PB web site and forum down?

[Donald Darden]

If you've continued to visit the PowerBasic web site, you have noticed that they have installed new software for managing the site.  Which it fine as far as it goes.  The old forums are closed "permanently", but Bob Zale mentions that there are still a huge store of example code that can be accessed.  Some features apparently have not been activated yet,

After all this time, and suddenly PowerBasic is doing another face lift?  I wonder if that is suppose to tell us something or not?  I guess time will tell.  The last time they spruced up the web site, if I remember correctly, was around the time they released the new compilers.

I'm sure that if they do offer something new, there are many people ready to take advantage of it.  In the past, it's been sort of automatic for me to upgrade as well, but I guess this time I will have to wait and see what comes in the package.  I've really been happy enough with what I have, and with Jose Roca proving that it is already capable of doing much more than I would have expected, I wonder what else I could possibly want or expect.  I'm sort of like that about cerials and bread as well - it it is good enough to eat, I don't have to keep looking for something even better. I also drive an 11-year old car, so I know my choices will not be the same for many other people.

Well. speculation aside, I find I don't spend as much time there.  Now that Jose has this web site, I actually spend more time here, though I don't post as much.  I'm not as active in programming as I once was, so I'm mostly just reading what others post instead. I'm really impressed by the caliber of the contributions made.  I hope in time we get some people who are as dedicated to exploring what can be done with BASIC in the Linux world.  Like I explained elsewhere, I don't see Vista as a part of my personal future.  Far too costly, with not enough to show for the reinvestment required.

[Marco Pontello]

Also the recent offers of upgrades sent to all the customers in recent times, make me think some new versions isn't too distant.

[Edwin Knoppert]

Hey!

Where is.. "Bye!"

[Marco Pontello]

Whooops! 

Bye!

[Theo Gottwald]

Also the recent offers of upgrades sent to all the customers in recent times,

You think they shall buy 8.03 soon before something new is available? :-)

In that case Bob should not have sent that mail out, which tells us that there are surprises in his box.
I doubt he wanted to surprise me with the new forum, I rather wait until his surprises are there.

Anyway I did all the upgrades and I will maybe in future.

[José Roca]

 
Que sera, sera, whatever will be, will be...

Maybe we have helped to accelerate the change. This forum was opened in May and Bob opened his account with vBulletin in June. Or maybe is only a coincidence. Who knows? Anyway, the change was heavily needed and is very welcomed.

But we have images, attachments, a nicer theme, updated code... and we are more innovative.

vBulletin is great, but they are constraining it so much that already has less features available than this one.

[Marco Pontello]

But we have images, attachments, a nicer theme, updated code... and we are more innovative.

vBulletin is great, but they are constraining it so much that already has less features available than this one.

So true. They seems to be a little "paranoid" about it...

[Theo Gottwald]

>Maybe we have helped to accelerate the change.

I hope not. Thats would be no bussiness system,
-  to wait till others do something and then
- you run after them,
-> to deliver a bit less then competition did.

Anyway the design you have choosen for your forum, especially the lightblue colour, and the options to attach files, still make your forum first choice for sorts of postings.

I am not yet used to the darker colours of the actual PB-Forum. Whats good is, that the Links to the old forum are alive and do still work.

[José Roca]

 
You have 12 colors to choose. I'm using the 2nd from the left, that is a blue a bit darker.

[Theo Gottwald]

I always use the light blue colour, I have never seen a nice forum then this, Jose.

[Donald Darden]

I was using Google to search for links involving Linux and PowerBasic.  Lance Edmonds made a few comments back around 2001/2002 on the likely coming of a PB/Linux product, and even earlier, someone quoted Bob Zale in 1999 that they were developing one for Linux, but the writer expressed doubt because just going from PB/DLL to PB/Win took forever.  Seems his premonition was right on.

Anyway, one of the links led to the old PowerBasic forums, but when I tried to follow it, I ran into a roadblock that said the site was permanently closed.  In this case, the link was probably way outdated, so no big deal.  But it might get frustrating if you were following a code link, and found that the old forum was shut down so that you could not continue it.

[Marco Pontello]

Someone my remember that on their About page, PowerBASIC used to refer to Linux.
A little search on the Internet Archive show that was changed near the end of 2005.

From the archived copy of July 2005:

We offer compilers for DOS and Windows today. Linux is coming soon, and other platforms will follow. Our 24-year history started with BASIC/Z, the very first interactive compiler for CP/M and MDOS.

On the next update, November 2005, instead:

We offer compilers for DOS and Windows today. Linux is coming soon, and other platforms will follow. Our 24-year history started with BASIC/Z, the very first interactive compiler for CP/M and MDOS.

The latter is what appear still today.

Bye!

[Donald Darden]

In the Frequently Asked Questions on the forum, they say:

"Is there a version of PowerBASIC for Linux?

"PowerBASIC for Linux is under development, and it's quite a high priority for us. However, we maintain a strict "No Vaporware" policy, so more details are not available at this time. Please watch our web site at www.powerbasic.com as info will be posted there as soon as it's available."

But I think like others, that the big market draw with be ever tighter integration into Windows, and that Linux just does not offer the same prospects for future sales.  I think that this could change if anything electrifying occurred in the third party arena that would serve to unify the Linux community, but what that might be is beyond me.

One key factor that would likely have to be solved is the difficulty of having suitable drivers for the diverse hardware out there.  Microsoft has redefined its driver standards for newer generations of its Windows operating systems, forcing venders to play keep-up, and relatively few venders create drivers that are intended for Linux.  Some create drivers for the Mac OS though.  I would think that to solve this, it might be necessary to devixe a method of supporting drivers other than those specifically written for Linux.

[Mike Trader]

Just found this topic. I do not usually read much outside of the development forums cos I have so little time, but it was refreshing to read openly expressed views, something many of us have learned the hard way, doesny fly on with uncle Bob.
>But we have images, attachments, a nicer theme, updated code... and we are more innovative.
You have much more than that, you have free speach!
and posts that dont suddenly dissapear if they are even mildly critical..

>I brought this to attention on the PB forum and my fingers still hurt...
hahaha, yes, been there, done that.

The number of fantastic developers that have left is amazing.
I love PB don't get me wrong, but the Uncle Bobs regime is legendary.
How can someone that brilliant be so shortsighted and petty...