, 32 and 64 bit compliance, a redesigned Forms tool, a critical proofreading of the actual codes before the modernised release, extended intelligence and some unique features for the experts to be competitive. The performance benchmark for this is exclusively the market.
Not an easy task, and certainly not cheap.

Anything out of Team PB at this point, should be considered gravy.

On another note, did James ever receive his CDs?

[James OShea]

Jim being back, even if he is just working from home, is a good thing.  The whole company should be a home business at this point anyway.  In a perfect world/alternative reality, Bob would be pounding out PowerBASIC X64 from his home office while we PowerBASIC "groupies" wait anxiously.  Alas.

I haven't received the disks as yet but since I have the files I can wait for the disks.  I will send an email to Jim in a week or two if I don't get them.

[Brice Manuel]

I haven't received the disks as yet but since I have the files I can wait for the disks.  I will send an email to Jim in a week or two if I don't get them.

There was somebody on the other forum who mentioned getting a T-Shirt recently, so hopefully that is a sign your discs may be coming soon.

There is something I need to order, but it is only available on CD.  However, I will not order until you receive your CDs.  I need to be sure orders are actually being filled, before I order.