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First Impressions

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    #1

    First Impressions

    I've only played with Ver 5 for about 2 hours and already I have some reservations.

    I looked through the new sample programs and found that they're the same tired samples that have been with us since version 1.
    Disappointing, isn't it?

    I went to the Contact Manager sample and got the message...Cannot read bitmap file "c:a5v5a5v5stylesheetbitmapsBlue Corporate.jpg"
    I had installed A5v5 with all the defaults so it wasn't anything that I did.???
    (the file location is actually: C:Program FilesA5V5Stylesheet BitmapsBlue Corporate.jpg)

    Continuing on I got to the Contact Manager form and could visibly see that two labels "State and Postal Code" are 'clipped'.

    With such looooong development time, you'd think they could have come up with better samples. Even if they would have gotten a graphics arts student (probably for the cost of pizza and beer) they could have come up with a more polished look for their samples.

    -------------------------------------

    I went to re-size the two labels on the Contact Manager form and wanted to grab all the fields on the form and move them as a group but found that 'bubble help' (tooltips) gets in the way. There was no way to do this and **NOT** have tooltips interfering with my work. I tried to go to the settings screen, but haven't yet found a way to change the delay of the tooltips to something like 3 seconds (or turn them off).

    ---------------------------------------

    I then tried to email myself a report with Acrobat, since this was a much ballyhooed improvement, but Outlook Express froze. I had to reboot to clear Outlook.

    I'm running Win XP Pro on a Pentium 1.7g

    I'm also running ZoneAlarm Pro 3.0 and Norton AntiVirus.

    I disabled both of them and sure enough I was able to email my report. I enabled Norton AntiVirus and it still worked.

    I enabled ZoneAlarm and it locked up. Hmmmm

    I restarted the computer with everything enabled, found a large PDF file and had no problem emailing it to myself using Outlook Express directly.

    I started A5v5 and tried to do the same as before and the system locked up.

    Conclusion. Alpha problem. Somehow Alpha cannot open Outlook Express as cleanly as doing it manually. So I'll continue doing it manually as I have in the past.

    ------------------------------------------

    I guess out of all this, you might ask: "Where the heck were the beta testers?" ZoneAlarm certainly isn't an unusual program for Alpha to get along with.

    Am I the only one that thinks tooltips should stay out of my way?

    Couldn't they have hired a student to clean up their samples?


    Perhaps the rest of the program will be "solid".

    Regards,
    --Bob


    Tags: None
    #2
    RE: First Impressions

    I'm not an Alpha apologist, but I cannot help but respond in some fashion:


    I looked through the new sample programs and found that they're the same tired samples that have been with us since version 1.
    Disappointing, isn't it?


    How about the new AlphaSports.adb?



    I went to the Contact Manager sample and got the message...Cannot read bitmap file "c:a5v5a5v5stylesheetbitmapsBlue Corporate.jpg"
    I had installed A5v5 with all the defaults so it wasn't anything that I did.???
    (the file location is actually: C:Program FilesA5V5Stylesheet BitmapsBlue Corporate.jpg)

    Continuing on I got to the Contact Manager form and could visibly see that two labels "State and Postal Code" are 'clipped'.

    With such looooong development time, you'd think they could have come up with better samples. Even if they would have gotten a graphics arts student (probably for the cost of pizza and beer) they could have come up with a more polished look for their samples.


    I don't have the sample you talk about - except in my v.4.5 directory?
    -------------------------------------



    I'm running Win XP Pro on a Pentium 1.7g

    I'm also running ZoneAlarm Pro 3.0 and Norton AntiVirus.

    I disabled both of them and sure enough I was able to email my report. I enabled Norton AntiVirus and it still worked.

    I enabled ZoneAlarm and it locked up. Hmmmm

    I restarted the computer with everything enabled, found a large PDF file and had no problem emailing it to myself using Outlook Express directly.

    I started A5v5 and tried to do the same as before and the system locked up.

    Conclusion. Alpha problem. Somehow Alpha cannot open Outlook Express as cleanly as doing it manually. So I'll continue doing it manually as I have in the past.
    ------------------------------------------

    I'm running Win XP Home on a Pentium 1.3ghz

    I TOO am running both ZoneAlarm Pro 3.0 and Norton AntiVirus.

    I did this - worked like a charm.



    I guess out of all this, you might ask: "Where the heck were the beta testers?" ZoneAlarm certainly isn't an unusual program for Alpha to get along with.


    Anyone could be a beta tester - where were you?




    Am I the only one that thinks tooltips should stay out of
    my way?


    No, you have a good point.



    Couldn't they have hired a student to clean up their samples?

    No doubt they could have done a thousand other things. Nonetheless, it is an impressive achievement.



    Perhaps the rest of the program will be "solid".


    Yes.

    Peter
    Peter
    AlphaBase Solutions, LLC

     [email protected]
    https://www.alphabasesolutions.com

    Comment

      #3
      RE: First Impressions

      Bob,

      Are you sure your Zone Alarm settings aren't keeping Alpha from accessing the internet? Depending on your security settings and how you are using Alpha, Zone Alarm may be locking Alpha out. Check under the Zone Alarm "Programs" tab to see if A5 has permission to access the internet. I know I had to change my settings.

      Comment

        #4
        RE: First Impressions

        Cal,
        My apologies to Alpha because ZoneAlarm goofed. Normally ZoneAlarm pops up and lets you know that one of your programs is requesting Internet access. It didn't, probably because I had given Alpha permission when I registered yesterday. I tried out what you said by un-checking the Alpha.exe permissions, then re-starting ZoneAlarm. It popped up as expected and I gave it permission to access. Since then I've tried it twice and it works.

        Peter,
        Quote: What about AlphaSports?

        Circa 1991, but with colors.

        Quote: Anyone could be a beta tester - where were you?

        I take the job of Beta Tester very, very seriously. That person's responsibility is to exploit every nook and cranny to find a way to break the program he/she is testing. It's **not** a free upgrade to see what's new and exciting! Which is what I suspect you get when you give every user a free beta otherwise those 2 things would have been remedied years ago.

        By the way, I was busy working hard to get the $2000 to pay for my upgrade to the version 5 run-time. So I didn't have time to **play** with it.

        When Alpha was a $79 program, you can put up with a certain amount of cheesiness, but not when you've decided to join the big leagues. People expect more.


        Am I down on Alpha Five. Heck no, it's made me a lot of money. But it's a tough new world out there when you decide to go head to head with the major players.

        Reality is...if I have these niggling little problems, I can fix them. A new user/demo user will just hit the delete button and shelf AlphaFive. And that's not good business for all of us.

        Regards,
        --Bob

        Comment

          #5
          RE: First Impressions

          Quote: What about AlphaSports?
          Circa 1991, but with colors.


          OK, but I have not experienced any of the proble,s you describe.


          Quote: Anyone could be a beta tester - where were you?

          I take the job of Beta Tester very, very seriously. That person's responsibility is to exploit every nook and cranny to find a way to break the program he/she is testing. It's **not** a free upgrade to see what's new and exciting! Which is what I suspect you get when you give every user a free beta otherwise those 2 things would have been remedied years ago.


          Doesn't MS do the same thing. They have hundres of thousands of beta testers. Many of us are full time professionals. Alpha is not our main business. It just helkps us run our business. We do the best we can. Even casual "beta testing" can assist the program developers in fixing what needs to be fixed.


          By the way, I was busy working hard to get the $2000 to pay for my upgrade to the version 5 run-time. So I didn't have time to **play** with it.

          [b]
          Again, you are not the only one who is "working hard". I run an engineering company responsible in part for the developent of four-hundred million dollar high-rise building and similar projects. The other day, I signed off on a project, allowing the developer to receive his interim $90,000,000 construction loan for the development of a bio-tech park. I take my job seriously and I take Alpha seriously - as do others.
          Peter
          AlphaBase Solutions, LLC

           [email protected]
          https://www.alphabasesolutions.com

          Comment

            #6
            RE: First Impressions

            I have been a regular visitor to this message board but stopped months ago. I had finsihed an application with v4 and was just too busy with other things. But I have now purchased v5 and really want to get the most out of it. It seems to be an absolutely monumental acheievement in terms of features. Alpha deserves a tremendous amount of credit for their effort in attempting to deliver to the users what they have been asking for.

            I am looking forward to this board's help in getting up to speed with this new product. I am having some trouble with some apparent instabilities and bugs - like the ones mentioned above - and rather than talk about price, I would really hope we could focus on ironing out any potential problems.

            Looking forward to learning ...

            Gary Traub
            Gary S. Traub, Ph.D.

            Comment

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